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Hand-me-down 2011 MacBook Pro

antisomnic

antisomnic

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 6, 2012
351
423
Rochester, NY
I've recently received a hand-me-down 2011 MacBook Pro that is in pretty good condition. This is in addition to my 2012 13" MacBook Pro. I actually enjoy this MacBook more because it has a 15" higher resolution screen, and the processor is a lot faster.

I'd like people's opinion. Should I sell both of my MacBooks and save up for a new MacBook, or purchase an SSD & upgrade the memory on this 2011? The only thing that sucks if I keep it is that the newest macOS it runs is High Sierra (I've tried cracks to get newer versions and they never run right). What do you guys think?
 
Didn't hear what your use cases are for the machine, but assuming its the basics I would upgrade the old machine. These are great computers for most people. I just recently upgraded to Catalina on two 2011 machines (13" MacBook Pro, and a Mac Mini) without any issues. Finally, the investment to try this route is so low compared to buying a new machine that it doesn't make sense to not try it first.
 
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I'm not 100% sure what my use case will be yet as I wasn't expecting to receive it. As of now just basic tasks.

Curious, how did you get Catalina on a 2011 MacBook Pro? I didn't think it was compatible.
 
Do you have SSDs in one or both of those machines? If not, upgrade the one you like better to an SSD and you'll be amazed at how fast it runs. If your needs are being met with those laptops right now I don't see why you'd need to upgrade to one of the newer MacBooks although with older machines, you're always on borrowed time. At least with those old Unibody vintages of MacBook Pros, you can self repair a lot of the issues and I've done just that. My main driver is a 2018 MBP, but I also have repaired and upgraded 2010 and 2012 Unibodies in reserve.
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antisomnic said:
I'm not 100% sure what my use case will be yet as I wasn't expecting to receive it. As of now just basic tasks.

Curious, how did you get Catalina on a 2011 MacBook Pro? I didn't think it was compatible.
Click to expand...

It's not "supported" but that doesn't mean it's not compatible.

Have you tried this?
 
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smirking said:
Do you have SSDs in one or both of those machines? If not, upgrade the one you like better to an SSD and you'll be amazed at how fast it runs. If your needs are being met with those laptops right now I don't see why you'd need to upgrade to one of the newer MacBooks although with older machines, you're always on borrowed time. At least with those old Unibody vintages of MacBook Pros, you can self repair a lot of the issues and I've done just that. My main driver is a 2018 MBP, but I also have repaired and upgraded 2010 and 2012 Unibodies in reserve.
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It's not "supported" but that doesn't mean it's not compatible.

Have you tried this?
Click to expand...

I upgraded to an SSD with my 2012 MacBook Pro and I was amazed at the speed increase.

I did try the dosdude patcher and it did install Catalina, but the graphics were very buggy. However, I the site looks redesigned and it looks like there's a new version. Should I try upgrading again?

edit: Having read the changeling on the site, they have fixed the issues I was experiencing.
 
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antisomnic said:
I upgraded to an SSD with my 2012 MacBook Pro and I was amazed at the speed increase.
Click to expand...

The standard advice around here to the question of when it's the right time to upgrade your computer to maximize the value of your purchase is to upgrade if you need it, wait if you don't.

If everything's working for you now, just stick with it and reconsider from year to year whether you need a new computer. By the time you decide it's time, the entry level MBP model might be competitive with the 16" MBP now.

Also look for actual vendors selling Apple Certified Refurbs. You can always also decide to upgrade when you see an eye popping deal that just makes too much sense to jump on. Right now there's one vendor in Tennessee with an eBay store that's selling certified refurbished 2017 13" MBPs that come with the standard one year Apple Warranty for $950. If I didn't already have a 15" 2018 MBP, it'd be hard to resist picking one up at that price!
 
I am loading the patched version of Catalina onto a usb drive right now. If that runs good, I think I'll pop in an SSD and maybe another 8gb of RAM. It seems fast enough right now other than the HDD bottleneck.
 
I'm still running a 2011 13 inch MBP. I've maxed the RAM to 16 Gigs, put a new battery, and increased my Harddrive to 750 GB. I'm still planning on getting an SSD at some point, but I want more than 1TB.

I do all the usual plus some programming. My biggest issues are that although I had a FireWire dock for backups, it's died and I'm having trouble getting a replacement for a reasonable fee. In the meantime, I can leave my MBP plugged in at night to do transfers across my home network.
 
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millerj123 said:
I'm still running a 2011 13 inch MBP. I've maxed the RAM to 16 Gigs, put a new battery, and increased my Harddrive to 750 GB. I'm still planning on getting an SSD at some point, but I want more than 1TB.

I do all the usual plus some programming. My biggest issues are that although I had a FireWire dock for backups, it's died and I'm having trouble getting a replacement for a reasonable fee. In the meantime, I can leave my MBP plugged in at night to do transfers across my home network.
Click to expand...

Cool to hear. Are you running Catalina or still on High Sierra.
 
antisomnic said:
I am loading the patched version of Catalina onto a usb drive right now. If that runs good, I think I'll pop in an SSD and maybe another 8gb of RAM. It seems fast enough right now other than the HDD bottleneck.
Click to expand...

Now that I've encouraged you to stay put, I do have to say there is one fantastic hidden reason to upgrade and that's having access to USB 3.1 g2 speeds. I'm not even talking about 40Gbps TB3 because the external TB3 storage devices are just too expensive right now.

The real world speed of ordinary USB-C 3.1g2 is more than twice the real world speed of the USB 3 ports in those Unibody MBPs. It's fast enough that there isn't a notable real world difference in usage speeds for some common tasks. There's barely a stutter in viewing and editing photos in Apple Photos.
 
installed Catalina and the provided patches and I still get some random artifacting and the menu bar selection color is a pale grey in light and dark mode even though the change log specifies that issue was fixed.
 
I have Catalina running on a 2011 MacBook Pro (with the Catalina Patcher) and it runs perfectly. There’s just a couple features missing like AirFlow, but AirFlow isn’t compatible with iOS 13 with High Sierra anyway.
 
Maybe no consolation as it's lasted this long, but just remember the 2011 15" MBP (both early and late 2011) is a gfx ticking time bomb. If it hasn't had an issue thus far, I wouldn't be using it solely as a daily driver or spending any monies on it. I keep my 17" about and use it sparingly, as :apple: replaced the logic board 3 times, seems a waste to get shot of it. The first time the gfx went was just a simple OS update and that was enough to fry it, YMMV.
 
antisomnic said:
I upgraded to an SSD with my 2012 MacBook Pro and I was amazed at the speed increase.

I did try the dosdude patcher and it did install Catalina, but the graphics were very buggy. However, I the site looks redesigned and it looks like there's a new version. Should I try upgrading again?

edit: Having read the changeling on the site, they have fixed the issues I was experiencing.
Click to expand...

On a 2012 MacBook Pro Catalina is natively supported so you don't need dosdude's tool.
 
I upgraded the internals of my mother in law's 2011 MacBook Pro, and it hums. Still lightning fast and it's not at the max RAM yet. I'm on the fence about upgrading her to Catalina, particularly with all the reported issues and such. I haven't had a lot of problems, but my hardware is still supported.
 
AustinIllini said:
I upgraded the internals of my mother in law's 2011 MacBook Pro, and it hums. Still lightning fast and it's not at the max RAM yet. I'm on the fence about upgrading her to Catalina, particularly with all the reported issues and such. I haven't had a lot of problems, but my hardware is still supported.
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The max RAM is only 8 GB on that thing. As for issues, it’s been working perfectly for me.
 
^^The max RAM on a 2011 is 16GB not 8GB

===

I've done the Catalina update on mine and it's all kinds of meh..but it works
 
I updated it to Catalina and disabled the AMD GPU and it is running great!! Snappier than on high Sierra with all the new features. Very excited to keep this MacBook!!
 
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antisomnic said:
I updated it to Catalina and disabled the AMD GPU and it is running great!! Snappier than on high Sierra with all the new features. Very excited to keep this MacBook!!
Click to expand...
Yeah ... it's kind of ridiculous how much faster it is and even more ridiculous when you realize there was no reason for Apple to stop supporting this laptop when it runs great.
 
Bandaman said:
Yeah ... it's kind of ridiculous how much faster it is and even more ridiculous when you realize there was no reason for Apple to stop supporting this laptop when it runs great.
Click to expand...

It's not an arbitrary designation.
5-7 years after the end of manufacturing = vintage (sorta unsupported)
7+ years after the end of manufacturing = obsolete (unsupported, good luck kiddo)

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support

Learn about your options for getting service and parts for Apple devices that are past their warranty period.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
Bandaman said:
Yeah ... it's kind of ridiculous how much faster it is and even more ridiculous when you realize there was no reason for Apple to stop supporting this laptop when it runs great.
Click to expand...

The lack of the Metal GPU support is the only legitimate reason, but the same can be said about the late-2008 MacBook.
 
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