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Help me upgrade my Daughters laptop Please !!!

Totally Bored

Totally Bored

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 29, 2015
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She's a Art Major in College. She just finished a year and tells me her MacBook Pro is slow and almost unusable. She told me the laptop and charger get incredibly hot sometimes and the fan gets real loud. Probably from overworking I quess. She does lots of Graphic Art and Videos. Here's what she's got.

MacBook Pro 13" Late 2011
Running OSX Yosemite 10.10.5
2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
4GM 1333Mhz DDR RAM
Intel HD Graphics 3000 384MB


So I'm thinking a 500 GB SSD and max out the RAM will help or should I be looking at a new one ?

Are they upgrading the new one soon ?

Not sure if the Graphics card will be good enough ?

If the Graphics card is good enough where do I get the SSD and RAM ?







Darn kids and college is killing me UGGH

Thanks in advance !!!
 
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Yeah the HD 3000 is almost definitely the culprit in terms of video editing depending on the resolution and bitrate, Intel's early graphic cards were not great at all even at the time of their release. SSD should significantly make the computer faster and any video editing relying on I/O but rendering and perhaps adding on animation real time will still be hindered. 4 GB of RAM is also pretty low for video editing, you would want 8 GB of RAM minimum.

Depending on your budget, the upgrades would be much better spent on purchasing a new computer which for sure is able to video edit/ photo edit. Apparently new ones may come out on WWDC. Wait if the computer isn't necessary but the 2015 13" has a fairly decent Intel Iris if one can't wait.
 
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RoboWarriorSr said:
Yeah the HD 3000 is almost definitely the culprit in terms of video editing depending on the resolution and bitrate, Intel's early graphic cards were not great at all even at the time of their release. SSD should significantly make the computer faster and any video editing relying on I/O but rendering and perhaps adding on animation real time will still be hindered. 4 GB of RAM is also pretty low for video editing, you would want 8 GB of RAM minimum.

Depending on your budget, the upgrades would be much better spent on purchasing a new computer which for sure is able to video edit/ photo edit. Apparently new ones may come out on WWDC. Wait if the computer isn't necessary but the 2015 13" has a fairly decent Intel Iris if one can't wait.
Click to expand...

Thanks and ...
UGGH I was afraid of that but it makes sense. Don't want to throw a ton of money into it all and have that Graphics card slow her down. I quess I'll just have to figure it into the cost of College somehow :)
 
Totally Bored said:
Thanks and ...
UGGH I was afraid of that but it makes sense. Don't want to throw a ton of money into it all and have that Graphics card slow her down. I quess I'll just have to figure it into the cost of College somehow :)
Click to expand...
You can find 2012/2013 retina MBP on CL for about $650-$700 with 8gb, 128gb SSD or 256Gb SSD if you're lucky. That's another option and you could sell the current machine.
 
The frequent "beachballs" that occur when doing the simplest tasks will go away with an SSD and RAM upgrade. You can put 16GB of RAM in that model if you so desire.

Is it just the graphics and video editing that are slow? My guess is it's the general system.
 
BrianBaughn said:
The frequent "beachballs" that occur when doing the simplest tasks will go away with an SSD and RAM upgrade. You can put 16GB of RAM in that model if you so desire.

Is it just the graphics and video editing that are slow? My guess is it's the general system.
Click to expand...
Everything is slow but the graphics and video editing is pretty bad. I'm gonna bite the bullet and buy a new one. I'll wait and see if a new refresh is out before I buy as she don't go back to college till the end of August.
 
guychicago said:
You can find 2012/2013 retina MBP on CL for about $650-$700 with 8gb, 128gb SSD or 256Gb SSD if you're lucky. That's another option and you could sell the current machine.
Click to expand...
You don't want a 2012 for video editing, the HD 4000 is just as bad, 2013+ should be fine as they utilize Intel Iris GPU's being Intel's "creme of the crop" along with having 40 EUs on the 5100 and 48 EUs on 6100 (HD 4000 has 16 EUs so quite significantly slower).
 
Does she need a portable for her graphics work? If not, consider the Mac Mini as a less costly solution if you already have a monitor and keyboard or an iMac? She could still use the MB but you get more bang for the buck with a desktop solution.
 
I have the same unit and use it for photography. I added more memory and an SSD and it was a night and day change. I currently have 16 GB of memory and 500 GB SSD. Very few spinning beachballs of death. I can launch Lightroom and Photoshop side by side and they are both work very fast.

FWIW, I just timed their launches and they were up and running in 10 seconds and 5 second, respectively

BTW, if you are thinking about getting a new MacBook Pro you should wait until June and see if the long rumor replacement MBPs ships. If they do I will move up. But I will have to pay for mine, myself.:(
 
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MacInTO said:
Like others have stated, RAM and a new SSD will make a huge difference. I use photoshop mostly and I find 4GB is not enough. 8 or 16 makes a big difference also.

Here's a link for RAM and SSD on Amazon. I have these in one of my Macs.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-DDR3L...083345&sr=8-1&keywords=16gb+ram+crucial+ddr3l

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Force...=1463083411&sr=8-1&keywords=480gb+ssd+corsair
Click to expand...


Thanks for the links. Think those will work for her MacBook Pro ?


So my plan is to wait to see if there's a refresh in June and buy her a new one. Don't want to hear the complaints for the next 3 years and ... She needs the portability.

So my plan is to install RAM and a SSD drive myself and keep it for me as I don't have a Laptop. I'm hoping the i5 processor will be good enough for me. I use Logic Pro X on my iMac so it would be cool to have all that on a Laptop. I don't use a ton of plugins and if a song required that I'd just go to the iMac.

Dumb question. Late 2011 MBP uses USB 3.0 ?
 
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Totally Bored said:
Thanks for the links. Think those will work for her MacBook Pro ?


So my plan is to wait to see if there's a refresh in June and buy her a new one. Don't want to hear the complaints for the next 3 years and ... She needs the portability.

So my plan is to install RAM and a SSD drive myself and keep it for me as I don't have a Laptop. I'm hoping the i5 processor will be good enough for me. I use Logic Pro X on my iMac so it would be cool to have all that on a Laptop. I don't use a ton of plugins and if a song required that I'd just go to the iMac.

Dumb question. Late 2011 MBP uses USB 3.0 ?
Click to expand...
np.

Your daughter probably needs a new MBP. However, the 2011 is still good, especially if you upgrade it.

Yes, I use it in a 2011 13" MBP also.

The 2011 has USB 2. The 2012 has USB 3.
 
MacInTO said:
np.

Your daughter probably needs a new MBP. However, the 2011 is still good, especially if you upgrade it.

Yes, I use it in a 2011 13" MBP also.

The 2011 has USB 2. The 2012 has USB 3.
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch !!!
 
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