? about early 2011 model

[SoloXis]

My 2011 macbook has this issue and was completely gutted and refurbished for free by apple right before I sold it.

That's when the replacement program was in place. I personally had my graphics/logic board replaced 3 times for free. However, the program had expired at the end of 2016.

If the graphics replacement program is still in place I wouldn't hesitated to recommend swapping out your HDD for a SSD and perhaps reformat your computer for a brand new experience. I personally have 1TB HDD (in place of my DVD drive) and 1TB SSD in my 2011 MBP and it still runs like a beast.

If you don't do graphics intensive work that will cause the MBP to heat up like crazy (which will cause the graphics issue to surface over time), then it's safer to prolong its life via RAM and SSD upgrades.

 

[eyeseeyou]

That's when the replacement program was in place. I personally had my graphics/logic board replaced 3 times for free. However, the program had expired at the end of 2016.

If the graphics replacement program is still in place I wouldn't hesitated to recommend swapping out your HDD for a SSD and perhaps reformat your computer for a brand new experience. I personally have 1TB HDD (in place of my DVD drive) and 1TB SSD in my 2011 MBP and it still runs like a beast.

If you don't do graphics intensive work that will cause the MBP to heat up like crazy (which will cause the graphics issue to surface over time), then it's safer to prolong its life via RAM and SSD upgrades.

Yeah it ended in December but if my memory serves me correctly before it was extended to December 2016 it was previously only good until 2015.

I'd be surprised if apple continues to provides services and parts for a 6 year old machine.

 

[AztecKing]

If it is just a wired external, you would need to have it plugged in to access. If you use Photos, you could create a second library of the photos you use the least and store them on the external. When opening a different library, you would hold down the ALT key when clicking on the iPhoto icon, and then a window would open where you click on whichever library you wish to open.

This may be of reading interest because this might better suit your needs in terms of accessibility AND data protection. It briefly explains what NAS is, the benefits, the flexibility, and the basic concept in how it works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage
http://www.seagate.com/tech-insights/what-is-nas-master-ti/


If you wanted to set up a NAS, this is what would work well for many users in that it would be not terribly expensive and yet provide tremendous reliability & data protection. These hard drives will provide a usable service life of at least 5 years and likely much longer (I've got some that are 8 and still healthy), so even when you replace your computer, you would not need to make any changes to this setup.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1237204-REG/synology_diskstation_ds216j_2_bay_nas.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/985495-REG/hgst_0s03593_2tb_ultrastar_internal_hd.html x2


If you are not already, you should have at least two (preferably 3) copies of your photos on different hard drives. The above NAS solution would do this if you are not already doing it.

Thanks for the links. I read them and now have a better understanding of NAS. I do have 3 copies of my photos and videos on different drives just in case something happens.

 

[AztecKing]

Update:
My hard drive is going bad and I'm having them put in a 1TB SSD. I just want to thank all of you for the help.

Jeff

 

[capricorn71]

This. Shoot go for 16gb's of ram. Do this, unless you really really need a retina screen, and you'll have a more than capable macbook for at least another 2 years if not more.

To give an update: I installed a 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD as the main drive, switched the old 750 GB HDD to the place the SuperDrive was and upgraded to 16 GB RAM (Crucial).
Now the MacBook is faster then ever. I' m really glad.

 

[eyeseeyou]

To give an update: I installed a 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD as the main drive, switched the old 750 GB HDD to the place the SuperDrive was and upgraded to 16 GB RAM (Crucial).
Now the MacBook is faster then ever. I' m really glad.

Just a quick call out, I think apple stopped providing official support for MAC OS on the 2011 macbooks.

 

[tubeexperience]

Just a quick call out, I think apple stopped providing official support for MAC OS on the 2011 macbooks.

What?

 

[SMDBill]

I have an Early 2011 model MacBook Pro 15" with the 2GHz Intel i7 processor, 8 GB memory and a 1TB hard drive. I'm running the latest version of Sierra and have about 350 GB of free space on my hard drive and my machine is getting slower and slower. I have the normal stuff on my computer and approximately 20,000 photos. I talked to an authorized dealer and they said it's time for a new hard drive since this one has been in there for almost 3 years. They said it would probably be better for me to buy a new computer than spend the money for a new hard drive. They suggested selling this one while it's still worth a fair amount of money and upgrade.

Since I'm not an expert I'm looking for some advice from all of you. Should I put a few hundred bucks into this unit or upgrade? Could it be something else going on that's making it run slow?

Jeff

I would recommend adding RAM and replacing the hard drive. Since you need large storage, HDD is about the only way to go unless you can do SSD internal and external HDD for some files, or even the mod where you replace the DVD with a HDD. I just broke my MB Air 2015 and switched back to a 2011 Macbook Pro 13 (late 2011). Not noticing much at all in the way of s lowdown, but battery life is weak. I'm keeping this thing for sure. For my uses, which are browser, email, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and a few odd programs, it's more than fast enough. Heck, it's faster than my brand new latest Core i5 work computer because of all the garbage they add to it that slows it down.

If it's fast enough, you can get batteries for next to nothing, RAM is cheap, and storage keeps going down or getting bigger. I've learned through this that new isn't necessarily better, especially since the OS seems to get faster with later versions.