Upgrading my 2011 MBP

[BuriedBubble]

Hi guys,

I'm planning to upgrade my early 2011 MBP with 16gb of RAM, a SSD and a new battery.

Would just like some advice on the following things - it's the first time I've attempted something like this!

- Are these fairly decent pieces to use (links below)? I can be flexible with budget so if you know of any alternatives please feel free to share.
- What tools do I need to have (types of screwdriver etc)?
- Do I need to worry about enabling TRIM or anything else with the SSD? I heard snow leopard added a feature that automatically had it on.
- Should I upgrade anything else? I'm mainly doing this because of sluggish performance and the mac heating up a bit even when just on youtube etc...I mainly use this machine for ableton and photoshop so would it be worth changing the processor or graphics? Or the fans?
- If you take a look at the picture below, on the gold bar at the far right there's a black circle - this is from where one of the feet has fallen off and whatever that is has squeezed through it slightly...is this something to worry about or should a replacement foot be ok on top?
- Lastly (I hope I got everything) what order should I do the RAM and SSD in?

Current system:
OSX El Capitan 10.11.6
15" Early 2011 model
2.2GHz Intel Core i7
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 3000 384MB
750GB HDD

New bits:
SSD - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX...UTF8&qid=1476533926&sr=8-1&keywords=ssd+750gb
Battery - https://www.amazon.co.uk/HzTech-Rep...spons&keywords=2011+macbook+pro+battery&psc=1
RAM - https://www.amazon.co.uk/memory-upg...76532931&sr=8-1&keywords=2011+macbook+pro+ram

 

[tubeexperience]

Crucial MX300 is definitely an SSD that I recommend.

You do need to (or at least should) enable TRIM after installing the SSD
http://www.howtogeek.com/222077/how-to-enable-trim-for-third-party-ssds-on-mac-os-x/

MacBook Pro Early/Late 2011 can handle DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) so I would get that instead.

Here is one that would work: http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Pro..._re=CT2KIT102464BF160B-_-20-148-614-_-Product

Also, "Mac memory" is a sham. Mac uses regular memory (assuming compatible speed and voltage).

 

[BuriedBubble]

Crucial MX300 is definitely an SSD that I recommend.

You do need to (or at least should) enable TRIM after installing the SSD
http://www.howtogeek.com/222077/how-to-enable-trim-for-third-party-ssds-on-mac-os-x/

MacBook Pro Early/Late 2011 can handle DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) so I would get that instead.

Here is one that would work: http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Pro..._re=CT2KIT102464BF160B-_-20-148-614-_-Product

Also, "Mac memory" is a sham. Mac uses regular memory (assuming compatible speed and voltage).

Thanks for the links! Good to hear about the SSD.

The price is much better on the ram too, cheers buddy!

 

[wegster]

I've got a similar setup, although I've been at 16GB RAM since it cost...wait for it...$850 or so (which was infinitely better than what it cost before that!!).

The crucial and the Samsung 850 EVO get consistently good marks - much happier with the 850 EVO vs the prior OWC SSD I had in there (~150-200MB/sec OWV vs Samsung 850 maxing out the bus or nearly so, ~500MB/sec read/writes).

The battery seems to be the big challenge, or has been for me. As I was about to start using my MBP at work where I do a lot of moving around for presentations in different conf rooms, I wanted a battery life bump (don't want to be that guy lugging a power brick), so went w/OWC for a bit more $ and a NuPower/NuTech battery that ran me ~$100. Yeah, so - still seems to only get about an hour (I do have a dGPU), regardless of the battery claiming to still be over 7200MaH capacity and shutting down non-critical apps, etc.

If I were able to find a battery allowing me a reliable 2+ hours when connected to a projector or external display on battery, I'd likely be keeping my MBP for a few more years yet.