Macbook Pro SSD and Ram upgrade or new Macbook Air 13"

[BoxsterRS]

Well, It has been three years since I purchased my Macbook Pro 15" it has an i5 2.4ghz processor and 4gb ram. During the past months, It has become extremely sluggish and HD is almost full. I mainly use my laptop for school to read PDFs, eBooks and watch Kaplan videos other than listening to music. I am considering investing in an SSD drive and upgrading the ram to 8gb or buy a new Macbook Air 13" for my school related work. I have not made up my mind yet on what to do but would like to know what you thought about this? Thanks for your input.

 

[raptor402]

Well, It has been three years since I purchased my Macbook Pro 15" it has an i5 2.4ghz processor and 4gb ram. During the past months, It has become extremely sluggish and HD is almost full. I mainly use my laptop for school to read PDFs, eBooks and watch Kaplan videos other than listening to music. I am considering investing in an SSD drive and upgrading the ram to 8gb or buy a new Macbook Air 13" for my school related work. I have not made up my mind yet on what to do but would like to know what you thought about this? Thanks for your input.

Hi, Boxster

Well, judging from your use, your MacBook isn't exactly underpowered. An 8GB RAM + 120GB boot SSD will give you an amazing $200 boost. A new Air, on the other hand, will cost you roughly $1000.

A major thing to consider will be your future use. An SSD+RAM boost will easily add another 2-3 years of life to your MacBook, enabling you to upgrade to an Air or whatever whenever you want. There are rumours of a complete overhaul coming to the Air line next year. Might be worth the wait.

If, however, you decide to go for MacBook Air now, be sure to get 8GB RAM.

Regards
Raptor

 

[Gav2k]

I'm with the above. Ram and ssd with mavericks will breath a fresh lease of life into your machine.

 

[TheEnthusiast]

Typical HDD slowdown. The SSD alone would give you a major speed boost for sure. Assuming you've managed to fill up a 500 GB HDD, get a 256GB SSD or a 512 GB one, if possible; it all depends on how much you store on your computer. External HD and get a 120/256GB maybe? More RAM would honestly be overkill for those uses, but you should get it since you seem to have already decided on doing so.

 

[Gen]

What's your battery requirement? While I was in school battery life was the most important thing. If it is the same for you, I'd say sell the old and get a new Air.

 

[BoxsterRS]

Thanks for the input, I upgrade to an Intel 530 SSD and 8gb ram, system is fast and I have not experienced any more issues. It runs better than how it was set up new.

 

[scbond]

It has become extremely sluggish and HD is almost full.

You outlined the issue yourself ...it was sluggish because the HDD was almost full.

 

[supaman]

Want to sell your old ram?