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MBP late 2011 upgrade questions

R

Ripcrod

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 3, 2013
110
2
Hi all,

I have a MacBook Pro late 2011 model & I moved from Windows to MBP this year

I would like to know if I can upgrade the RAM & HDD to SSD

I have the following questions:
1. Right now it has 4 GB RAM. How much is the maximum it can take?
2. Since I don't have the warranty, can I replace the RAM myself?
3. Which brand of RAM do you guys suggest?
4. If I have SSD, How can I reinstall the OS? I can only download the OS from app store & install it?

Thanks in advance±
 
Ripcrod said:
Hi all,

I have a MacBook Pro late 2011 model & I moved from Windows to MBP this year

I would like to know if I can upgrade the RAM & HDD to SSD

I have the following questions:
1. Right now it has 4 GB RAM. How much is the maximum it can take?
2. Since I don't have the warranty, can I replace the RAM myself?
3. Which brand of RAM do you guys suggest?
4. If I have SSD, How can I reinstall the OS? I can only download the OS from app store & install it?

Thanks in advance±
Click to expand...

1. 16GB
2. You could even back when you had a warranty, they are deemed user replacable parts as per your manual.
3. The cheapest compatible model you'll find with a decent warranty, RAM is RAM.
4. Press CMD + R while booting, follow the on screen instructions.
 
snaky69 said:
1. 16GB
2. You could even back when you had a warranty, they are deemed user replacable parts as per your manual.
3. The cheapest compatible model you'll find with a decent warranty, RAM is RAM.
4. Press CMD + R while booting, follow the on screen instructions.
Click to expand...

Thank you Snaky69
 
Ripcrod said:
Hi all,

I have a MacBook Pro late 2011 model & I moved from Windows to MBP this year

I would like to know if I can upgrade the RAM & HDD to SSD

I have the following questions:
1. Right now it has 4 GB RAM. How much is the maximum it can take?
2. Since I don't have the warranty, can I replace the RAM myself?
3. Which brand of RAM do you guys suggest?
4. If I have SSD, How can I reinstall the OS? I can only download the OS from app store & install it?

Thanks in advance±
Click to expand...

Hi,

If you have been running fine up so far on 4 GB, 8GB will easily meet your needs for the next 2-4 years. If you want to keep the laptop for longer, go for 16GB.

As for the reinstallation question, some people prefer to clone their original HDD onto the SSD so that they don't have to set up the whole thing again. I personally prefer clean installs. If you want to do a cloning, get a USB to SATA adapter or an optibay caddy and connect your SSD. Then use a cloning software such as Carbon Copy to clone your HDD. Finally, replace your HDD with the SSD. If you need more storage, you can move the HDD to the optibay.

Best of luck.

Regards
Raptor
 
Doesn't the swap of a non customer installable part deem it out of Apple's OOW repairs? If he puts in a caddy, can Apple say they won't replace the battery etc. even if the OP wants to pay for them to do that down the line?
 
Altemose said:
Doesn't the swap of a non customer installable part deem it out of Apple's OOW repairs? If he puts in a caddy, can Apple say they won't replace the battery etc. even if the OP wants to pay for them to do that down the line?
Click to expand...

If that was an issue the OP can simply put the optical drive back before handing it to Apple for repair...it may be deemed non-customer-replaceable but it is fully reversible.

It maybe worth considering just in case Apple use the optical drive to load any diagnostics....IMHO the "risk" is certainly worth the return, and I'd honestly expect Apple to have no issue with working on such a modified MBP - after all the caddy mounts using the same screws and connectors/cables as the optical drive.
 
I am not aware of Apple's ruling on that so I wanted to pose it so someone could chime in. It is annoying when they would say they couldn't take $130 to swap the battery because of a Optical Drive Caddy!
 
Ripcrod said:
I have the following questions:
1. Right now it has 4 GB RAM. How much is the maximum it can take?
2. Since I don't have the warranty, can I replace the RAM myself?
3. Which brand of RAM do you guys suggest?
4. If I have SSD, How can I reinstall the OS? I can only download the OS from app store & install it?
Click to expand...

I have the same late 2011 MBP,

1. 16 GB, been using it for 6 months+ and found no problem
2. yes, it is easy to do.
3. any so-dimm ram will suffice
4. yes, but you can use CCC, that will clone your drive and make it bootable
 
Altemose said:
I am not aware of Apple's ruling on that so I wanted to pose it so someone could chime in. It is annoying when they would say they couldn't take $130 to swap the battery because of a Optical Drive Caddy!
Click to expand...

I think depending on who at Apple looks at your machine, anything other than a RAM and hard drive swap would be considered an "unofficial" modification and against your default warranty coverage. The easiest thing to do - put things back the way they were if you're going to the Genius Bar or sending it to Apple...a few techs got upset over RAM and hard drives, but most seem to be fine with that now.

(Although if anyone else wants to weigh in, I'll yield - they might have more insight)
 
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