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Crucial SSD and RAM upgrades for MBP

J

JFC

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 19, 2011
52
0
I just got a MBP, it’s a 15” with the 2.4ghz i7 and 4 gigs of ram. I was very surprised to find out that it is not very fast. Loading web sites can slow it down, and opening an app while one or two others are open will actually freeze it for a several seconds.

I’ve been reading about people getting speed increases after installing an SSD drive so I’ve decided that I’ll buy one and also increase the ram to 8 gigs.

I plan to buy the Crucial M4. It comes with a data transfer kit and seems easy to do; plug in the SSD, use the transfer software to copy the os and apps, and then switch the drives. I was hoping that someone who has already done this could confirm that it is really that simple of a process. I’ve read through the forum and tried to learn as much as I can, but I still don’t understand advanced things like TRIM or updating firmware by burning ISO disks. That is past my skill level and I only want to proceed if this is a simple and painless process.

I am also going to buy the Crucial 8gb ram kit. On Crucial’s web site you can search for your computer in order to find which of their products are compatible with your system. When I do this there are two different 8gb ram kits offered. They are both the same price and have identical specifications accept that one is 1.5 volts, and the other is 1.35 volts. Does anyone know what this difference is and which one is correct for my MBP?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help.

JFC.
 
JFC said:
I just got a MBP, it’s a 15” with the 2.4ghz i7 and 4 gigs of ram. I was very surprised to find out that it is not very fast. Loading web sites can slow it down, and opening an app while one or two others are open will actually freeze it for a several seconds.

I’ve been reading about people getting speed increases after installing an SSD drive so I’ve decided that I’ll buy one and also increase the ram to 8 gigs.

I plan to buy the Crucial M4. It comes with a data transfer kit and seems easy to do; plug in the SSD, use the transfer software to copy the os and apps, and then switch the drives. I was hoping that someone who has already done this could confirm that it is really that simple of a process. I’ve read through the forum and tried to learn as much as I can, but I still don’t understand advanced things like TRIM or updating firmware by burning ISO disks. That is past my skill level and I only want to proceed if this is a simple and painless process.

I am also going to buy the Crucial 8gb ram kit. On Crucial’s web site you can search for your computer in order to find which of their products are compatible with your system. When I do this there are two different 8gb ram kits offered. They are both the same price and have identical specifications accept that one is 1.5 volts, and the other is 1.35 volts. Does anyone know what this difference is and which one is correct for my MBP?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help.

JFC.
Click to expand...

dont use their transfer software. I'd do a time machine restore.
 
I can recommend this update because I've done it myself. It's pretty painless. Just use ifixit.com manuals for the RAM and SSD upgrade if you haven't done it before.

If you order the SSD straight from Crucial it's likely it will have the current firmware. I ordered mine from B&H because it was cheaper. It came with old firmware. I just followed the firmware upgrade instructions on Crucial's site and it worked perfectly.

The system flies with more RAM and SSD.
 
I bet there is an issue with your machine. Have a couple apps open and opening web browsers shouldn't freeze your machine up.
 
The MacBook Airs with SSD and 4GB of ram fly under these circumstances. If you actually monitor ram usage with 8GB you will find that SSD seems to matter more than ram. I would like to have more than 4 GB but its not as important as SSD.
As long as you are looking at memory consider 16 GB as the prices have fallen pretty dramatically.
 
I just did the SSD upgrade today and it couldn't have been any easier. I recommend carbon copy cloner to transfer your old HDD contents. It was quick and painless.

I did have to reset the PRAM afterwards because it seemed to hang for a short time when trying to boot the system. It was perfect after the reset.
 
If you're internet loading speeds are slow… perhaps invest in faster dump trucks?
 
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