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Upgrade current MBP or replace it?

M

Major Sparky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2011
25
0
My fiancee currently has an early 2011 13in MBP. It has a 2.3ghz i5 processor and 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ram.

She got it new in 2011 so it's about 4 years old. She's been complaining recently that it's not as quick as it was when she got it. Considering that' it's getting old we were debating whether or not we should go ahead and replace it when the new MBP comes out later this year, or possibly even a MBA.

However, I started wondering if putting in another 4 GB of ram and possibly a SSD drive would make it quick enough to get by with it for another year or so.

She doesn't do anything too intensive with her laptop. Just microsoft office, google chrome, itunes, etc. She's not using anything like Logic or Photoshop. She really just wants things to load quickly and to be able to keep multiple applications open without them slowing down.

So what would be the smarter course of action? And if we do ugrade the ram and put in a SSD would it increase the resale value of her current MBP when we do eventually get her a new one?

Thanks for the help!
 
Major Sparky said:
My fiancee currently has an early 2011 13in MBP. It has a 2.3ghz i5 processor and 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ram.

She got it new in 2011 so it's about 4 years old. She's been complaining recently that it's not as quick as it was when she got it. Considering that' it's getting old we were debating whether or not we should go ahead and replace it when the new MBP comes out later this year, or possibly even a MBA.

However, I started wondering if putting in another 4 GB of ram and possibly a SSD drive would make it quick enough to get by with it for another year or so.

She doesn't do anything too intensive with her laptop. Just microsoft office, google chrome, itunes, etc. She's not using anything like Logic or Photoshop. She really just wants things to load quickly and to be able to keep multiple applications open without them slowing down.

So what would be the smarter course of action? And if we do ugrade the ram and put in a SSD would it increase the resale value of her current MBP when we do eventually get her a new one?

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Increasing the RAM will only give barely noticeable performance improvements, but an SSD will transform it.

That said, I doubt anything would help the resale value, considering that it's hobbled by the lack of USB 3, which is a turn-off for a lot of people.
 
yjchua95 said:
Increasing the RAM will only give barely noticeable performance improvements, but an SSD will transform it.
Click to expand...
I agree and think that the OP will be able to get many more delighfull years out if his macbook that way.
An ssd upgrade is a worthy investment.
 
So then we should go for an ssd upgrade and not worry about the ram?
Which ssd should we get?
 
Is it likely that future Mbps will lose most ports to be replaced with USB-C?
 
Major Sparky said:
So then we should go for an ssd upgrade and not worry about the ram?
Which ssd should we get?
Click to expand...

You should get both.

Honestly, when I bought my MacBooks, the first thing I always did was to upgrade the RAM and place an SSD in there.

I'm currently using a mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro ... It has 8GB of RAM and an SSD that I put in myself.

If I do replace this laptop, it certainly won't be due to lack of performance. USB 3.0 is nice and all, but it's not a big deal. How often are you transferring large amounts of data via USB anyway? Any computer made after 2010 is more than adequate for the average consumer these days. I mean, what exactly does the average user really do with their machine?
 
Major Sparky said:
So then we should go for an ssd upgrade and not worry about the ram?
Which ssd should we get?
Click to expand...

SSD first then take another look at the performance.

If still a bit slow then start another thread (or bump this one) and post a screenshot from Activity Monitor ... more details in this thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1756865/

I'm running a late 2011 MBP 13 inch with SSD and 16GB ram, but the ram is mostly needed for running virtual machines. Before that I had 4GB and that worked quite well with OS X Mavericks and a SSD.

Regarding the SSD, this thread might help. You don't need a super expensive SSD for what you described. Something like a Crucial MX100 should meet your needs, but there are other options mentioned in this thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1177020/

Skip to the last few pages for current recommendations.
 
Major Sparky said:
So what would be the smarter course of action? And if we do ugrade the ram and put in a SSD would it increase the resale value of her current MBP when we do eventually get her a new one?

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
The SSD will prolong the life of the computer in giving it a little more pep for any disk I/O. That might buy you more time to see what apple does in the coming years for a newer machine.
 
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