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Mid 2010 13" MacBook Pro and El Capitan?

D

davidg4781

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 28, 2006
2,977
477
Alice, TX
I'm almost certain there aren't any issues with El Capitan running on a Mid 2010 13" MacBook Pro but I thought I'd ask to be sure. It has 8 GB of RAM.

The main reason I ask is it's my mom's and if she upgrades, I may not be around to help with any issues.

For instance, on my mini, for some reason, I can't share anything from Safari to Facebook/Twitter/Email, etc. And I can't add those items to the share menu. I haven't bothered to look into why yet.
 
i have a mid-2010 13" MBP also w/ 8gb RAM running El Capitan and it runs fine.
 
Great thanks! I'll upgrade it next time I go down to visit. I want to make sure we do a full backup. Just in case.
 
dk206 said:
Wait...did you upgrade the RAM? SSD? My 2010 13 MBP is so slow on the el capitan...:(
Click to expand...

yes, i bought my MBP used(came pre-installed with Yosemite); upgraded the RAM and SSD before the El Capitan install...
 
c8rlo said:
yes, i bought my MBP used(came pre-installed with Yosemite); upgraded the RAM and SSD before the El Capitan install...
Click to expand...
What SSD did you get? Also is it actually worth upgrading to 16gb ram for our mbp? Thanks
 
dk206 said:
What SSD did you get? Also is it actually worth upgrading to 16gb ram for our mbp? Thanks
Click to expand...

i went with the Crucial BX100 256gb, paid $75 which is a steal; though you can usually find them on sale around $75-90 on Newegg. as far as RAM, i went with 8gb vs 16gb...i'm not a power user so 8gb was more than enough for my needs.
 
Nice. So how's the performance? Does it fly? I'm going to use this to play league of legends mainly as it has a dedicated nvidia graphics card. Just curious to see actually performance and if there are any other things I can do to MAXIMISE specs for this 5 year old laptop :D
 
dk206 said:
Nice. So how's the performance? Does it fly? I'm going to use this to play league of legends mainly as it has a dedicated nvidia graphics card. Just curious to see actually performance and if there are any other things I can do to MAXIMISE specs for this 5 year old laptop :D
Click to expand...

performance is night and day after installing both, it zooms; my boot time is now 15~18 seconds. i don't game on it, so i can't give you an opinion of that aspect.
 
c8rlo said:
performance is night and day after installing both, it zooms; my boot time is now 15~18 seconds. i don't game on it, so i can't give you an opinion of that aspect.
Click to expand...
What about browsing Internet and applications (both gaming) etc. Mail. Chrome. Maps etc?

Is there massive improvement? I am quite worried as right now even after a clean install (via USB boot) it's very slow. (Stock hardware)
 
dk206 said:
What about browsing Internet and applications (both gaming) etc. Mail. Chrome. Maps etc?

Is there massive improvement? I am quite worried as right now even after a clean install (via USB boot) it's very slow. (Stock hardware)
Click to expand...

a definite improvement, my MBP serves as my desktop and have 2 monitors connected to it. everything opens up fine and quick, Chrome is my default browser and hogs up more RAM than Safari but still runs fine with multiple tabs open, email, a media player and Microsoft Office.

was your system still running slow with the previous OS?
 
Last edited:
My 2010 with core2duo and 240gb SSD ran better on mavericks than Capitan. Clean installs on both operating systems. Less stutters and dropped frames.
 
OP:
Does your mom require a lot of drive space?

If not, you might "upgrade" the MacBook with an SSD of either 128gb or 240gb. These can be found in the $40 and $70 price ranges, respectively.

With an SSD, the MacBook should do fine with El Capitan.

IMPORTANT:
I would definitely create a bootable, cloned backup of your mom's existing OS and data BEFORE attempting to upgrade her OS.
If you do that, it will be easy to "get back to where you once belonged" if things don't go as expected.

Also:
If you decide to get an SSD, also buy a 2.5" external USB3 enclosure.
I would suggest you put the SSD into it first, and "prep and test" the drive that way before you do the drive swap.
Again, makes problems easier to fix (if problems are encountered)...
 
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c8rlo said:
i have a mid-2010 13" MBP also w/ 8gb RAM running El Capitan and it runs fine.
Click to expand...

Hi C8rlo.
Thanks, I did this also 8GB RAM and SSD upgrade. It runs fine.
Just out of interest, do you think mavericks or yosemite ran better with the hardware update?
 
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davidg4781 said:
I'm almost certain there aren't any issues with El Capitan running on a Mid 2010 13" MacBook Pro but I thought I'd ask to be sure. It has 8 GB of RAM.

The main reason I ask is it's my mom's and if she upgrades, I may not be around to help with any issues.

For instance, on my mini, for some reason, I can't share anything from Safari to Facebook/Twitter/Email, etc. And I can't add those items to the share menu. I haven't bothered to look into why yet.
Click to expand...
I am also running El Cap on my 2012 13 MBP, just purchased on eBay and updated it to BX-100 SSD with stock 4GB.
Seems to run fine, so far no issues. I need a battery replacement, but cant seem to find the right one as far as the battery connector's location is concerned.
 
c8rlo said:
i went with the Crucial BX100 256gb, paid $75 which is a steal; though you can usually find them on sale around $75-90 on Newegg. as far as RAM, i went with 8gb vs 16gb...i'm not a power user so 8gb was more than enough for my needs.
Click to expand...
I picked up my BX-100 250GB on Amazon for 63 last week (Gold Box something, it was on sale).
I have stock 4Gb RAM and want to upgrade to 8Gb....need advise what brand and is it ddr3 or ddr3L?
 
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2hand said:
I am also running El Cap on my 2012 13 MBP, just purchased on eBay and updated it to BX-100 SSD with stock 4GB.
Seems to run fine, so far no issues. I need a battery replacement, but cant seem to find the right one as far as the battery connector's location is concerned.
Click to expand...
2010 I mean
 
I got this for my 8GB ram upgrade:

Crucial
Ram memory upgrades 8GB kit (4GBx2) DDR3 PC3 8500 1066MHz for your 2009 / 2010 Apple Macbook Pro & iMac

And for battery, anker. Which is holding up really well. 6 hours battery life. I'm really pleased with this also.
 
dk206 said:
Hi C8rlo.
Thanks, I did this also 8GB RAM and SSD upgrade. It runs fine.
Just out of interest, do you think mavericks or yosemite ran better with the hardware update?
Click to expand...

awesome!!! as i mentioned before, bought my MBP used and came w/ Yosemite preinstalled so i never experienced using Mavericks as i'm fairly new to Macs.

2hand said:
I want to upgrade mine to 8GB and any recommendation as to which brand?
Click to expand...

what dk206 suggested, i have the exact RAM in my MBP...

dk206 said:
I got this for my 8GB ram upgrade:

Crucial
Ram memory upgrades 8GB kit (4GBx2) DDR3 PC3 8500 1066MHz for your 2009 / 2010 Apple Macbook Pro & iMac
Click to expand...
 
FYI...if you have the 13" Macbook Pro 2010, you may be able to upgrade the RAM to 16 gigs. I did that with my 13" 2010 and it fast! Makes it a new system..
 
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