Upgrading MBP 2011

[east1999]

Hey guys,

Lately I've been seeing the Mac beach ball too many times. I have a 2011 13" MBP, the base-level model, and I installed Lion back when it was launched. It usually happens when I have a few tabs open in Chrome, iCal is full-screen on the next space, uTorrent is downloading something, VLC is paused halfway through some tv show, iTunes is on, etc. There's a sort of multitasking threshold somewhere. Though this laptop is very fast, it's very annoying when it cannot keep up, so I'm thinking if I should do something.

1. Maybe it's a software thing. I've checked and repaired disk permissions and I barely have any apps launching during startup. I rarely restart or shutdown and usually just close the lid. According to Activity Monitor, I mostly have 400-500mb of "free" RAM. I also have 50+gb of free space in my HDD.

2. Maybe I need to upgrade the RAM. Do you guys notice a serious difference? I don't run Photoshop in a regular basis, but I do open a lot of tabs while I have something else going on. It also looks like a cheap fix.

3. I looked into SSD+optibay upgrades, and I think I can cram OSx and all the apps into a main (SSD) disk, while using the older HDD for multimedia files. How much faster does it get? And by this I also mean, what kind of fast. Because it's one thing to do faster conversions, and another to have apps open instantly, snappy spotlight searches, and so on.

What do you guys think?

 

[GGJstudios]

Lately I've been seeing the Mac beach ball too many times.

Performance Tips For Mac OS X

I've checked and repaired disk permissions

Some people repair, or recommend repairing permissions for situations where it isn't appropriate. Repairing permissions only addresses very specific issues. It is not a "cure all" or a general performance enhancer, and doesn't need to be done on a regular basis. It also doesn't address permissions problems with your files or 3rd party apps.

Five Mac maintenance myths

Repairing permissions: What you need to know
About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature​

Disk Utility repairs the permissions for files installed by the Mac OS X Installer, Software Update, or an Apple software installer. It doesn’t repair permissions for your documents, your home folder, and third-party applications.

You can verify or repair permissions only on a disk with Mac OS X installed.

Does Disk Utility check permissions on all files?

Files that aren't installed as part of an Apple-originated installer package are not listed in a receipt and therefore are not checked. For example, if you install an application using a non-Apple installer application, or by copying it from a disk image, network volume, or other disk instead of installing it via Installer, a receipt file isn't created. This is expected. Some applications are designed to be installed in one of those ways.

Also, certain files whose permissions can be changed during normal usage without affecting their function are intentionally not checked.

There are times when repairing permissions is appropriate. To do so, here are the instructions:

Repairing Disk Permissions​

If repairing permissions results in error messages, some of these messages can be ignored and should be no cause for concern.

Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore​

I rarely restart or shutdown and usually just close the lid.

Usually, it's fine to do that. If you're having problems, however, a restart can't hurt and may solve some issues.

Maybe I need to upgrade the RAM.

Many say RAM is cheap, so get as much as you can, even if it's not needed. However, RAM prices continue to fall, and if more isn't needed now, waiting to buy at a later time when it's actually needed will probably result in a lower price.

To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

I looked into SSD+optibay upgrades, and I think I can cram OSx and all the apps into a main (SSD) disk, while using the older HDD for multimedia files. How much faster does it get?

SSDs will improve performance only as it relates to reading/writing to the hard drive. It will definitely help, but isn't a cure-all.