Early 2011 Macbook Pro Getting Slow - RAM or SSD upgrade?

[dutch300zx]

Hey everyone,

My MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) has the following specs:

• Processor: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
• Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB
• OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
• Storage: 500 GB SATA Disk (357 GB free)

The computer is bone stock, and over the past year or two has gotten slow and I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking about some upgrades to put some pep back into it. Quick research shows that a RAM and/or SSD upgrade will help speed things up, but I'd like some input on if either will actually help me in my case.

I use the computer for very basic things, such as browsing internet (Google Chrome, I know it's a memory hog but I prefer it), spreadsheets, word processors, some video watching, etc. As an example, even with only two Chrome windows and 4-10 tabs open, along with Activity Monitor and a Finder window, the computer will slow down, pages will take a long time to load, the fan will get loud, and the case gets quite hot. I've attached two screenshots from Activity Monitor, which shows Memory Pressure often in the yellow, and sometimes (but much less often) in the red. I have also pasted an EtreCheck below.

Based on Activity Monitor, it seems more RAM (2x4gb OWC) could help solve my problem, but I don't really know that much about computers. I do know that an SSD is always a nice upgrade, but am hoping I can slip by with only a RAM upgrade since it is significantly cheaper than a SSD. What are your thoughts? Thanks for any and all input!

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)

Report generated 2017-01-24 18:34:04

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 5:50

Performance: Below Average

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Problem: Computer is too slow

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-2620M) CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 1131

[Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2017-01-13) [Support]
[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]

[Support]
[running] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2017-01-12) [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2017-01-23) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2014-11-17) [Support]
[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]

[Support]
~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/SpotifyWebHelper
[loaded] com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist (2016-07-08) Adware! [Support] - /Applications/HTC Sync Manager.app/Contents/Resources/HSMMonitor.app/Contents/MacOS/HSMMonitor: Executable not found!
[running] com.spigot.ApplicationManager.plist (2016-12-28) Adware! [Support]
[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2016-07-19) [Support]

[Support]
AdobePDFViewer: 15.023.20056 - SDK 10.11 (2017-01-19) [Support]
Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-30)
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-12-04) [Support]
Google Earth Web Plug-in: 7.1 (2016-08-19) [Support]
Silverlight: 5.1.20513.0 - SDK 10.6 (2013-08-22) [Support]
DirectorShockwave: 11.6.3r633 (2012-01-19) [Support]
iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 - SDK 10.8 (2013-04-22)

[Support]
http://safariadblock.com (2014-08-11)

[Support]
Time Machine: ⓘ
Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
113% Google Chrome Helper(8)
33% Google Chrome
10% WindowServer
4% coreaudiod
4% kernel_task

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
1.17 GB Google Chrome Helper(8)
462 MB kernel_task
332 MB Google Chrome
86 MB mdworker(8)
25 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
360 MB Available RAM
16 MB Free RAM
3.65 GB Used RAM
344 MB Cached files
1.13 GB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

Jan 23, 2017, 05:48:44 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/App Store_2017-01-23-174844_[redacted].hang

/Applications/App Store.app/Contents/MacOS/App Store

 

[mrkenta]

Definitely get an SSD. I have the same exact model you are using and have gone through the same thing. But, after migrating to a SSD drive it felt like I had a brand new machine again. Getting a RAM upgrade to 8GB wouldn't hurt either (Please do backup everything before you migrate though)

 

[jksu]

ssd

 

[tubeexperience]

Get 8 GB DDR3L 1600 and a solid state drive (I recommend a Crucial MX 300).

Don't use Chrome. Switch to a different browser.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148807

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156151

 

[capathy21]

If you can only do one, do SSD. If you can do ram too, it will be like a brand new machine.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

SSD is always the best choice especially as the slow down is probably down to a dying hard drive, they last around 5years in a laptop on average.

Of course more ram will help and 8gb is pretty standard these days, but the SSD will help ram issues too due to being much faster when the system pages to disk.

 

[bbfc]

I’m just installed a Samsung EVO 850 SSD in my early 2011 MacBook Pro and I so wish I had done this years ago. Such a huge difference. Will update the RAM soon but the SSD has made such a dramatic difference. So easy to install too. £85 well spent!