New MBP - but my wallet will hurt

[conamor]

I have this early 2011 MBP, upgraded with an SSD 128 / 8GB ram.

It is now slow. Maybe I need a reinstall but I never had to do that on Apple. What are your thoughts?

The charging cable is working on and off. The light doesn't turn on. I have to blow in the connector of the cable and in the port of the MBP. "reminds me NES cartdrige"

Then, I went to verify prices on the new mbp. Of course, I would take the magic bar option. Of course I won't stay at 128GB ssd. I would go 256/512. RAM? Well, 8GB is now what everything has, so I would upgrade to the 16GB. CPU? Upgrading to the 3.1 i5 instead of the 2.9 i5 is only over a 100. Does it Worth it? I don't know. Then you say, fine, I'll go with the i7 so I get the highest end new MBP with that little magic toolbar which I will never use... Look at the ports on the MBP... Where do I put my USB stick? my SD from DSLR? Then you purchase all these cables + the power extension (because it's useful on the sofa).

Then you calculate taxes: 3800$ CDN! (but it's shipped at that price... at least)...

Why/and what I use it for? the easyness of everything, app installs, removal, speed, stability, and... it's just nicer... I will stick to Apple even if I could get the same machine for 1500 with Windows...

I will do photo editing with Aperture.. what? oh, well until Photos has a darker interface and the management is easier. Some Final cut pro videos (family videos)


Were just chatting, Let's see your comments

oh, do I keep my 2011? replace the SSD for 150$? replace the power adapter for 100$?

 

[s0nicpr0s]

I know you're having some issues with the charging and slow response, but are there any other issues with your older laptop? Such as being unable to perform the tasks you want it to do.

It is possible that your SSD doesn't have the maintenance that it needs in order to continue running at full speed. I know that earlier versions of OS X wouldn't easily allow a user to turn on TRIM if it wasn't an 'Apple SSD,' but that had changed with El Capitan. Do you remember if you ever used a utility to activate TRIM or had run the 'trimforce enable' command on your machine?

As for the new computer, I'm curious as to why you've decided to max out processor and RAM, not that I disagree since you only have one chance to make those decisions.

 

[nnoble]

You're not alone in thinking this through and I'll watch the thread with interest. I've got a mid-2010 MBP and I wonder if the next major OS X update may render the machine all but redundant; it's currently ticking along. I will update either early next year or later when the price drops.

 

[conamor]

I know you're having some issues with the charging and slow response, but are there any other issues with your older laptop? Such as being unable to perform the tasks you want it to do.

It is possible that your SSD doesn't have the maintenance that it needs in order to continue running at full speed. I know that earlier versions of OS X wouldn't easily allow a user to turn on TRIM if it wasn't an 'Apple SSD,' but that had changed with El Capitan. Do you remember if you ever used a utility to activate TRIM or had run the 'trimforce enable' command on your machine?

As for the new computer, I'm curious as to why you've decided to max out processor and RAM, not that I disagree since you only have one chance to make those decisions.

Hi, maxing out the RAM was simply to be future proof. When I buy an Apple device, I know it's lifecycle is good. Could use it for 5 years without worrying about speed.

Regarding the TRIM, I remember loooking at this when I first bought the mbp and replaced the hdd. I think I was not able to do it. I installed an OCZ then and Intel. I just reformat'd it and it works better. I have notice that my safari with 2-3 tabs open, CPU peeks to 30-60% of usage. Could it be the addons? I doubt but it's possible... I use adblockplus, ghostery, lastpass.

I could look into reupgrading the SSD since we know they lose their speed overtime.
[doublepost=1478695891][/doublepost]Oh and the last thing I thought about doing was to purchase a 2015/16gb ram/256ssd...
Maybe I should stick to what I have!

 

[s0nicpr0s]

Hi, maxing out the RAM was simply to be future proof. When I buy an Apple device, I know it's lifecycle is good. Could use it for 5 years without worrying about speed.

Regarding the TRIM, I remember loooking at this when I first bought the mbp and replaced the hdd. I think I was not able to do it. I installed an OCZ then and Intel. I just reformat'd it and it works better. I have notice that my safari with 2-3 tabs open, CPU peeks to 30-60% of usage. Could it be the addons? I doubt but it's possible... I use adblockplus, ghostery, lastpass.

I could look into reupgrading the SSD since we know they lose their speed overtime.
[doublepost=1478695891][/doublepost]Oh and the last thing I thought about doing was to purchase a 2015/16gb ram/256ssd...
Maybe I should stick to what I have!

SSDs can indeed lose speed overtime, but that should be several years after using it rather heavily. Being such a small capacity could speed that up. But I think having TRIM enabled will help prolong its life for a few years yet. Would you be dropping a 256GB into your current machine if you upgrade it and stretch it out for a few more years? Also, how much data do you typically have on the drive?

Early last year I had installed a 512GB SSD into my wife's 2012 MBP and it is just as fast today as it was when I first installed it. She uses maybe 350-400GB of it. But overall, not too much data changes week to week, no more than 100MB generally. I suspect her drive will far outlast the warranty for it, and even the machine itself.

 

[conamor]

SSDs can indeed lose speed overtime, but that should be several years after using it rather heavily. Being such a small capacity could speed that up. But I think having TRIM enabled will help prolong its life for a few years yet. Would you be dropping a 256GB into your current machine if you upgrade it and stretch it out for a few more years? Also, how much data do you typically have on the drive?

Early last year I had installed a 512GB SSD into my wife's 2012 MBP and it is just as fast today as it was when I first installed it. She uses maybe 350-400GB of it. But overall, not too much data changes week to week, no more than 100MB generally. I suspect her drive will far outlast the warranty for it, and even the machine itself.

At the moment there is a 128GB. It is just about too small. A 256 would be enough. I carry a music Library mostly on this laptop. I Wonder if looking into enabling TRIM on the current ssd would improve speed. If it's not already active. I should look into this.

 

[s0nicpr0s]

At the moment there is a 128GB. It is just about too small. A 256 would be enough. I carry a music Library mostly on this laptop. I Wonder if looking into enabling TRIM on the current ssd would improve speed. If it's not already active. I should look into this.

That would be a good thing to do. You can try to check whether it's enabled in System Profiler by going to SATA/SATA Express, and looking for 'TRIM Support' on your drive. It can also be done through the terminal with the following command:
system_profiler SPSerialATADataType | grep 'TRIM'

It may not necessarily improve speed, but it should at least keep it from slowing back down to where it was before you reformatted. I can send you the command to enable the feature if you would like.

 

[dollystereo]

I have this early 2011 MBP, upgraded with an SSD 128 / 8GB ram.

It is now slow. Maybe I need a reinstall but I never had to do that on Apple. What are your thoughts?

The charging cable is working on and off. The light doesn't turn on. I have to blow in the connector of the cable and in the port of the MBP. "reminds me NES cartdrige"

Then, I went to verify prices on the new mbp. Of course, I would take the magic bar option. Of course I won't stay at 128GB ssd. I would go 256/512. RAM? Well, 8GB is now what everything has, so I would upgrade to the 16GB. CPU? Upgrading to the 3.1 i5 instead of the 2.9 i5 is only over a 100. Does it Worth it? I don't know. Then you say, fine, I'll go with the i7 so I get the highest end new MBP with that little magic toolbar which I will never use... Look at the ports on the MBP... Where do I put my USB stick? my SD from DSLR? Then you purchase all these cables + the power extension (because it's useful on the sofa).

Then you calculate taxes: 3800$ CDN! (but it's shipped at that price... at least)...

Why/and what I use it for? the easyness of everything, app installs, removal, speed, stability, and... it's just nicer... I will stick to Apple even if I could get the same machine for 1500 with Windows...

I will do photo editing with Aperture.. what? oh, well until Photos has a darker interface and the management is easier. Some Final cut pro videos (family videos)


Were just chatting, Let's see your comments

oh, do I keep my 2011? replace the SSD for 150$? replace the power adapter for 100$?

I have the same machine and is plenty fast, put a good 500GB SSD inside and your are good to go. Also change the battery before it start swelling. Check the XPS 15 if you don't mind windows/linux, is a better machine spec wise and waaaaay cheaper.

 

[conamor]

Thanks everyone! I'd rather stick to Apple

I did not know about the battery, how much does the battery usually cost? Did you get a genuine? I am in Canada, I will have to shop. I might do an ssd upgrade since they are cheap and I could benefit from better read/write speed.

s0nicpr0s: I will look when I get back home if it is supported and if so, I will get it enabled.
[doublepost=1478712181][/doublepost]Quick one; would you have any idea about Safari peaking on CPU? Fresh new/vanilla SierreOS + ADblock plus + Ghostery. I have disabled them but it seems to peak still...
[doublepost=1478712418][/doublepost]Oh and I have an Intel 320 series 120GB. I would replace it with a SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB will it be much faster?

 

[s0nicpr0s]

Thanks everyone! I'd rather stick to Apple

I did not know about the battery, how much does the battery usually cost? Did you get a genuine? I am in Canada, I will have to shop. I might do an ssd upgrade since they are cheap and I could benefit from better read/write speed.

s0nicpr0s: I will look when I get back home if it is supported and if so, I will get it enabled.
[doublepost=1478712181][/doublepost]Quick one; would you have any idea about Safari peaking on CPU? Fresh new/vanilla SierreOS + ADblock plus + Ghostery. I have disabled them but it seems to peak still...
[doublepost=1478712418][/doublepost]Oh and I have an Intel 320 series 120GB. I would replace it with a SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB will it be much faster?

The difference in rated speeds of the SSDs is a massive improvement. Your Intel is supposed to have read and write speeds of 270 and 130MB/s respectively. While the 850 EVO is 540 and 520MB/s respectively. That is the drive I have run on my home machine for the last year and a half, so I can check that it has maintained the speed over that time if you want. My wife's laptop has had no noticeable slow downs, nor have any of my work machines (an old Mac Mini with dual drives and a Dell laptop)

I did verify that your machine would have the interface support to use an 850 EVO at it's fullest potential, so I would definitely recommend that you pursue the upgrade.



I can't say for sure why your Safari is acting that way. It may possibly be an issue with Safari, with Sierra, with some sort of processes in the background. It's a little outside of my scope.

 

[conamor]

The difference in rated speeds of the SSDs is a massive improvement. Your Intel is supposed to have read and write speeds of 270 and 130MB/s respectively. While the 850 EVO is 540 and 520MB/s respectively. That is the drive I have run on my home machine for the last year and a half, so I can check that it has maintained the speed over that time if you want. My wife's laptop has had no noticeable slow downs, nor have any of my work machines (an old Mac Mini with dual drives and a Dell laptop)

I did verify that your machine would have the interface support to use an 850 EVO at it's fullest potential, so I would definitely recommend that you pursue the upgrade.



I can't say for sure why your Safari is acting that way. It may possibly be an issue with Safari, with Sierra, with some sort of processes in the background. It's a little outside of my scope.

Thanks!!
[doublepost=1478714811][/doublepost]

I have the same machine and is plenty fast, put a good 500GB SSD inside and your are good to go. Also change the battery before it start swelling. Check the XPS 15 if you don't mind windows/linux, is a better machine spec wise and waaaaay cheaper.

Where could I get the battery? I have found this one: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAAV248Y5093&ignorebbr=1, but since it's not a genuine one, we never know about batteries, they could be dead on arrival or after 20-30 charges...

 

[dollystereo]

Thanks everyone! I'd rather stick to Apple

I did not know about the battery, how much does the battery usually cost? Did you get a genuine? I am in Canada, I will have to shop. I might do an ssd upgrade since they are cheap and I could benefit from better read/write speed.

s0nicpr0s: I will look when I get back home if it is supported and if so, I will get it enabled.
[doublepost=1478712181][/doublepost]Quick one; would you have any idea about Safari peaking on CPU? Fresh new/vanilla SierreOS + ADblock plus + Ghostery. I have disabled them but it seems to peak still...
[doublepost=1478712418][/doublepost]Oh and I have an Intel 320 series 120GB. I would replace it with a SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB will it be much faster?

The EVO is faster, but try to get a 500GB SSD (Crucial MX300, samsung, sandisk, etc...) I got my battery from aliexpress, it is working good (paid $40). I think the battery replacement program from apple is not that expensive for your machine.