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2010 15" Macbook Pro SSD Upgrade

FrankySavvy

FrankySavvy

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 4, 2010
1,691
872
Long Island, NY
Will this SSD work in my 2010 15" MacBook Pro? is it fast? Good price?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-840-evo-250gb-internal-serial-ata-iii-solid-state-drive-for-laptops/1902435.p?id=1219066876764&skuId=1902435&st=categoryid$pcmcat270900050001&cp=1&lp=7

The reason I am doing this upgrade is to increase the overall speed of boot times, OSX responsiveness and program launching.

Will I see any performance increase in Adobe CS6 Programs?

Since we have to wait for Broadwell, this upgrade would get me through another year.

Thanks
 
It will work just fine. Keep in mind that it will only run at SATA II speeds, so don't expect much over 270 MB/s or so. It will however be a massive improvement. I've got an OWC SSD in my 2010 and it's amazing.

CS6 will get a big boost in app launch times, along with everything else, and random read/writes are much quicker.

You'll be happy for another year no problem :cool:

Also consider the Crucial MX100, it's a bit newer and cheaper for the same size. But if you're wanting local, the Samsung will do.
 
BrettApple said:
It will work just fine. Keep in mind that it will only run at SATA II speeds, so don't expect much over 270 MB/s or so. It will however be a massive improvement. I've got an OWC SSD in my 2010 and it's amazing.

CS6 will get a big boost in app launch times, along with everything else, and random read/writes are much quicker.

You'll be happy for another year no problem :cool:

Also consider the Crucial MX100, it's a bit newer and cheaper for the same size. But if you're wanting local, the Samsung will do.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick response! How fast are mb/s now with the HDD? what's the OWC brand ?
 
I will have to point out that buying from OWC only makes sense if it's one of those machines where Apple decided to use their own version of mSATA with a custom pin arrangement to make third party replacements incompatible.
 
The Samsung comes with cloning software, but only for Windows.

You can use Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner, Super Duper, or even restore from Time Machine. Though the easiest is probably Carbon Copy Cloner (now commercial, but you can still download earlier versions). As for a kit, some do, most don't. You can get a USB to SATA adapter pretty cheap on Amazon if you like. Or even an external enclosure to keep using your old HDD for storage/backup. This is the way I would go about it. Look for a 2.5" SATA enclosure.

T5BRICK said:
OWC is a rip off. The Samsung drive you linked is a great option.
Click to expand...

SarcasticJoe said:
I will have to point out that buying from OWC only makes sense if it's one of those machines where Apple decided to use their own version of mSATA with a custom pin arrangement to make third party replacements incompatible.
Click to expand...

The OWC SSD I purchased was in 2011 and for a very specific purpose, it went in the optical drive bay of my Late 2008 MacBook, and that particular model had to have a SATA II specific SSD in the optical bay for it to work at SATA II speeds, otherwise it would fall back to SATA I and run much slower. It was an oddity with the Nvidia chipsets in them.

It has since been moved to my 2010 where this is no longer an issue. For the time it was purchased the price wasn't much different than other offerings out there, and it's gotten over 4TB of writes on it in the past 3 years and hasn't had a single hiccup. But I wouldn't recommend them for newer computers now with the likes of Samsung and Crucial.
 
FrankySavvy said:
Will this SSD work in my 2010 15" MacBook Pro? is it fast? Good price?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-840-evo-250gb-internal-serial-ata-iii-solid-state-drive-for-laptops/1902435.p?id=1219066876764&skuId=1902435&st=categoryid$pcmcat270900050001&cp=1&lp=7

The reason I am doing this upgrade is to increase the overall speed of boot times, OSX responsiveness and program launching.

Will I see any performance increase in Adobe CS6 Programs?

Since we have to wait for Broadwell, this upgrade would get me through another year.

Thanks
Click to expand...

That is a good choice for a SSD and the price is also good. You will see some app launch speed improvement with CS6 apps, but beyond that app speed will not be impacted much.

Just get yourself a cheap USB enclosure and swap the drives then use Disk Util to format the drive and clone from old to new following this video.
 
SarcasticJoe said:
I will have to point out that buying from OWC only makes sense if it's one of those machines where Apple decided to use their own version of mSATA with a custom pin arrangement to make third party replacements incompatible.
Click to expand...

Even then it doesn't make sense now that Transcend introduced its own line of replacement drives for the mid-2012 and early-2013 rMBP. Those drives have a much more stable controller than the unreliable Sandforce one OWC uses. The Transcend is also available in a 960 GB capacity, something OWC doesn't offer.
 
Weaselboy said:
That is a good choice for a SSD and the price is also good. You will see some app launch speed improvement with CS6 apps, but beyond that app speed will not be impacted much.

Just get yourself a cheap USB enclosure and swap the drives then use Disk Util to format the drive and clone from old to new following this video.
Click to expand...

Will something like this work?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apricorn-data-transfer-cable/3459621.p?id=1218404120715&skuId=3459621&st=categoryid$pcmcat186100050007&cp=1&lp=1
 
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As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Frank the OP asked:
[[ Will something like this work?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apricorn...0007&cp=1&lp=1 ]]

I will offer two other options that will work MUCH better for you:

1. Inateck USB3 enclosure:
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ina...=1405522589&sr=8-1&keywords=inateck+usb3+uasp
or
2. Inateck USB3/SATA dock:
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ina...=1405522589&sr=8-2&keywords=inateck+usb3+uasp

Both are backward-compatible with the USB2 on your MacBook, but offer you higher speeds "for the future"...

The advantage of either of the above, is that AFTER you are done with the drive "prep & swap", you will have a useful enclosure/dock to use for your old drive...
 
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Weaselboy said:
I agree, but I think OP is trying to buy locally and knock this out today.
Click to expand...

You are correct. To be honest, once I make the transfer I will probably return this. I am pretty much upgrading my Macbook Pro to last me 6 months to a Year.

I am planning on upgrading at the next "Major" refresh.

The addition of the SSD should also help resale value, maybe not by much, but I could recoup part of the cost.
 
FrankySavvy said:
You are correct. To be honest, once I make the transfer I will probably return this. I am pretty much upgrading my Macbook Pro to last me 6 months to a Year.

I am planning on upgrading at the next "Major" refresh.

The addition of the SSD should also help resale value, maybe not by much, but I could recoup part of the cost.
Click to expand...

Do you happen to already have an external disk you are using for Time Machine backups? You could install the SSD then option key boot to the TM disk and use recovery from there to format the drive and restore.
 
FrankySavvy said:
You are correct. To be honest, once I make the transfer I will probably return this. I am pretty much upgrading my Macbook Pro to last me 6 months to a Year.
Click to expand...

Eh? You want the use of the enclosure for transferring the data, and then will return it to the seller as a used item just to save $12 or $15 or whatever?

In what universe is that ethical?

Realize that it costs a retailer on average $14 in labour to process a return, not counting the loss that they will take having to clear it out as a used item.

http://www.economist.com/node/21548928
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Returning
 
FrankySavvy said:
I figured, while I was updating the Solid State Drive, I would upgrade the memory as well:

Will this work with the 2010 15" Macbook Pro.

Its two 4GB DDR SO-DIMM Memory Chips

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/corsair-2-pack-4gb-1-3ghz-ddr3-sodimm-laptop-memory-kit/1623588.p?id=1218273846150&skuId=1623588&st=SO-DIMM&cp=1&lp=3

Will upgrading from 4GB to 8GB make a big improvement?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

That memory will work.

Are you on Mavericks? Open Activity Monitor and look in the memory tab and look at the memory pressure bar at the bottom. If it is in the green, you do not need more memory and adding memory is unlikely to benefit you.

7c1EIWO.png
 
Weaselboy said:
That memory will work.

Are you on Mavericks? Open Activity Monitor and look in the memory tab and look at the memory pressure bar at the bottom. If it is in the green, you do not need more memory and adding memory is unlikely to benefit you.

Image
Click to expand...

You just saved me 80 or so bucks for an upgrade that I wouldn't need. I just blitzed my computer, opened all of my adobe programs, applied liquify to an image in Photoshop. Dragged a few files in InDesign and Illustrator. Streamed pandora and played two you tube videos, while checking the weather, played iTunes, updated Starcraft and all it used was 2.2 gb of ram.

So I don't think I have ever used close to 4gb on a daily basis.

A sincere thanks, I'm just upgrading the SSD now
 
FrankySavvy said:
Will this SSD work in my 2010 15" MacBook Pro? is it fast? Good price?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-840-evo-250gb-internal-serial-ata-iii-solid-state-drive-for-laptops/1902435.p?id=1219066876764&skuId=1902435&st=categoryid$pcmcat270900050001&cp=1&lp=7

The reason I am doing this upgrade is to increase the overall speed of boot times, OSX responsiveness and program launching.

Will I see any performance increase in Adobe CS6 Programs?

Since we have to wait for Broadwell, this upgrade would get me through another year.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It will work but for the price may I suggest a Crucial MX100? I installed the MX100 in my Mid-2010 MBP and it is awesome! I would also recommend setting the "noatime" flag and enabling TRIM.
 
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So I am now updating this post from my 2010 Macbook Pro with a new 250GB SSD. It feels like a new machine!

I recorded the time of how slow my boot-ups where with the HDD.

HDD - 1:32
SSD - 0:31

I am running OS X 10.10 Yosemite Beta 3.

Thanks for your help everyone!
 
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