Uprading Macbook pro 15 early 2013

[Solntse]

Hi everybody,

I need your advice to take a decision concerning my Macbook pro.

It's a brave 15" from april 2013 with the following specs :
- 2,7 GHz Intel Core i7
- 16 Go 1600 MHz DDR3
- Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 Mo
- New battery and GPU changed by apple (there was a problem on the mbp of this generation)

I'm an illustrator and I use it daily and intensively with Adobe suite - mainly photoshop + illustrator / indesign, Toonboom Harmony and a Cintiq 24. Often with many softwares open. Travel a lot with it for the last 6 years.

Until recently it worked perfectly fine, fast without bugs but about 6 monthes ago it began to slow down significantly.
- Takes longer to save and open psd files
- Takes longer to do all the usual photoshop transformations
- Slower on all other tasks
- Unexpected black screens which bring me back to the opening session screen
- Takes a loooooong time to start.

I would'nt mind for a private use but for work it's a problem.

So I'm considering uprading to the 16" (1T / 32G / i9 2.3 Ghz / 5500M 8G) for another 6 years - hopefully - but I wonder if I could give first an extra 1 or 2 years to my present macbook by changing the current 500 G SSD for a more recent 1T, and wait for the 2nd generation of the 16" with all the possible bugs fixed.

Do you think this could give a significant boost to my computer and it's worth the price ? Or do you think the slowness depends probably on too many factors and I won't see a difference so I should invest in the 16"

Thank you all for your answers and advices.

 

[Sanpete]

If you think you can use the new SSD in an enclosure with a new setup, won't really hurt anything to go ahead and try it on your 2013 first.

 

[Solntse]

If you think you can use the new SSD in an enclosure with a new setup, won't really hurt anything to go ahead and try it on your 2013 first.

Thank you for your answer.
Why do you mean by enclosure? Extern use with USB connection? Is it confortable for a daily use?
Do you think I should better go step by step, first reinstall all the computer, maybe first with High Sierra, then Mojave to check and only then go with new SSD ?

 

[Sanpete]

If you buy a SSD to try on your 2013, and it does't help enough, you can put the SSD in an external enclosure to use with a new 16" via a USB cable, as you say. It's easy. It would be for additional storage, if you will need that.

You could try reinstalling the OS first, that would be the cheapest thing. I don't know which OS version works best on your machine with your software, but I wouldn't change the OS version without being sure your other software will still work with a newer OS.

 

[profcutter]

I also have a 2013. My SSD started failing earlier this year, repeated crashes, specifically when bumped. The machine was beginning to slow down, and was getting full anyway. A new SSD with an internal NVME adapter is an imperfect solution, you’ll lose hibernation, but it does make the system more stable and noticeably faster, both due to the increased available storage and increased transfer speeds.

 

[_Kiki_]

there is a chance the SSD is falling, try different one, the maximum official specs for Apple SATA SSD is 768GB, but there is a possibility to put 3rd party SSD using adapter

I also have a 2013. My SSD started failing earlier this year, repeated crashes, specifically when bumped. The machine was beginning to slow down, and was getting full anyway. A new SSD with an internal NVME adapter is an imperfect solution, you’ll lose hibernation, but it does make the system more stable and noticeably faster, both due to the increased available storage and increased transfer speeds.

this one doesn't support nvme, it's an old proprietary Apple SATA interface

 

[profcutter]

Right, that’s why I referred to the NVME adaptor as an imperfect solution. I’m using the long adaptor.
[automerge]1576369350[/automerge]

there is a chance the SSD is falling, try different one, the maximum official specs for Apple SATA SSD is 768GB, but there is a possibility to put 3rd party SSD using adapter



this one doesn't support nvme, it's an old proprietary Apple SATA interface

mine was a 2013 with a blade style 1tb AHCI drive from the factory.