MacBook Pro Upgraded Options

Chorlie

Hi,

An Apple MacBook Pro upgraded question...

I have an old MacBook Pro (had it from new), it's a Mid 2010 model with 15" screen, i7 processor, with 4Gb Ram & 500Gb HD. It's currently running OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).

It's taking about 1 min 30 sec to boot-up and using Blackmagic it shows a Disk Write Speed of 62.4MB/s and a Disk Read Speed of 64.6MB/s.

So Earlier this year I upgraded it to 8Gb Ram and installed a SanDisk Ultra II SSD 960 GB Sata III 2.5 inch Internal SSD up to 550 MB/s (bought off Amazon when they were on offer), to replace the 500Gb HD.

It now has a boot-up time of about 59 sec and a Write Speed of 255.0MB/s & Read Speed of 265.1MB/s. Which is a lot better, but I was hoping for a little bit more.


I don't often use my MacBook Pro, so not willing to buy a new / newer one, but since I have an iPad Mini 2 and iPhone 6s I also don't want to switch back to a Windows machine. I use my iPad all the time....

I'm not a gamer or a heavy video editor, so I don't need a top end power machine.

So is there anything else I can do to this MacBook Pro to improve performance (keep it as current as possible) without spending a lot of money and it's it worth upgrading the OS X to 10.11 (El Capitan) or to the latest 10.12 (Sierra)?, will any of the new features work on 2010 MacBook Pro? or is it likely just to slow / bog it down more...?

Cheers

almillar

I think you're done. Not much you can do with a laptop apart from RAM and HDD/SSD. 16GB may improve things if you can take it.
There's very little difference between 10.11 and 10.12, unless you like Siri. When you use Siri it does use the discrete graphics so you may take a hit in either performance or battery life.

Mr_Toad

Something is clearly wrong!

I have a Mid 2010 13" Macbook Pro with a much slower core 2 Duo CPU.

It came with 4GB RAM and a 256Gb HD.

I upgraded to 6GB RAM and swapped the HD for a 500Gb SSD so I have less RAM than yours and a slower CPU.

Mine is really fast, At switch on I get the Apple Logo and the progress bar zips across the screen almost immediately and the desktop is ready to use.

Opening something like iTunes or a browser is almost instantaneous, one bounce of the icon and it's loaded, less than two seconds.

I'm running the latest Sierra OS and with the extra RAM and SSD it is faster now than when it was new!

How much free space have you got on the HD? A nearly full HD can slow things down.

When it's going slowly have you run Activity Monitor and looked at what the CPU is doing? Is it running at or close to 100% and what process is using the most?

Can you Macbook still see the full 8GB RAM or is there one or more faulty memory modules?

Are you running an older version of MS Office? There was a known problem with it causing slow running but there is an update from MS to fix it.

When it starts to run slow make a note of the exact time then open the console and make sure you're looking at all messages then find the time noted and see what's going on.

Your Macbook should be a as fast or faster than mine. I do a lot of photo editing, some video editing and some CPU intensive number crunching and it never feels slow.

If all else fails I'd be tempted to back up any pictures and docs etc. then do a new install of the latest OS and see what difference that makes.

almillar

Sorry, yes - critical point - fresh install. Upgrades are fine of course if everything's running well, but if your Mac is slow, don't just upgrade and expect a speed boost. Wipe it, fresh install, and reinstall your apps and restore your data. Then you'll know the real speed of your hardware.

Chorlie

I think a full fresh install might be a good idea.....if I can bit the bullet and do it (never done one before, so will have to do some research first).

My HD if less than half full (about 400GB used of the 960GB).

When I look in system it's showing 8GB of Ram (2x4GB) so I'm guessing that's working ok.

I've never tried activity monitor so will have a look into that also.

I was hoping with these upgrades it would be back to how it was when I first bought it which it isn't, it's a lot better than it was, but still away off what I was hoping.

As for MS Office, I was using a really old version, but when I upgraded to Yosemite that version of MS Office wasn't compatible so I installed Pages, Numbers etc since that's what's on my iPad. So I guess that old MS Office program is still installed on my HD, so could that be part of the issue?

When I upgraded to Yosemite the network connection became an issue; sometimes it would connect others it wouldn't, I found out it was due to my router being a dual band 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz and it didn't seem to like the 5Ghz. If I split my router so the 2.4 & 5Ghz had different Network Names I could get it to connect to the 2.4Ghz side every time without issue.

I've now upgraded to Sierra OS hoping it might solve this Network connection issue and maybe speed things up in general. Well the Network problem is still there and I haven't used it enough to decide it if quicker / slower or no difference.

Have you any solution for my Network issue? could a fresh install solve this or is it just something I have to live with....?

Thanks

Mr_Toad

Hmm.

First thing I would do is completely remove MS Office, it's incompatible but there may well be background processes still running, auto update etc. Again Activity Monitor will show this, have a look before you remove it.

You aren't short of disk space and all of your RAM is visible, I'd still be tempted. to do a memory test;

http://www.macworld.com/article/2362040/do-you-have-bad-ram-how-to-find-it-and-how-to-fix-it.html

Are your RAM modules a pair or the same type from two different manufacturers?

I have a dual band router and have never had an issue connecting, I'm not sure why you're having a problem unless it's the router and not the computer?

People always expect that if the router works and their computer works then the two will work together, they probably will but not necessarily as well as they could.

Have you tried changing the wireless channel to a different one?

As I said in my original post mine is actually faster than when it was new after increasing the RAM and installing the SSD.

Are you sure that the SSD is properly compatible?

As above with the router your SSD works but it may not work as well as a different one. Before upgrading to SSD I did some research and seem to remember that some types were were more suitable, and better performing, than others. I bought one that others on various other Mac sites had found to be one of the best performing, a Samsung, rather than opting for the best value deal I could find.

Have a read of this site;

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/best-ssd-for-mac-3600870/

Have you used Disk Utility to check your SSD?

http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/24/check-hard-drive-health-mac-disk-utility/

Have a look at this then if no improvement I'd do a completely fresh install.

Let us know how you get on.

Chorlie

Thanks for this Mr_Toad,

I'll have a good read of those links and run some tests etc, but I haven't time today so will do it one evening in the week and will report back.

But for info, the Ram I installed was:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-PC3-8500-SODIMM-204-Pin-Memory/dp/B008PK37I4/ref=pd_sim_147_5?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=7J2J1TV3HS56WNQMBNES&th=1


And the SSD was:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00M8ABHVQ/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE


I did do a little research before buying the SSD and it did state this SSD wasn't as quick as the Samsung 850 Pro or even the 850 Evo, but for the price (and the average user) was fine & on a par with the older Samsung 750 Evo and very close to the 750 Pro. I got the impression that the Crucial BX200 was maybe the best but was more expensive than the Samsung 750 range and SanDisk.

I also read somewhere that some People were having issue with Yosemite and some Samsung SSD (something to do with TRIM and 3rd party drives) I think this was fixed early on, but I didn't want that slim possible agro so selected the SanDisk over the Samsung, plus it was on offer for just over £140, so a lot cheaper than the Samsung.

So if I was to do a fresh install would a new SSD be a quicker and simpler way to do it (buy a Crucial MX300 or Samsung 850 Pro) and install OS Sierra and just start a fresh and copy the photos, music, videos & download just the apps I use and get rid of the last 6yrs of stuff that's unused etc...?

Which SSD did you install in you MacBook Pro...?


As for the router, I was with BT and had their HomeHub 4 & now with PlusNet with their standard router and this connection issue still happening, but they are the rebranded BT HomeHub 5, also it only started happening after I upgraded to Yosemite when I was with BT.
I found my work around on the Apple Support page because a few others where having the same issue, but there was no real answer.

securityguy

"Wipe it, fresh install, and reinstall your apps and restore your data. Then you'll know the real speed of your hardware."

I've found that the easiest and lowest risk route to happiness is to make a USB installer of the OS, reinstall the OS after a disk wipe, and then restore the data from a Time Machine backup. It does user data and applications and settings all in one fell swoop. I did three machines like this with either El Capitan or Sierra and it had very good effects.

Chorlie

If I reinstall from Time Machine won't it also bring back all the old apps etc that's slowing it down....

If I didn't bother with the reinstall from Time Machine and just left as new and start a fresh how would it effect my iPad / iPhone since I back-up via my MacBook Pro, would I loose everything on them when I next connect them to it...?

securityguy

"If I reinstall from Time Machine won't it also bring back all the old apps etc that's slowing it down...."

Why would apps just sat on the disk be slowing it down?

If it's apps starting up at log in, then the "login items" dialogue in the Users preference pane has a list.

almillar

All good advice above. And yes, a clean install will help greatly. I bet you won't be using 400BG at the end of it for a start.
I usually copy my 'USER' or 'HOME' folder to a USB drive, backup any app settings you need, for example your bookmarks, then wipe, install the new OS from a USB stick (you'll need an 8GB IIRC) - it's faster to make it, and install it, than to burn a DVD and install from that!).
Reinstall apps, and copy back over all your user data.
Network. No OS update is going to improve your hardware. You're stuck with a 2.4GHz WiFi device, there are plenty out there, and some get confused where there's a 2.4/5GHz mix.
The solution is quite simple as long as your router allows you. You can turn off the 5GHz section if you've got no devices capable of using it, or you can give it a different name, and/or channel from the 2.4GHz one - this allows the older stuff to see and connect more easily.