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Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" worth upgrading?

C

curtoise

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2010
529
14
Hello folks, I've recently purchased the 2013 11" Macbook Air to have it as a real mobile machine and this things is extremely fast.

As a desktop machine attached to a Thunderbolt 17" I have an early 2011 MBP 2.3 Intel Core i5 with 16mb of ram and 1tb 5400rpm.

Of course the Macbook Air is 10 times faster and a joy to use while the MBP is slow as hell and beach balling every minute to the point that sometimes I have to wait a couple of minutes until I can get back to work.

I want to get an iMac and hopefully a new refresh will come soon and I can have the iMac for work as main desktop and the Air for mobile purposes.

My question is if it is worth it to get an SSD like the Samsung 840 Pro to reaplce the slow 5400 rpm in the MacBook Pro to speed that a little bit or just save the money and get the iMac?

I think it will feel awkward if my 11" 2013 Air is going to be faster than my main desktop machine.

I could just use the Air attached to the Thunderbolt until I get the iMac too.

I'm just not sure if is good or not to throw 200-300 on an SSD.

I have a service battery signal too on this machine.

Any advice?

Thanks!
 
Your mac should not be "slow as hell," especially with 16GB. Aside from the SSD, your MBP would at worst be equal to the Air.

Try a fresh install? Or maybe you have a bad HDD? But yes, an SSD would be a good upgrade in terms of storage performance.
 
So do you think that a 2011 MBP 2.3 Intel Core i5 with 16mb of ram and adding a Samsung 840 Pro will be as fast as the new Air?

If that's true I'll hold on on buying the iMac and use this as a desktop replacement.

I already did a reinstall and nothing changed.
 
curtoise said:
Hello folks, I've recently purchased the 2013 11" Macbook Air to have it as a real mobile machine and this things is extremely fast.

As a desktop machine attached to a Thunderbolt 17" I have an early 2011 MBP 2.3 Intel Core i5 with 16mb of ram and 1tb 5400rpm.

Of course the Macbook Air is 10 times faster and a joy to use while the MBP is slow as hell and beach balling every minute to the point that sometimes I have to wait a couple of minutes until I can get back to work.

I want to get an iMac and hopefully a new refresh will come soon and I can have the iMac for work as main desktop and the Air for mobile purposes.

My question is if it is worth it to get an SSD like the Samsung 840 Pro to reaplce the slow 5400 rpm in the MacBook Pro to speed that a little bit or just save the money and get the iMac?

I think it will feel awkward if my 11" 2013 Air is going to be faster than my main desktop machine.

I could just use the Air attached to the Thunderbolt until I get the iMac too.

I'm just not sure if is good or not to throw 200-300 on an SSD.

I have a service battery signal too on this machine.

Any advice?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

What I bolded is why your computer is beach balling so much! Upgrade NOW!
 
curtoise said:
So do you think that a 2011 MBP 2.3 Intel Core i5 with 16mb of ram and adding a Samsung 840 Pro will be as fast as the new Air?

If that's true I'll hold on on buying the iMac and use this as a desktop replacement.

I already did a reinstall and nothing changed.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you mean 16GB, but yes, in terms of memory and CPU performance, the MBP should be as fast or better.

The Air will always be faster with its PCIe SSD (in terms of drive performance), but an SSD on the MBP would greatly improve performance in those tasks over your current HDD.
 
someguy50 said:
I'm sure you mean 16GB, but yes, in terms of memory and CPU performance, the MBP should be as fast or better.

The Air will always be faster with its PCIe SSD (in terms of drive performance), but an SSD on the MBP would greatly improve performance in those tasks over your current HDD.
Click to expand...

Thanks I just don't want to spend the money and then the little 11" will outperform my main working machine.
 
someguy50 said:
I'm sure you mean 16GB, but yes, in terms of memory and CPU performance, the MBP should be as fast or better.

The Air will always be faster with its PCIe SSD (in terms of drive performance), but an SSD on the MBP would greatly improve performance in those tasks over your current HDD.
Click to expand...

Yes sorry that should be 16GB, are you saying that the 2011 2.3 Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge will be faster than the new 2013 i5 Air with Haswell if I add a SSD?
 
curtoise said:
Yes sorry that should be 16GB, are you saying that the 2011 2.3 Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge will be faster than the new 2013 i5 Air with Haswell if I add a SSD?
Click to expand...

There's too many variables to just say yes. The Air will have the faster SSD no matter what, so in those benchmarks it'll be faster. (disk performance) The 2013 Air has a PCIe SSD, something not possible in your MBP.

Anything CPU intensive, the MBP would be on top. The 2011 MBP is still a very modern machine, in terms of performance.
 
someguy50 said:
There's too many variables to just say yes. The Air will have the faster SSD no matter what, so in those benchmarks it'll be faster. (disk performance) The 2013 Air has a PCIe SSD, something not possible in your MBP.

Anything CPU intensive, the MBP would be on top. The 2011 MBP is still a very modern machine, in terms of performance.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'm still undecided if it is worth to spend the money or sell the machine and get an iMac.
 
someguy50 said:
eh, whatever you want. 2011 MBP is portable and still a beast of machine
Click to expand...

I just don't want my 11" mobile machine to be faster than my main workstation machine where I'll be spending 8 hours every day.
 
someguy50 said:
Or maybe you have a bad HDD?
Click to expand...

From the sound of it, I'd have to agree with the above.

a. Selectively copy your most important files to another drive
b. Attempt to clone the drive
c. Replace the stock drive with a full SSD or a hybrid, depending on your space needs and budget.

That'll likely fix your slowness.


__
 
curtoise said:
Early 2011 Macbook Pro 13" worth upgrading?
Click to expand...
Anytime.

curtoise said:
As a desktop machine attached to a Thunderbolt 17" I have an early 2011 MBP 2.3 Intel Core i5 with 16mb of ram and 1tb 5400rpm.

Of course the Macbook Air is 10 times faster and a joy to use while the MBP is slow as hell and beach balling every minute to the point that sometimes I have to wait a couple of minutes until I can get back to work.
Click to expand...
Even the i5 Early-2011 is a little beast. As others have said, try a clean installation, and do not install “anti-virus” or “system optimization” software. The 1 TB 5400 rpm is a little slow, yes, but the OS X RAM cache helps.
 
NewishMacGuy said:
From the sound of it, I'd have to agree with the above.

a. Selectively copy your most important files to another drive
b. Attempt to clone the drive
c. Replace the stock drive with a full SSD or a hybrid, depending on your space needs and budget.

That'll likely fix your slowness.


__
Click to expand...

I'm getting a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB delivered tomorrow, I believe that will help a lot, any particular steps I need to follow, I was reading about something called Trim Enabler?

----------
Mr. Retrofire said:
Anytime.


Even the i5 Early-2011 is a little beast. As others have said, try a clean installation, and do not install “anti-virus” or “system optimization” software. The 1 TB 5400 rpm is a little slow, yes, but the OS X RAM cache helps.
Click to expand...

Never had antivirus or optimization softwares, maybe the disk is just slow and dying.

I'll be replacing this for a 840 Pro 256GB tomorrow afternoon.
 
Check out the Geekbench results to get a sense generally speaking of how your MBP and MBA stack up. Assuming your 2013 11" is an i5... pretty damn close, see below:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2013)
Intel Core i5-4250U 1300 MHz (2 cores)
5932

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011)
Intel Core i5-2415M 2300 MHz (2 cores)
5818
 
esskay said:
Check out the Geekbench results to get a sense generally speaking of how your MBP and MBA stack up. Assuming your 2013 11" is an i5... pretty damn close, see below:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2013)
Intel Core i5-4250U 1300 MHz (2 cores)
5932

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011)
Intel Core i5-2415M 2300 MHz (2 cores)
5818
Click to expand...


Tat looks pretty good, the SSD is on FeDex for delivery and I cannot wait to upgrade this machine to see the results.

I there any Wiki guide or steps for the Trim Enabler or anything that I need to do after I install the SSD and install Mountain Lion?
 
curtoise said:
Tat looks pretty good, the SSD is on FeDex for delivery and I cannot wait to upgrade this machine to see the results.

I there any Wiki guide or steps for the Trim Enabler or anything that I need to do after I install the SSD and install Mountain Lion?
Click to expand...

You will be blown away by the difference.

IMPORTANT - If your drive is failing you should immediately copy your most important files (in order of importance) to another drive, particularly if you don't have a backup already. If you make it through that, then try and back-up the whole drive. Don't do anything until you do this as each use of the drive takes you closer towards total failure.



___
 
NewishMacGuy said:
You will be blown away by the difference.

IMPORTANT - If your drive is failing you should immediately copy your most important files (in order of importance) to another drive, particularly if you don't have a backup already. If you make it through that, then try and back-up the whole drive. Don't do anything until you do this as each use of the drive takes you closer towards total failure.



___
Click to expand...


Thanks I've backed up everything in Dropbox and good to go, regarding my previous question, are there any essential mandatory steps after the ssd is up and running with Mountain Lion?
 
The ssd arrived half hour ago and it is installed now in the MBP and I'm doing the Mountain Lion install.

are there any essential mandatory steps after the ssd is up and running with Mountain Lion?
 
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