Upgrading a late '11 MBP - options?

[yvanehtnioj]

Does Apple sell 16GB RAM? Can't seem to find it...

Currently it's 4GB

Can I upgrade the Graphics card?

Currently it's: Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM

Can I upgrade the CPU?

Currently it's: 2.4 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7

Also:

- If I get an external Thunderbolt 1TB HDD will a 256GB SSD make a big difference to the performance (noting that I'm losing half a TB of internal storage)?

- Any other ideas on how to keep this lappy viable for a few more years?

Thanks in advance everyone!!

 

[sonicrobby]

If youre talking about 16GB sticks of RAM, they dont exist. Your options are to get 2x 8GB sticks of RAM and use those.

No way to update the graphics, those are built in to the logic board.

In laptops, I dont think you can replace CPUs like you can in desktops. Though that quad core seems perfectly fine for your future.

Having an internal SSD you will see greater transfer speeds and boot up times. Whether or not this is a big deal to you is personal. I personally love how quick my mac boots up with the SSD, but I would have no problem containing a single large HDD and dealing with a longer boot time.

 

[maflynn]

Does Apple sell 16GB RAM? Can't seem to find it...

Don't go to apple for your ram. Check out Crucial or OWC imo, they both offer high quality ram and awesome customer support. You should be able to get to 16gb

Can I upgrade the Graphics card?

Nope, its soldered onto the logic board.

Can I upgrade the CPU?

Nope for the same reason you cannot change the GPU

- If I get an external Thunderbolt 1TB HDD will a 256GB SSD make a big difference to the performance (noting that I'm losing half a TB of internal storage)?

I don't think 2011 MBPs have a Thunderbolt port. I'd say regardless of that issue - Adding an SSD is the best thing to see immediate speed increase.

- Any other ideas on how to keep this lappy viable for a few more years?

You're options are limited to ram and SSD upgrades, whether that's sufficient for adding a few more years is unknown. Its up to you and how you use the laptop. It will help no doubt how long, I can't say.

 

[yvanehtnioj]

If youre talking about 16GB sticks of RAM, they dont exist. Your options are to get 2x 8GB sticks of RAM and use those.

No way to update the graphics, those are built in to the logic board.

In laptops, I dont think you can replace CPUs like you can in desktops. Though that quad core seems perfectly fine for your future.

Having an internal SSD you will see greater transfer speeds and boot up times. Whether or not this is a big deal to you is personal. I personally love how quick my mac boots up with the SSD, but I would have no problem containing a single large HDD and dealing with a longer boot time.

Thanks!

I did know the 2x8GB thing, but does apple sell those 8GB sticks??

And the only real benefit of the SSD is bootup times?

----------

Don't go to apple for your ram. Check out Crucial or OWC imo, they both offer high quality ram and awesome customer support. You should be able to get to 16gb


Nope, its soldered onto the logic board.


Nope for the same reason you cannot change the GPU


I don't think 2011 MBPs have a Thunderbolt port. I'd say regardless of that issue - Adding an SSD is the best thing to see immediate speed increase.


You're options are limited to ram and SSD upgrades, whether that's sufficient for adding a few more years is unknown. Its up to you and how you use the laptop. It will help no doubt how long, I can't say.

It DOES have a Thunderbolt port

It's basically this: http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD311LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-24ghz-quad-core-intel-i7 - though obviously not that one

 

[maflynn]

It DOES have a Thunderbolt port

Learn something new everyday I thought TB came out in 2012

 

[yvanehtnioj]

Learn something new everyday I thought TB came out in 2012

In February 2011, Apple introduced its new line of MacBook Pro laptop computers and announced the technology's commercial name would be Thunderbolt, with these machines being the first to feature the new I/O technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)

Time flies!

And thanks for your advice and info!

 

[PDFierro]

And the only real benefit of the SSD is bootup times?

An SSD has way more benefits than that. It'll make everything feel faster, a new computer basically. Applications will also open much quicker.

 

[sonicrobby]

Thanks!

I did know the 2x8GB thing, but does apple sell those 8GB sticks??

And the only real benefit of the SSD is bootup times?

I dont like how apple has their RAM store section set up. They are technically only selling the RAM for your laptop at 2x 4GB. But like maflynn said, Id check out Crucial or OCW from third party sellers (like newegg.com) and buy them there, it will be a lot cheaper than buying from Apple.

And not only the boot times, opening programs, accessing files, transferring files within the drive. Any process that would involve reading or writing from the drive will be quicker

 

[yvanehtnioj]

An SSD has way more benefits than that. It'll make everything feel faster, a new computer basically. Applications will also open much quicker.

But it's not enough space to store things on...

But faster applications and faster boot... is that it then?

But I assume you'd still have speed issues when working off an external Thunderbird HD?

Sorry to be dense...

Just trying to decide if the data transfer rate will matter if most of the heavy lifting is being done externally (music and video editing is what I'll be doing).

----------

I dont like how apple has their RAM store section set up. They are technically only selling the RAM for your laptop at 2x 4GB. But like maflynn said, Id check out Crucial or OCW from third party sellers (like newegg.com) and buy them there, it will be a lot cheaper than buying from Apple.

And not only the boot times, opening programs, accessing files, transferring files within the drive. Any process that would involve reading or writing from the drive will be quicker

Thanks!

Most of the data I read and write is too big to sit on a 256GB SSD (GBS and GBs of HD vid and large music projects) - so if I'm using it as basically cache for my external drive, well... I wonder if the speed of the SSD is still tied to the speed of the external drive... if you see my point...

 

[scbond]

Does Apple sell 16GB RAM? Can't seem to find it...

Currently it's 4GB

Can I upgrade the Graphics card?

Currently it's: Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM

Can I upgrade the CPU?

Currently it's: 2.4 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7

No, no and no.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

But it's not enough space to store things on...

But faster applications and faster boot... is that it then?

But I assume you'd still have speed issues when working off an external Thunderbird HD?

Sorry to be dense...

Just trying to decide if the data transfer rate will matter if most of the heavy lifting is being done externally (music and video editing is what I'll be doing).

If its not enough space to store things on, you may wish to try a 1GB or 750GB hybrid. It'll give you a significant speed boost and lots of storage space, but will only cost around $100.

Also if you have a uMBP-15 (and I'm assuming that you do given the quad cor processor) then you also have a Radeon 6770 dGPU and your laptop will automatically switch over to that when you require more graphics processing power.

>

 

[thundersteele]

Learn something new everyday I thought TB came out in 2012

With the amount and variety of TB peripherals that are available, it sure feels as if it was released just one month ago...