Want to upgrade ram and put ssd in late macbook pro 2011, need suggestions.

[gc15]

Current specs in mac are these.

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

I just want my mac to run better and it needs an upgrade. I also want the ssd so i finally upgrade to yosemite and maybe el cap, if i think either update is worth it lol.

 

[yjchua95]

Current specs in mac are these.

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

I just want my mac to run better and it needs an upgrade. I also want the ssd so i finally upgrade to yosemite and maybe el cap, if i think either update is worth it lol.

Give it an SSD - that's the biggest upgrade you can give it.

When buying SSDs, stay away from SSDs that use a SandForce controller. They suck with FileVault 2.

I recommend either Crucial or Samsung. Stay away from the Samsung 840 Evo though.

 

[superlawyer15]

Current specs in mac are these.

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

I just want my mac to run better and it needs an upgrade. I also want the ssd so i finally upgrade to yosemite and maybe el cap, if i think either update is worth it lol.

4gb of ram is pretty much the absolute minimum now a days.
I would upgrade that first.

 

[redheeler]

Current specs in mac are these.

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

I just want my mac to run better and it needs an upgrade. I also want the ssd so i finally upgrade to yosemite and maybe el cap, if i think either update is worth it lol.

Go with the SSD first. As mentioned above you'll see the most improvement from that.

 

[Kristine]

4gb of ram is pretty much the absolute minimum now a days.
I would upgrade that first.

Going to disagree here. You will see far more performance increase with an SSD upgrade over a RAM upgrade.
Do the SSD first, then if need be, you can upgrade RAM. Stay away from the Kingston SSD's - go with something like a Samsung 850 EVO or PRO.

 

[ApolloBoy]

Going to disagree here. You will see far more performance increase with an SSD upgrade over a RAM upgrade.

Seconded. I actually still had the original 4 GB of RAM in my cMBP when I added in my SSD and it ran very well. I quickly upgraded to 8 GB though since I occasionally run a Windows 7 VM and do some moderate gaming.

 

[Mnowell69]

I just got a Samsung 850 evo and it gives great performance in my 2011 MBP. I would still like to upgrade my 4gb of memory but according to the 'memory pressure' indication i don't need an upgrade.

 

[superlawyer15]

I had an old iMac lying around that would barely get things done.
Opening more than 2 or 3 browser tabs would bring things to a stand still.

I guess it really just depends on what kind of slow your computer is being.
Only reason I suggest ram first is because 4gb is a tiny amount. If he had 8gb in there upgrade the SSD first would be a no brainer.

Additionally, I take it an addition 4gb stick of ram costs a lot less than a new SSD, and is far easier to install and get up and running.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I had an old iMac lying around that would barely get things done.
Opening more than 2 or 3 browser tabs would bring things to a stand still.

I guess it really just depends on what kind of slow your computer is being.
Only reason I suggest ram first is because 4gb is a tiny amount. If he had 8gb in there upgrade the SSD first would be a no brainer.

Additionally, I take it an addition 4gb stick of ram costs a lot less than a new SSD, and is far easier to install and get up and running.

4GB is a massive amount of RAM and was considered huge only a few years ago. OSX will run fine on 2GB as long as you don't have too much open at the same time.

Again you are wrong, a 256GB SSD is only $90 for a great BX100 and the RAM is about $50, The SSD will give you the best all round speed boost and may well show that your RAM is fine once you have it installed. This is why we tend to suggest the SSD upgrade first on these forums unless the use case shows an obvious RAM deficiency.

 

[superlawyer15]

4GB is a massive amount of RAM and was considered huge only a few years ago. OSX will run fine on 2GB as long as you don't have too much open at the same time.

Again you are wrong, a 256GB SSD is only $90 for a great BX100 and the RAM is about $50, The SSD will give you the best all round speed boost and may well show that your RAM is fine once you have it installed. This is why we tend to suggest the SSD upgrade first on these forums unless the use case shows an obvious RAM deficiency.

another 4gb stick of ram is only $25, 1/4th the cost of the SSD

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tech...435758035&sr=8-1&keywords=4gb+macbook+pro+ram

I also suggested ram first because its exponentially less complicated to install.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

another 4gb stick of ram is only $25, 1/4th the cost of the SSD

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tech...435758035&sr=8-1&keywords=4gb+macbook+pro+ram

I also suggested ram first because its exponentially less complicated to install.

Firstly once you have the bottom open an SSD is just as easy to install as RAM the hardest bit about both of them is taking all the screws out to get the baseplate off.

You are right about the RAM though I was looking at the RAM for a 2010 not a 2011 the newer stuff is much cheaper.
However the RAM is unlikely to provide much of a speed boost and the SSD is guaranteed to.

 

[superlawyer15]

Firstly once you have the bottom open an SSD is just as easy to install as RAM the hardest bit about both of them is taking all the screws out to get the baseplate off.

You are right about the RAM though I was looking at the RAM for a 2010 not a 2011 the newer stuff is much cheaper.
However the RAM is unlikely to provide much of a speed boost and the SSD is guaranteed to.

well its not just the physical install I was concerned about, but all the software side stuff that needs to be done like installing OS X and moving all your stuff over ...and enabling TRIM.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Trim enabler 30 second download, migrating your information is as simple as restoring from the time machine back up everyone should have for their computer...


we are not going to agree on this though I see.

From my experience people have almost always been far happier with the results of an SSD upgrade over a RAM upgrade, I there fore always reccomend them over RAM unless something shows itself as a clear RAM hog in their use case (multiple VM's or massive RAW files or large VIDEO editing or having 30 tabs open in chrome all running flash.

However you clearly see things differently and thats what's great about this site the poster can get everyones view and choose whats best for them.

 

[yjchua95]

another 4gb stick of ram is only $25, 1/4th the cost of the SSD

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tech...435758035&sr=8-1&keywords=4gb+macbook+pro+ram

I also suggested ram first because its exponentially less complicated to install.

And RAM upgrades won't give any noticeable performance improvement most of the time.

 

[superlawyer15]

Trim enabler 30 second download, migrating your information is as simple as restoring from the time machine back up everyone should have for their computer...


we are not going to agree on this though I see.

From my experience people have almost always been far happier with the results of an SSD upgrade over a RAM upgrade, I there fore always reccomend them over RAM unless something shows itself as a clear RAM hog in their use case (multiple VM's or massive RAW files or large VIDEO editing or having 30 tabs open in chrome all running flash.

However you clearly see things differently and thats what's great about this site the poster can get everyones view and choose whats best for them.

I'm not saying the SSD wouldn't be a beneficial upgrade, you may very well be right in that the performance difference gained by the SSD may be better than doubling the RAM.

All I'm saying is that when considering cost and the time/effort needed to install; I would personally opt for the RAM first.

..just my .02