Need advice on MBP RAM upgrade, please..

[fefil9]

I have a MBP 13in Mid 2012 Processor Inter Core i5 500GB. It’s soo slow, is driving me insane. It has base memory of 4GB ( 2x2). I really can’t afford to buy a new macbook right now, so I thought about upgrading memory to 8 or 16GB - Would that make it much faster with 16GB?

Is the memory the main cause of it being so unbelievably slow or do I also need to replace the HDD with SDD for better performance?
I’ve been searching on Amazon UK and found the Corsair CMSA16X3M2A1600C11 16GB (2x8) and a Crucial MX500 500GB (3D NAND, SATA 2.5 in SSD.

My ignorance of MacBooks is great 😟 so any advice would be very welcome. Thank you!

 

[26139]

I have a MBP 13in Mid 2012 Processor Inter Core i5 500GB. It’s soo slow, is driving me insane. It has base memory of 4GB ( 2x2). I really can’t afford to buy a new macbook right now, so I thought about upgrading memory to 8 or 16GB - Would that make it much faster with 16GB?

Is the memory the main cause of it being so unbelievably slow or do I also need to replace the HDD with SDD for better performance?
I’ve been searching on Amazon UK and found the Corsair CMSA16X3M2A1600C11 16GB (2x8) and a Crucial MX500 500GB (3D NAND, SATA 2.5 in SSD.

My ignorance of MacBooks is great 😟 so any advice would be very welcome. Thank you!

Get the ram up to at least eight and turn the HD into an SSD and you'll be a lot happier.

The HDD is the main reason your computer feels slow.

 

[mikzn]

even with 16g of memory it will be slow - I have a mid 2012 15" MBP upgraded with with a samsung evo 500g SSD - works great with Catalina

Upgraded about 7 years ago from the orginal HDD (very slow) - the SSD makes a dramatic difference - the memory not so much.

Get an enclosure and install the SSD there first - you can install your os on the new drive and migrate everything to duplicate your existing set up / or upgrade to a new OS - then swap out the drives and keep the old one for a while as a back up

 

[profcutter]

To see a real difference, put in an ssd. The ram won’t hurt, but the ssd makes the most difference. Check the battery as well, if it’s dead, it will slow down the machine considerably.

 

[Honza1]

I have the same machine at work. Completely agree with suggestions above. These are upgrades/fixes in order of importance based on my experience:
1. If battery is not healthy (states "replace battery"), replace battery. Without acceptable battery cpu is slowed down to approx. 1/2 speed. Really miserable experience...
2. Replace HD with SSD. Huge improvement.
3. Upgrade memory to 8Gb. More (16Gb) is probably not as cost efficient, unless it is cheap. Will help.

Do not overspend on upgrades. It is ~8 years old, it will at some point fail. Start saving money on new next computer ;-)

 

[fefil9]

Thank you!

Get the ram up to at least eight and turn the HD into an SSD and you'll be a lot happier.

The HDD is the main re

[QUOTGe

even with 16g of memory it will be slow - I have a mid 2012 15" MBP upgraded with with a samsung evo 500g SSD - works great with Catalina

Upgraded about 7 years ago from the orginal HDD (very slow) - the SSD makes a dramatic difference - the memory not so much.

Get an enclosure and install the SSD there first - you can install your os on the new drive and migrate everything to duplicate your existing set up / or upgrade to a new OS - then swap out the drives and keep the old one for a while as a back up

I can’t do it myself, going to buy memory and SSD and take to a technician to upgrade. Thank you!
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To see a real difference, put in an ssd. The ram won’t hurt, but the ssd makes the most difference. Check the battery as well, if it’s dead, it will slow down the machine considerably.

Thank you, just checked the battery and its still okay.
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I have the same machine at work. Completely agree with suggestions above. These are upgrades/fixes in order of importance based on my experience:
1. If battery is not healthy (states "replace battery"), replace battery. Without acceptable battery cpu is slowed down to approx. 1/2 speed. Really miserable experience...
2. Replace HD with SSD. Huge improvement.
3. Upgrade memory to 8Gb. More (16Gb) is probably not as cost efficient, unless it is cheap. Will help.

Do not overspend on upgrades. It is ~8 years old, it will at some point fail. Start saving money on new next computer ;-)

I think next time I’ll get a Mac mini not a MBP as the new ones are not upgradeable..
Yes, I fear I could be spending on an old machine but have no other option. The Corsair 16GB is £57 and 8GB is £35. I’m torn between the two, if wouldn’t make much difference I could save £22 there.. The Crucial MX500 is £63. On top of that I have to pay to have it done, no idea how much but they give 1y warranty. Thank you very much for your advice.

 

[vince22]

I have a MBP 13in Mid 2012 Processor Inter Core i5 500GB. It’s soo slow, is driving me insane. It has base memory of 4GB ( 2x2). I really can’t afford to buy a new macbook right now, so I thought about upgrading memory to 8 or 16GB - Would that make it much faster with 16GB?

Is the memory the main cause of it being so unbelievably slow or do I also need to replace the HDD with SDD for better performance?
I’ve been searching on Amazon UK and found the Corsair CMSA16X3M2A1600C11 16GB (2x8) and a Crucial MX500 500GB (3D NAND, SATA 2.5 in SSD.

My ignorance of MacBooks is great 😟 so any advice would be very welcome. Thank you!

if you want speed, setup your 2012 MBP as SSD RAID-0 APFS in Catalina or Mojave and up your memory to 16GB, it will speed up your write/read significantly, choose samsung EV0 SSD there proven faster and reliable, i have a spare 2012 MBP 13" like you do, always have a backup just in case one of the drive fails,

 

[Fishrrman]

"I have a MBP 13in Mid 2012 Processor Inter Core i5 500GB. It’s soo slow, is driving me insane. It has base memory of 4GB ( 2x2). I really can’t afford to buy a new macbook right now, so I thought about upgrading memory to 8 or 16GB - Would that make it much faster with 16GB?"

This is the NON-retina model (with the DVD drive), is this correct?

If the answer is "yes", THE REASON it's slow is THE DRIVE, moreso than the RAM (although with only 4gb that's a factor, too).

Buy a cheap 500gb SSD, and ONE 8gb RAM soDIMM.
This will give you 10gb of installed RAM and a MUCH faster drive.

I assure you, the computer will then run much "snappier", and you'll be a very happy user.

But again -- it's the drive, more than it is the RAM.

 

[fefil9]

"I have a MBP 13in Mid 2012 Processor Inter Core i5 500GB. It’s soo slow, is driving me insane. It has base memory of 4GB ( 2x2). I really can’t afford to buy a new macbook right now, so I thought about upgrading memory to 8 or 16GB - Would that make it much faster with 16GB?"

This is the NON-retina model (with the DVD drive), is this correct?

If the answer is "yes", THE REASON it's slow is THE DRIVE, moreso than the RAM (although with only 4gb that's a factor, too).

Buy a cheap 500gb SSD, and ONE 8gb RAM soDIMM.
This will give you 10gb of installed RAM and a MUCH faster drive.

I assure you, the computer will then run much "snappier", and you'll be a very happy user.

But again -- it's the drive, more than it is the RAM.

Yes, its a non-retina. Thank you for your help, I’m going to buy a SSD and ram.

 

[fefil9]

"I have a MBP 13in Mid 2012 Processor Inter Core i5 500GB. It’s soo slow, is driving me insane. It has base memory of 4GB ( 2x2). I really can’t afford to buy a new macbook right now, so I thought about upgrading memory to 8 or 16GB - Would that make it much faster with 16GB?"

This is the NON-retina model (with the DVD drive), is this correct?

If the answer is "yes", THE REASON it's slow is THE DRIVE, moreso than the RAM (although with only 4gb that's a factor, too).

Buy a cheap 500gb SSD, and ONE 8gb RAM soDIMM.
This will give you 10gb of installed RAM and a MUCH faster drive.

I assure you, the computer will then run much "snappier", and you'll be a very happy user.

But again -- it's the drive, more than it is the RAM.

I’m thinking about getting 2x8gb RAM in the hope it will, with 500gb SSD, be much faster. Thank you!