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Time to let go of my Macbook Pro mid-2010?

E

Eilasor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 5, 2015
4
4
Hello all,

(Preemptive warning: English is not my native language…)

My Macbook pro mid-2010 has been acting out lately, to the point of being nearly unusable. For four days now I’ve been browsing forums and trying various fixes, but I’m now at my wit's end and badly need advice as to what my next move should be.

As you can guess, my warranty is long expired.

Symptoms: overall slowdown.
Slow startup, beach ball of death my constant companion, multitasking a dream of the past. Having to keep my phone close at hand so as to have something to play with while I wait for apps to startup and sometimes to perform a new command (sometimes they almost run fine once they've opened). ((A simple added attraction at this point : since I've reinstalled the OS, every time I try to change my security settings to allow the installation of outside apps, it automatically changes back to default settings.))

All this started about a week ago (my mac’s performance had started to drop before that, but nothing really worth worrying about), and I can’t think of anything I’ve done or installed or changed to cause it.

So far, I’ve…
  • Ran OnyX and fixed my hard drive (yep, it needed fixing). No help there.
  • Wiped my hard drive and clean installed Yosemite (I’ve been running Yosemite almost since it came out, without noticing any impact on my mac’s performance). The reinstall didn’t go smoothly : I had to force a reboot as it got stuck on startup. The installation did complete from then on.
  • Tried to run AHT thrice (once the full test, twice the normal one), without success. The test gets stuck near the end and stalls there for hours.
  • Rechecked my drive (with disk utility) and got a clean bill of health. SMART verified. Permissions ok.
  • Reset the NVRAM
  • Reset the SMC
  • Cursed an ungodly number of times.

And now, the dilemma: should I embark on a long and most likely costly journey with the good people of Apple Store, or just assume that my good old companion is sadly due to be replaced by the next gen ? Or is there a middle-ground solution that you can think of ?

Thank you so much in advance for your advices.
 
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I was having the same issues. I replaced the nearly full HD on my 2007 MBP with an SSD and it's like a new computer.
 
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It sounds to me like you may be experiencing a faulty installation of the OS, along with a slow HD. Getting a smooth installation of the OS along with getting a SSD may work wonders for your older Mac. You can get a very affordable SSD for $100 or less, depending on your particular needs or budget. That option would be a lot better than spending $1200.00 on a new Mac, when the aforementioned is often the remedy for the kinds of symptoms mentioned.
 
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Go SSD and a fresh install, it will make your Mac feel brand new. Besides, all HDDs will die eventually. You may as well time proof the thing with an SSD rather than buying a whole new laptop.

If you just really want a new MBP that has more features, buy refurbished from Apple. Paying full price for a brand new Macbook is just not worth it and hasn't been worth it since the Retina screens came out. Anything past the 2012 "3rd generation" model is really the same computer with minor internal changes that won't affect the average person.
 
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Ooooh, SSD!!
I'd toyed with the idea a couple of weeks ago and completely forgotten it since. Thank you so much guys. I'll definitely try that and see where it leads me.
Thanks again for your time!
 
For the future it's okay to refrain from using applications like OnyX. Some users in the past have even reported issues with this and other similar programs that either defragment or delete cache and temp files.

Especially if you consider going SSD, just enable TRIM and be on your way. Those applications are just unnecessary strain honestly.
 
Enabling TRIM... Right...
Never heard of that, so thanks for the heads up. I'll go and look it up.

It's just amazing all the stuff you learn when your computer goes beserk. (I'm learning to look on the bright side of things ;))
 
Eilasor said:
Enabling TRIM... Right...
Never heard of that, so thanks for the heads up. I'll go and look it up.
Click to expand...

I would caution enabling TRIM on the popular Samsung EVO SSDs. I am not sure what kind of SSDs are even available for MBP since I don't own one, just throwing this out to you for your information. I have experienced data loss with TRIM enabled through terminal in my other computer that thankfully had nothing of value on it. I'm not saying it's an issue with everyone, but it is a possibility. Apple does not support 3rd party SSDs (at the moment) for a reason. Apple will support TRIM on 3rd party SSDs in El Capitan so I would just wait until then.

anyways, enjoy your SSD!
 
right,i think so,agree with,thanks for your sharing
3s8nm
 
SSD, more RAM depending on what you have, and trim enabling is perfectly fine. Unless you're doing task heavy stuff, it'll be like a brand new macbook.
 
Put an SSD into it.
The SSD doesn't have to be overly-large in capacity, 240-256gb should do.

The installation process is about as easy as it gets for any Mac.
YOU WILL NEED THE RIGHT TOOLS (shouting intentional): Phillips #00 screwdriver and a TORX T-6 driver.
Illustrated instructions can be found at ifixit.com.

Doing this will make it "run like new computer".
You won't believe this until you do it.
So.... do it.
 
I put in an older gen of the Samsung SSD (model 830 Pro 500GB) in my 2009 MBP a couple years ago. Works great! Highly recommend upgrading from HDD to SSD.

To enable trim on a non-apple ssd I've been using Chameleon SSD Optimizer. After each OS X Update I just run Chameleon once again to re-enable TRIM support. I've not had any issue with enabling trim using this software since going to SSD over two years ago. They keep it up to date also. No manual entering of terminal commands needing to be learned, etc. pretty straight forward. http://chameleon.alessandroboschini.com/

They do have a warning however on their website:

Warning!

Patching trim means modify the kext (driver) responsible for managing disks. The change is reversible and you can always manually reset it. Enabling patch is your responsibility and at your own risk.​
 
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I can vouch for this. I had a 2010 MBP that was slow as molasses, and I had purchased a 2015 MacBook Air to replace it. But on a lark, I had bought a Crucial M500 SSD, and put that into the MBP.

The improvement in performance was HUGE. Every task I did, the 2010 MBP easily kept up with the MBA in terms of responsiveness. Ditching the hard drive for an SSD made all the difference.

Ultimately, I kept the MBA anyway, but I also kept the MBP around for another year and a half.
 
brtate2 said:
I put in an older gen of the Samsung SSD (model 830 Pro 500GB) in my 2009 MBP a couple years ago. Works great! Highly recommend upgrading from HDD to SSD.

To enable trim on a non-apple ssd I've been using Chameleon SSD Optimizer. After each OS X Update I just run Chameleon once again to re-enable TRIM support. http://chameleon.alessandroboschini.com/
Click to expand...
With Yosemite and El Capitan, you don't need to install a TRIM program. All you need to do, is go to terminal and input "sudo trimforce enable" (without the " ") and reboot.
 
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Ever since I installed Yosemite my mid 2010 mbp 15" has been so slow. It's the traditional hdd slowing it down. I thought about upgrading to an ssd, but I really wanted a new macbook. So I got one. :D But you know you can try extended the life of your macbook and install an ssd.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
With Yosemite and El Capitan, you don't need to install a TRIM program. All you need to do, is go to terminal and input "sudo trimforce enable" (without the " ") and reboot.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that is nice they added that ability without having to hack or use third party software.
 
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I cannot imagine a computer without SSD anymore... Have been using SSD for almost as I remember and they are streaming fast..
 
I am converting my HDD to a SSD and read a lot out positive reviews about Samsung 850 Pro. Based on installing in a mid - 2010 MBP 15" and reason to use Samsung 850 over Crucial M500?

I have a Crucial m4 256GB 2.5-Inch (9.5mm) SATA 6Gb/s SSD CT256M4SSD2 currently I have been using as my main drive when I added a disk doubler. So I will would using another similar Crucial be beneficial or does it matter.

My plan is to use the Crucial 256 GB in the main drive and add a 500 GB SSD in the doubler.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Chris
 
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