MBP late 2011 - RAM 8GB or 10GB ?

My gf's late 2011 MBP 2.4GHz i5 13" non retina has original 4GB RAM and I was looking to upgrade to 8GB but I noticed at online store that Corsair 2x4GB kit was more expensive (€78) than a single 8GB stick (€60) - so why would I not go with replacing one stick for 10GB (original 2 + 8). I know the thoughts about matched pairs running better but many users here report no issues with un-matched pairs. I believe this MBP can handle upto 16GB RAM and is non-soldered. Machine is running Mavericks.

I've done some searching but didn't find anything, apologies if this is a duplicate thread. I've put Corsair RAM into my Mini so happy with that brand.

rapicell said:

Yea the 2011 MBPs can use up to 16gb of ram, but unless you're doing some heavy work, just going to 8 or 10 in your case, would probably suit your gf's needs. While matched pairs are preferred, I doubt you'd notice the difference too much.

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Thanks, yes it seems I spend a little less but have more RAM afterwards. Her usage is basic web/email/plus Office for Mac so 16 is overkill. To be honest I'm a bit surprised by how much beach balling she gets.

yjchua95 said:

Even with 16GB of RAM, my 2011 MBP constantly kept beach balling until I threw out the HDD and replaced it with a 512GB Samsung 840 Pro.

Now it absolutely flies.

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Thanks, I had an Evo 500 SSD in the shopping basket too but decided to try just the RAM first as I need to check with the gf is she wants 500ssd and keep the optical or 256ssd put the HDD into the optical bay and make the optical external - the price of the 500ssd was enough to make me stop and think ! If the RAM alone doesn't sharpen things up I'll change the HDD for an SSD of some description.

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exizeo said:

Can they? On apple's website, the 2011 13's can only do 8gb.

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I had exactly same question with my 2009 Mini, Apple site says 4gb max but the good people of MacRumours assured me 8 was possible and that upgrade worked fine.