I've been trying to find a good answer and I can't. I'm finding little threads here and there were some people are saying you can put 16gb of ram into your 2010 macbook as long as it is a Core Duo processor. Is this true? Hoping you guys have heard of this or have an idea. Thanks.
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2010 Macbook with Core Duo: Can I add 16gb of ram?
- Thread starter l_i_g_h_t
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Ok because some people were saying that 16gb will not work. I just wanted to check before I order anything. I do have a SSD on order and I can't wait to put that in. What kind of RAM would you guys recommend? I don't know which type is the best for this macbook. Any help or links would be great.
Data Memory Systems is a good source.
https://www.datamemorysystems.com/a...e-unibody-mc516ll/a-mid-2010-memory-upgrades/
https://www.datamemorysystems.com/a...e-unibody-mc516ll/a-mid-2010-memory-upgrades/
What's wrong with your battery?
You have a 7-year-old laptop.
If that battery is original, then it is likely nearing the end of its useful life - so you should consider getting a replacement battery.
You can discover the condition of your battery.
About This Mac/System Report, (Could be More Info, if your system is older), then the Power tab.
That will show your battery's information. The most important, IMHO, are the Cycle count, and Full Charge Capacity.
You have a 7-year-old laptop.
If that battery is original, then it is likely nearing the end of its useful life - so you should consider getting a replacement battery.
You can discover the condition of your battery.
About This Mac/System Report, (Could be More Info, if your system is older), then the Power tab.
That will show your battery's information. The most important, IMHO, are the Cycle count, and Full Charge Capacity.
My processor says "2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo"
[doublepost=1515598286][/doublepost]
Cycle count = 108
Full charge capacity = 4526
Charge remaining = 4337
Condition = normal
Correct. That is not a Core Duo. Core Duo is 32-bit which is a problem for many OSes these days. Core 2 Duo is 64-bit, which in practice for OS upgrades and software compatibility makes an enormous difference.
That machine I believe is MacBook7,1, which means with an EFI update and OS 10.7.5 Lion, it can support 16 GB RAM. Prior to 10.7.5, it can only support 8 GB RAM.
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201518#macbook
However, probably for most people using that model, it's not really worth it to upgrade to 16 GB, due to the relatively high pricing of that type of RAM for 16 GB. It really depends on what you do though. If you really need 16 GB then by all means get 16 GB. However, you should also upgrade the machine to SSD if you haven't already done that. For most people SSD + 8 GB RAM is far, far better than HD + 16 GB RAM. But the best of course would be SSD + 16 GB RAM.
That's decent. If you don't have any specific problem with that battery, then just keep using it.
As a precaution, if your Macbook is equipped with ANY Nvidia chipset (from memory, all Core 2 Duo machines were), then it is very picky about RAMs and even more picky about SSDs. As for the RAM, you absolutely need at least 1 stick that is rated at 1066 Mhz, so that the speed of the sticks will end up at 1066 Mhz no matter what the other stick says. Due to some weird bugs in the Nvidia chipset, it will unofficially support 1333 Mhz, but will crash periodically. As for SSDs, you should definitely google the Nvidia MCP SSD issue before buying any. The sinister part with the SSDs is that major symptoms MAY NOT occur until a month or so into usage, when you get a lot of data corruption and hangs.
EDIT: Yep, your machine is most definitely equipped with a Nvidia chipset. RAM prices are high now and 1066 Mhz 8GB RAM may potentially be very expensive. It may be worthwhile saving that kind of money for a newer machine, just FYI.
EDIT 2: Also be aware that your SSD at BEST will run in SATA2 mode, about half the performance of SATA3. At the worst, it'll be stuck in SATA1. It has been a long while since anyone reported on successes of modern SSDs in Nvidia-based Macs circa 2010-ish, so you may have to gamble.
EDIT: Yep, your machine is most definitely equipped with a Nvidia chipset. RAM prices are high now and 1066 Mhz 8GB RAM may potentially be very expensive. It may be worthwhile saving that kind of money for a newer machine, just FYI.
EDIT 2: Also be aware that your SSD at BEST will run in SATA2 mode, about half the performance of SATA3. At the worst, it'll be stuck in SATA1. It has been a long while since anyone reported on successes of modern SSDs in Nvidia-based Macs circa 2010-ish, so you may have to gamble.
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The Samsung 840 EVO works fine in my 2009 MacBookPro5,5. I believe the 850 EVO does as well, if I remember posts from the past correctly.
Does that issue affect the 2008 and 2009 models with nVidia GPUs too? My 2009 MBP5,5 has an nVidia GPU.
I think so. Officially any 2008-2009-2010 Macs with a Nvidia GPU are also equipped with a Nvidia chipset that integrated a GPU (some featured 2 GPUs, an integrated and discrete).
From memory, the Samsung 830/840/850 series were thought to work by many, but ended up in disappointment for some of those people. The problem was that not every combination of computer+SSD was reliable. The only SSDs back then that worked consistently were the Crucial M500s.
The Samsung 840s were not recommended here:
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/tuylaant/2014/01/upgrading-old-macs-to-ssds/
I am happy to hear that yours do work. Samsung had quite a few firmware updates to their 840 EVO, mostly due to data retention and speed degradation issues (famous too). Some of the later firmware versions probably made the 840 EVO reliable on the Nvidia MCPs again, or it could just be random luck.
My first Samsung SSD in my MacBookPro5,5 died with the 1 GB bug. It started not being recognized consistently and then one day just showed up as a 1 GB drive. I can't remember if that was an 830 or an 840 EVO. However, apparently, that was a firmware bug, not exclusive to nvidia Macs. Later firmwares were fine.
I'm currently using the 840 EVO in my 2009 MacBookPro5,5 with High Sierra.
FWIW, the V+100 series from Kingston works perfectly in all Macs I've tried it in (including for years in different nVidia Macs of that era), and it also has the "benefit" of hardcore garbage collection and it doesn't really suffer much without TRIM (but works fine with TRIM). That's not a big surprise since it uses the exact same controller as some of Apple's first SSDs. However, that's a really old model, and it's pretty slow.
I'm currently using the V+100 in my 2008 MacBook5,1 with High Sierra.
How much RAM do you have? If 8 GB you're golden. If 4 GB, then it may or not be acceptable, depending upon what you do.
IMO the sweet spot is 8 GB, but some people can get by with 4 GB, and some people need 16 GB.
Forget it. If it's working, it's working.
You'd be buying the same speed RAM now anyway.