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Bought a 2010 MBP, what are some good upgrades?

C

calibrationx

macrumors member
Original poster
May 7, 2012
54
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I just traded away my windows laptop for one of these babies:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...o-2.4-aluminum-13-mid-2010-unibody-specs.html

I was wondering what some good upgrades are to perform.

I've seen that SSD and RAM are probably the most popular and probably only upgrade options.

I have a 64GB SSD in my desktop as my boot drive and it flies, but I'm not sure if I can drop more money on a higher capacity SSD.

Would I see a decent increase in performance from going to 4GB to 8GB of RAM? I'm going to be using Lightroom occasionally.

Thanks for your opinions!
 
You hit the nail on the head. SSD + RAM are your only options. You will most definitely see a huge performance increase with a switch to an SSD, just look at SATA 2, your system does not support SATA 3. 8 GB RAM will give your system more "breathing room" for sure and given the price of RAM lately a worth while expense.
 
SSD and RAM are the way to go. You seem to already know this though. I put an SSD and 8GB of RAM in my machine and its like a totally different computer. It is ridiculously fast and handles everything I through at it without so much as a hiccup. You can get 120 and 128 SSDs at reasonable prices right now so they definitely are more affordable for sure. I would take a look at newegg they are having a sale right now I believe.
 
You can get most SSD benefits at a "low" cost if you go the optibay route: ditching the dvd drive so you can have a small SSD and a large HDD.
 
riptideMBP said:
You can get most SSD benefits at a "low" cost if you go the optibay route: ditching the dvd drive so you can have a small SSD and a large HDD.
Click to expand...

How much is the adapter kit? I don't think I'll be using the superdrive at all.
 
SSDs are still pretty expensive - you might want to consider a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive. I've got one and it's pretty good.
 
If you're willing to be a little bit patient, keep an eye on SSD prices. Over the past few weeks there's been several opportunities to get 256GB SSDs for right around $200. The prices don't seem to stay that low for very long, though, so if it's something you want you have to watch for it.
 
Is it possible to do a boot drive for the OS with the original HDD for data? I'm new to macs so I'm not sure how this goes.

For my desktop I have a 64GB SSD for boot and 1TB for data and it's fast enough for me. I don't need everything on one large SSD.
 
user418 said:
Some folks go with the cheapest kit they can find on the planet. Some end up happy while many end up very angry having to "make the kit fit and work properly".

This is what I recommend:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/
Click to expand...

I got one of the cheap ones and user418 is right, they aren't perfect, but are more than adequate, especially for the low price. I've had mine (below) for a year next week, and am getting 90% of the speed advertised by intel for my SSD.

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Module-Unibody-MacBook-Internal/dp/B004FM6ZJ4/ref=pd_rhf_cr_p_t_1

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calibrationx said:
Is it possible to do a boot drive for the OS with the original HDD for data? I'm new to macs so I'm not sure how this goes.

For my desktop I have a 64GB SSD for boot and 1TB for data and it's fast enough for me. I don't need everything on one large SSD.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is exactly what I am doing with my 40GB SSD and 1TB secondary internal HDD
 
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I'd also recommend the small capacity SSD & hdd-in-place-of-optical-drive method. Works really well in my 2010 MacBook Pro. Apps, OS and Xcode are on the SSD and they couldn't be faster. All of my documents and media are on the HDD and they work fine like that. I use the OWC Data Doubler and an Intel 320 80GB SSD. Best upgrade I've ever made.

I also have 8GB of OWC RAM, which is really nice to have. As stuff becomes more demanding, it's important to have more than enough RAM.
 
The max memory that is able to use on the i7-620M is 8GB so get it up there.
8GB are fairly cheap now.

Also SSD should do a job.
Get 128GB or more SSD and buy a optibay or data doubler.
This allows you to replace the optical drive for a second HDD/SSD.
So get like 750GB or 1TB HDD into the second bay and there you go!
You will probably have the most powerful 2010 MBP.
 
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