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Need help upgrading

S

Sebnabt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 5, 2013
9
0
I Currently own:
Macbook Pro 6,2
15-inch, Mid 2010
Processor: 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i7
Memory 4GB 1067 Mhz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 288mb
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GT 330m
Harddrive: 500gb 5400rpm

So those the current stats on my machine. But lately i've been thinking, and since i would have the cash by the time i decide to do this, about either doing a small upgrade to my MBP (AppleCare is not in affect now),
Upgrading it to Max: 8GB Ram
Upgrading Harddrive: from 500gb 5400rm to 940GB OWC 3GB/s SSD
Cost: $1040

Or I could do a complete upgrade to the latest macbook pro retina 15inch with 16GB ram, 500ssd, 3.0 ghz i7. And i would also be getting a thunderbolt 1TB drive.
Cost: (with discount) $3112

So those are my current options.
But here is what i'm currently using my MBP for.
I'm going to school for Computer Science and i graduate in 2 years. I run parallels vm when i need to use Visual Studio 2012 for my classes, I take my notes on it. I may play some games when i boot over to the BootCamp drive.
I generally use XCode, Xamarin Studio, Pages, Google Chrome, iMessage, and Mail. Though generally what is running when i'm coding is Itunes, Parallels (running VM to use Visual Studio 2012), Pages, XCode or Xamarin Studio.

However i have noticed that my VM causes the machine to run very sluggish. Hence why i was thinking about the memory upgrade. But I found out that I couldn't go to the 16GB that i had wanted to use.

I'm hoping that maybe some people here on the Forums could give me a hand with making a decision.

Oh and just to make a mention since this is the first time i'm using the server, for anyone who decides to troll, if you say switch to PC, i'll just ignore the comment.
I like MBP because the Hardware and OS is superior to most of what is out there, other than possibly a ToughBook. Most PC Laptops that have the same specs die out in a year, i've had this little guy for nearly 3 now.

Also if anyone can suggest where i could possibly sell my Mac if you make an interesting point for the Upgrade to a newer machine.
 
If you buy the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, wait until October if you want better battery life. You also do not need the fastest CPU, the base CPU option with the 16 GB and 500 GB SSD model will more than suffice, unless you can benefit from 2 to 3 minutes shaved off on a 1 hour calculation, if you do it more than daily.

If you want to upgrade, look into Optibay, as you probably do not need 940 GB of storage on an SSD. Get a 256 GB SSD (150 € for Crucial M4 or Samsung 840) for the OS and applications, and get a 500 GB or 1 TB 2.5" S-ATA HDD with 7,200 RPM to store content.

Maybe also have a look at Advanced Search or MRoogle to find threads about the 2010 MBP supporting 16 GB, as I have found numerous mentions of it being the case.

And if you really need quad core CPU power, you could always look into the Mac mini or a Hackintosh and keep your 2010 MBP with slight upgrades.
 
I've got the exact same machine but mine came with a 7200 RPM drive.

Last week I upgraded to 8 GB of Crucial RAM and a 120 GB Crucial M500 SSD. Total cost was about $220 including tax for both upgrades.

Any reason you need a 960 GB SSD? You are saying you will either get a 960 GB SSD for the old machine, or get a 500 GB SSD in the new machine. You would have to weigh your pricing options of upgrade old machine vs. buy new machine based on the same size SSD. Personally I wouldn't spend more than a grand on a 3 year old machine, what if the logic board takes a dump right after?

I would upgrade the RAM and get the smallest SSD you can live with, keep in mind with the 2010 machine you are really just buying time and trying to get it to last for another year or two, so I wouldn't spend any more than you have to. If I was buying a new machine, then I would go to the hilt with upgrading to the best of the best SSD, but if I just want to get a little more time out of the machine, there's no reason to spend over a grand IMO.
 
Hmm all really good opinions.

Well the reason why i was thinking for the larger SSD in my upgraded model it would be for the benefit of splitting both OS.

However with the thunderbolt 1TB drive, i wouldn't need to do that in the newer model.

Does anyone use the amount of programs i'm using or slight intensive and work fine with 8gb of ram?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
If you buy the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, wait until October if you want better battery life. You also do not need the fastest CPU, the base CPU option with the 16 GB and 500 GB SSD model will more than suffice, unless you can benefit from 2 to 3 minutes shaved off on a 1 hour calculation, if you do it more than daily.

If you want to upgrade, look into Optibay, as you probably do not need 940 GB of storage on an SSD. Get a 256 GB SSD (150 € for Crucial M4 or Samsung 840) for the OS and applications, and get a 500 GB or 1 TB 2.5" S-ATA HDD with 7,200 RPM to store content.

Maybe also have a look at Advanced Search or MRoogle to find threads about the 2010 MBP supporting 16 GB, as I have found numerous mentions of it being the case.

And if you really need quad core CPU power, you could always look into the Mac mini or a Hackintosh and keep your 2010 MBP with slight upgrades.
Click to expand...

I've seen what you mean by that. But where could you suggest i go to just double check on this case. Because if i can just add 16GB of memory to my macbook, i don't need to bother updating it's hardware.
Ran an MRI on it two days ago and everything, even the battery checks out green.

So I wanted to ask, if I were to use 2x8GB modules of 1067mhz ddr3 pc3-8500 would it work out in my machine?
 
niteflyr said:
Extra memory will help the VM's run better and a SSD will be faster if there are page outs in memory usage. It was the 13" 2010 that will handle 16GB RAM as per OWC. Looks like 8 GB for the 15".

http://blog.macsales.com/16302-some-2010-mac-owners-can-get-more-ram-than-they-thought
Click to expand...


Not to discredit any information you have posted niteflyr. But it looks as though using the memory kit created by Mushkin, it looks as a big possibility that my macbook pro mid-2010, if this does support it then i gues i won't be needing to buy the newer machine, just gonna swap out the HD with an SSD and then maybe swap the ODD with the older internal drive.
 
niteflyr said:
Let us know how that works out. You got a link for that Mushkin upgrade?
Click to expand...

Found the link for you, and I will post results when this memory comes in.

Link
http://m.outletpc.com/ug3762-mushkin-997019-ddr3-16gb-2x8gb-laptop-memory.html
 
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