Comparison Macbook Pro: SSD or more RAM?

  • A Thread starter Alkajak
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Alkajak

I've got a MBP 15" Early 2011 with an i7, 4GB RAM, 750 GB 7200RPM HDD. It was slow to the point where clicking anything at all causes rainbow wheel for a few seconds. I did a reset on it recently, and it is improved, but I want to make it usable for school (mostly working with IDEs). Should I have the budget for one upgrade only, do I bump up the RAM to 8 GB or replace the HDD with a SSD to improve performance and prevent rainbow wheeling?
 
$110 for the Samsung 850 EVO 256GB. If I jump the gun and invest in 8GB of RAM too, will it be worth my while? How much of an improvement in performance will I see in the RAM upgrade after upgrading to an SSD?
 
Alkajak said:
$110 for the Samsung 850 EVO 256GB. If I jump the gun and invest in 8GB of RAM too, will it be worth my while? How much of an improvement in performance will I see in the RAM upgrade after upgrading to an SSD?
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Ram upgrade depends on the programs you use. Assuming you don't max what you have now or come close to maxing benefit will be minimal.
 
I'm already late here but for my view better go to SSD.

Upgrading your RAM will increase more on the workloads however minimal impact.

So having SSD is already a good start since all of improvements will definitely apply.
 
But 840 EVO has serious slower reads for older data. Did the HDD fail on you after 5 years?
 
Vasudev said:
It causes write amplification in the long run since the fix tries to re-write data to new sectors to avoid slow reads.
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I see. I am not familiar with that but it should still be fast then. It will just die sooner which in a home ssd than means years. By then we will probably have sata 4 and ssd will be all m.2;)
 
Samsung has Pro Series (example: Samsung 850 Pro) with 10-year limited warranty.

SSD beneficts are: less heat, noise and temps and more autonomy. Like other companions said an SSD will be the best option.

Regards.
 
I upgraded a few of those models a while ago with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD, both from Corsair, made a huge difference, almost as quick as my new MacBook Pro.
Cost was around 150$ for the complete upgrade here in Denmark, so depending where you live you might get it a lot cheaper.
So I would say do both, since more memory also reduced swapping to disk.
I wouldn't go for the fastest SSD, since the controller on the 2011 model can't keep up with it anyway.
If your going to work with a lot of large files you might want more than 128GB though.
We use them for video editing movies recorded on ipads and lighter work tasks., 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM is enough for that.
 
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Did you upgrade your device ? Otherwise, my vote goes to SSD :p
 
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