Moving from MBP Late 2008 to MBP 2011

[thomasemery]

My trusty old A1286 MacBookPro5,1 Late 2008 15" MBP 2.53GHz is on its last legs and now fails to turn on. It had a good innings of nearly 10 years without issue. I have upgraded to an SSD drive and it was last running on El Capitan.

I have the opportunity to acquire a free A1278 MacBookPro8,1 2011 13" MBP. I would look eventually swap out the HD for the aforementioned SSD.

Will I seem any performance improvement at all?

 

[robvas]

A 2011 is way faster than a 2008 and the SSD will really make it fly

 

[Glmnet1]

GPU: No dGPU on the 13" but the integrated one has similar performance.
CPU: Almost twice as fast which is great.

Yes, I think you'll see a performance improvement. Also it's free so definitely good 😎

 

[Fishrrman]

If you're going to spend money on a "used upgrade", I'd skip the 2011 -unless- you can get it for a VERY good price.

Instead, look for "at least" a 2012 -- they have USB3, a BIG "jump upwards".

 

[thomasemery]

If you're going to spend money on a "used upgrade", I'd skip the 2011 -unless- you can get it for a VERY good price.

Instead, look for "at least" a 2012 -- they have USB3, a BIG "jump upwards".

Is "free" a VERY good price? ;-)

Thank you for your comments so far. Sounds like I should see a small performance increase. Now I just need to figure out the best way to migrate from one unusable machine to the good one.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Free" is THE RIGHT price.
Take it.

 

[maerz001]

Is "free" a VERY good price? ;-)

Thank you for your comments so far. Sounds like I should see a small performance increase. Now I just need to figure out the best way to migrate from one unusable machine to the good one.

Migrate Either from time machine backup or external USB cable/ enclosure for your old drive

 

[Macbookprodude]

I have to agree with the op here. Free is good. For me, I have never had the GPU issue on my 2011 MBP, as I have had no reason to change, though I may get the 2012 non-retina as its the last upgradable MacBook Pro. The rest after 2012 plus retina are not upgradable. Given the problems with 2015-2017 in terms of keyboard, I am glad I don't have that one. Seems like all went to crap after the 2012 Retina. While i like Retina, i don't like the price esp if its a 2012. Is there a way to use retina on a 2011 by changing the screens ? I have upped my video to 1.5 similar to the Intel 4000 chip.