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MacBook Pro Upgrades

J

JeffNewland

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 24, 2012
31
0
Iowa
Hey everyone, I'm looking to "speed up" my Macbook Pro 2011 model. I've read the replacing memory or the hard drive is a good start. Would you recommend doing one over the other first? What are the benefits of either of them?

Also if you have any websites to purchase these items for the best pricing, please suggest them.

Thanks:apple::apple::apple:
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
JeffNewland said:
Hey everyone, I'm looking to "speed up" my Macbook Pro 2011 model. I've read the replacing memory or the hard drive is a good start. Would you recommend doing one over the other first? What are the benefits of either of them?
Click to expand...
First, there are some software-related things you can do that may improve performance:

Performance Tips For Mac OS X

To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

Replacing the HDD with a SSD will improve boot times, app launch times and anything that involves reading/writing to your drive.
 
basesloaded190

basesloaded190

macrumors 68030
Oct 16, 2007
2,693
5
Wisconsin
You best bet is to upgrade your HDD to an SSD. This will make the machine run faster, applications will open faster and it will just feel smoother.

You could do this and/or upgrade your computer's RAM.
 
R

rafatkd

macrumors newbie
Jun 26, 2012
11
0
Sao Paulo - Brazil
JeffNewland said:
Hey everyone, I'm looking to "speed up" my Macbook Pro 2011 model. I've read the replacing memory or the hard drive is a good start. Would you recommend doing one over the other first? What are the benefits of either of them?

Also if you have any websites to purchase these items for the best pricing, please suggest them.

Thanks:apple::apple::apple:
Click to expand...

Depends on what you use more on your mac. Do you work with large files? Do you work with lots of apps opened at the same time? Do you work with heavy apps, such as video converts or photoshop?


[]s
 
S

s4forum18

macrumors newbie
Jun 19, 2012
11
0
I know swapping RAM does not void the warranty...does that hold true for the HDD/SSD swap?
 
sweetbrat

sweetbrat

macrumors 65816
Jun 17, 2009
1,443
1
Redford, MI
Which upgrade would benefit you more really depends on what you're doing with the computer and why you feel it's slow. What behaviors are making you feel like you need to speed it up? Is it slow when launching programs, or are you seeing beachballs a lot when you have a lot of programs open? Read GGJstudios's tip below on checking Activity Monitor, that might help point out the problem. Without knowing what's causing your slowdowns it's hard to recommend a solution.
 
SpyderBite

SpyderBite

macrumors 65816
Oct 4, 2011
1,262
8
Xanadu
Just throwing it out there.. but have you considered selling your MBP and spending the cash you would have spent on upgrades on the difference for a new 2012 model with 8gb RAM and a faster processor?
 
J

JeffNewland

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 24, 2012
31
0
Iowa
sweetbrat said:
You're still only answering part of the question. What do you use your computer for? What programs do you usually use, what tasks do you do? We need more information.
Click to expand...

Web browsing, photo editing through iPhoto, Email, occasional gaming. Typically have multiple programs up and running.
 
F

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
I think that is better for you to start with a RAM upgrade. You can go to 8 or even 16 Gb. For your current use, I suggest going for at least 8 gb. Plenty of RAM is a real good thing for every operating system because it reduces the use of swap file, and also heat, noise and speeds up everything.

For the HD upgrade, your best move is to upgrade to a solid state disk (SSD). This will turn your mac into a rocket, you will be able to start your mac in a few seconds and your apps almost instantly, but you have to check first your capacity needs, if you want to have a lot of photos or videos or music files stored.
SSD are expensive but the prices are better now.

for ram upgrade check at OWC. for ssds a Samsung 830 model is a very good choice or a Crucial for cheeper. Do a google search for models and prices.
Hope this helps.
 
J

JeffNewland

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 24, 2012
31
0
Iowa
filmak said:
I think that is better for you to start with a RAM upgrade. You can go to 8 or even 16 Gb. For your current use, I suggest going for at least 8 gb. Plenty of RAM is a real good thing for every operating system because it reduces the use of swap file, and also heat, noise and speeds up everything.

For the HD upgrade, your best move is to upgrade to a solid state disk (SSD). This will turn your mac into a rocket, you will be able to start your mac in a few seconds and your apps almost instantly, but you have to check first your capacity needs, if you want to have a lot of photos or videos or music files stored.
SSD are expensive but the prices are better now.

for ram upgrade check at OWC. for ssds a Samsung 830 model is a very good choice or a Crucial for cheeper. Do a google search for models and prices.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I'm stuck between 16GB of RAM Or 256 GB SSD. Weill 256 be enough for a casual user? Should I spend $150 for the ram or buy spend more for SSD?
 
F

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
JeffNewland said:
I'm stuck between 16GB of RAM Or 256 GB SSD. Weill 256 be enough for a casual user? Should I spend $150 for the ram or buy spend more for SSD?
Click to expand...

This depends on your needs. How many audio video and files you have? first check your current hard disk and see how much space you have used till now and after this think about your future needs.

You may not buy an ssd right now but for sure you have to buy more ram.

A middle way is to upgrade to 8 gb ram and save for or buy now a ssd.

it all depends on your needs.
 
F

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
Also have in mind that if you really want to speed up you need both upgrades.

My take if you cannot afford both at once.

1. ram upgrade
2. ssd upgrade - when you will be sure about the capacity needed.
 
R

Rajpdx

macrumors regular
Jun 16, 2012
182
0
filmak said:
Also have in mind that if you really want to speed up you need both upgrades.

My take if you cannot afford both at once.

1. ram upgrade
2. ssd upgrade - when you will be sure about the capacity needed.
Click to expand...

I'd do ssd first, then ram. There will be an immediate impact on performance in every aspect of the use of your system. The ram upgrade will only be felt once your system uses the available ram - in many cases that won't happen.
 
F

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
Rajpdx said:
I'd do ssd first, then ram. There will be an immediate impact on performance in every aspect of the use of your system. The ram upgrade will only be felt once your system uses the available ram - in many cases that won't happen.
Click to expand...

This is also a good option but I don't know with only 150 what good ssd will buy regarding size and quality, we still don't have any infos about his disk size requirements.
Also the page file will still be in use, a lot faster of course, but still there, wearing out the ssd.

Of course as I have already mentioned the best is to install both upgrades.
 
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