Is it worth upgrading the RAM in my early-2011 MBP?

[wineandcarbs]

...or should I just put that money toward a new computer for down the road?

Right now it has 4 GB RAM. I notice my computer seems a bit slower and I do get the beach ball a little more often; I'm wondering if that's due to the RAM in my computer. I'm running OS X Mavericks. Very happy with the computer, and not sure if it's worth updating the RAM or just leaving it as is for now and putting the money toward a new MBP/MBA/Apple computer of some sort in the future.

TIA!

 

[GGJstudios]

...or should I just put that money toward a new computer for down the road?

Right now it has 4 GB RAM. I notice my computer seems a bit slower and I do get the beach ball a little more often; I'm wondering if that's due to the RAM in my computer. I'm running OS X Mavericks. Very happy with the computer, and not sure if it's worth updating the RAM or just leaving it as is for now and putting the money toward a new MBP/MBA/Apple computer of some sort in the future.

TIA!

Refer to the following Apple support article for more information on how to understand your Activity Monitor readings.

OS X Mavericks: About Activity Monitor​

The combination of Free, Wired, Active, Inactive & Used memory statistics in previous versions of Activity Monitor have been replaced in Mavericks with an easy to read "Memory Pressure" graph.
Memory pressure is indicated by color:

• Green – RAM memory resources are available.
• Amber – RAM memory resources are being tasked.
• Red – RAM memory resources are depleted and OS X is using the drive for memory.

If your memory is usually or always in the green under your normal workload, it's unlikely you'll see any benefit from more RAM.

If you're having performance issues, this may help:

Performance Tips For Mac OS X​

 

[pragmatous]

Invest the money in a SSD if you haven't already. You'll see much larger gains.

...or should I just put that money toward a new computer for down the road?

Right now it has 4 GB RAM. I notice my computer seems a bit slower and I do get the beach ball a little more often; I'm wondering if that's due to the RAM in my computer. I'm running OS X Mavericks. Very happy with the computer, and not sure if it's worth updating the RAM or just leaving it as is for now and putting the money toward a new MBP/MBA/Apple computer of some sort in the future.

TIA!

 

[wineandcarbs]

Refer to the following Apple support article for more information on how to understand your Activity Monitor readings.

OS X Mavericks: About Activity Monitor​

If your memory is usually or always in the green under your normal workload, it's unlikely you'll see any benefit from more RAM.

If you're having performance issues, this may help:

Performance Tips For Mac OS X​

Thanks! This was very helpful. Mine looks to be consistently in the Amber. My usage hasn't really changed too much since when I first got my MBP in 2011. I guess some programs are just more intensive now?

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Invest the money in a SSD if you haven't already. You'll see much larger gains.

I don't have an SSD. Original HDD. I'll look into the costs of an SSD and see if that would be worth doing or if I should just wait until I get a new computer (which will have an SSD). TY!

 

[HBP]

Update SSD ($100ish), throw original drive in optibay, and upgrade ram to 8-16gb.

Will feel like a brand new laptop for ~$200.

 

[GGJstudios]

Update SSD ($100ish), throw original drive in optibay, and upgrade ram to 8-16gb.

Will feel like a brand new laptop for ~$200.

As the OP indicated, they're not maxing out the RAM they have, so buying more would not improve performance. The SSD would certainly help.