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Upgrading HDD and RAM in 13" 2011 MBP

F

Frozo.

Guest
Original poster
Hello,

It's my Birthday on Sunday, and I'm looking at upgrading my MBPs HDD and RAM afterwards as then I'll have some money.

I've been looking into getting a SSD as these provide super fast speeds and would improve my MBP, does it require a specific SSD, or can it be of any kind?

Also with RAM does it have to be a specific make and model? Or can it vary?

I've been looking at the Crucial website at RAM, and it seems really pricey, so just wondering if there's any other that I could possibly look at?

Cheers :) :apple:
 
For SSD and RAM you can basically install any make and brand, google to see if anyone has already done so with the specific brand/model on your mac to be safe.

When I upgraded I my 13 inch 2011 MBP I opted for the cheapest possible sticks I could find, the brand was new to me and not as well known. When I googled it no one had any problems with the sticks and I got a great deal, for ram it doesn't actually matter too much but prices will vary tremendously depending on brand and then the seller.

Everyone is going to tell you their opinions on whats best aka whatever they have. In short what you should check before you buy an SSD is: take note of read and write speeds, warranty and most importantly compatibility.

I don't know what your budget is and what size your want, I bought a 120gb OCZ Agility 3 as my first. I was VERY happy with the SSD as it was a very good price (cheapest) and outperforms almost every other competitor with 500mb reads and writes. I am in the process of buying another SSD but am undecided as the prices are dropping every week.

Also the safest bet for SSD's would be to buy one which is common upgrade for macbooks that way you know it will work and you won't have the headache of potential problems ie don't buy a model of SSD that just was released.
 
colour said:
For SSD and RAM you can basically install any make and brand, google to see if anyone has already done so with the specific brand/model on your mac to be safe.

When I upgraded I my 13 inch 2011 MBP I opted for the cheapest possible sticks I could find, the brand was new to me and not as well known. When I googled it no one had any problems with the sticks and I got a great deal, for ram it doesn't actually matter too much but prices will vary tremendously depending on brand and then the seller.

Everyone is going to tell you their opinions on whats best aka whatever they have. In short what you should check before you buy an SSD is: take note of read and write speeds, warranty and most importantly compatibility.

I don't know what your budget is and what size your want, I bought a 120gb OCZ Agility 3 as my first. I was VERY happy with the SSD as it was a very good price (cheapest) and outperforms almost every other competitor with 500mb reads and writes. I am in the process of buying another SSD but am undecided as the prices are dropping every week.

Also the safest bet for SSD's would be to buy one which is common upgrade for macbooks that way you know it will work and you won't have the headache of potential problems ie don't buy a model of SSD that just was released.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, very useful information :)

I'll probably pick up 8GB RAM as I don't run any RAM intensive programmes so 8GB should be satisfactory.

I've seen a few OCZ SSDs and they look very good, I've got the 60gb OCZ Agility currently in my Windows PC and it's really good with the read and write speeds, and hopefully the price may drop a little more, at it's only a 60gb drive, but it performs good nevertheless, and I've always get external storage to store any other things if I need to.
 
Here in the uk at least the 128gb ssd's are pretty much the same price as a 60/64gb and some makes of ssd offer their faster speeds on the 128gb+ models. At least they did, I assume this to still be true.
 
Agreed, in a 13" MBP 8gb is sufficient for all users, 16gb is ridiculously cheap at the moment but overkill considering what the machine is designed for but a good upgrade nonetheless.

Be sure to let us know what brands / sizes you end up going with.
 
MyRomeo said:
Here in the uk at least the 128gb ssd's are pretty much the same price as a 60/64gb and some makes of ssd offer their faster speeds on the 128gb+ models. At least they did, I assume this to still be true.
Click to expand...

I'm going to keep my eye out for good deals on popular brands on SSDs and hopefully will pick one up, I'm probably going to get a 60gb as that should be sufficient, although I have got a lot of iTunes downloads, so a 125gb would probably be more beneficial.

colour said:
Agreed, in a 13" MBP 8gb is sufficient for all users, 16gb is ridiculously cheap at the moment but overkill considering what the machine is designed for but a good upgrade nonetheless.

Be sure to let us know what brands / sizes you end up going with.
Click to expand...


Will do :) It probably won't be until next week or after, but I'll definitely update the thread with my purchases. :)
 
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