Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Has anyone tried 16GB in the Mid-2010 17" recently?

mikehalloran said:
I’ve taken apart hundreds of these. Schools buy base models. Never saw a 5,400 in a 27” 2009–11 and none was listed. Not even in the i3 EDU model. You are quite wrong on this point and, if you look up the 21.5”, you will see the same.

The MBPs has a 2.5” 5400 rpm HDD but not the iMac between late 2009–2010... or early 2009, 2008... This can all be looked up.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...uo-3.06-27-inch-aluminum-late-2009-specs.html

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-i3-3.2-27-inch-aluminum-mid-2010-specs.html

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...inch-aluminum-mid-2011-thunderbolt-specs.html


It wasn’t an iMac which is where this topic has drifted. Yours had 2 GPUs, one an HD Graphics 3000 and the other, a 6750M. If it had only one card, it was the HD Graphics 3000. What makes you think there wasn’t a heat issue and that it took Apple a long time to fix it?

And yes. Absolutely, positively, yes for the iMac.

You might be right about the MBP but my daughters’ are going great. One of them lost her 2010 to the exploding battery but the 2011

Yes, but you are wrong. Read and learn from those with more experience. Doubling down as if we’re supposed to somehow take your word for it doesn’t help. I have given links and have quite a few sitting in classrooms till next Summer at the minimum.
Click to expand...
I misunderstood your original post, I thought you were talking about 7200 RPM drives in MBPs. No iMacs made between 2006 and 2012 used 5400RPM drives at all.
 
I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro 15” sitting on my desk with the original 5400 RPM hard drive in it. I can assure you that hard drive doesn’t get hot enough to melt the graphics card on the opposite side of the laptop... And this one doesn’t have GPU issues (yet!)
 
ScreenSavers said:
Post #11
Click to expand...

Someone on eBay, who sells MBPs and was trying to sell that one, says it works. That's not what I'd accept as proof.

Please don't take offence - I have one of these machines here, and really wish it could work stably with 16Gb RAM.
 
Hello Everyone,
I just posted a question about this on another thread. I will post it here too in case others do not read the other thread. Sorry if this comes across as a double post

Macbookprodude said:
That I don’t know, you can try it.
Click to expand...

Hello Good People,
Came across this post and wanted to know if the 16GB memory upgrade would work under old OS like Snow Leopard?

My MacBook Pro is a 17-inch, Mid 2010, MacBookPro6,1, currently with 8GB 1067 MHz DD43

I've watched a few video with the upgraded memory and notice some are sticks of:

Upgrading the Late 2011 MacBook Pro to 16 GB of RAM!
8G DDR3 1333 CL9 1.5V 2Rx8

While others are using:
8G DDR3 1066 PC3-8500

Thanks for the help:)
 
If you try it let me know! Here’s what I tried...
59ffd1b84355b603868a1f83d59855f6.jpg
 
Hello Good People,

Wow, it has been three years since adding to this thread.
I have since updated my 2011 MacBook Pro from my beloved Snow Leopard to Ventura and Sonoma.

With that being said, do these newer OS's handle memory differently that may allow for us being able to add additional memory?

Any creative and constructive feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
mikehalloran said:
You apparently don’t understand the issue. The problem was never the GPU.

the problem was caused by those WD Black and Seagate (I forget the model) 7200 HDDs. These caused excessive heating and cooling of the GPU putting stress on the solder joints. Baking reflows he solder which is why it has a good chance of working.

I take care of a large number of these for a school district. We replaced the HDDs and NVRAM batteries a few years ago on a schedule. The drives were likely to go bad after 5 years (100% had problems and could not be reused). Total number of those iMacs that developed GPU issues = 0. I’ll know in another year if any develop problems but I’m not expecting any. These machines won’t be retired till Apple discontinues security updates for High Sierra next year.

In 2012, Apple went to a cooler HDD in 2012 but those still had some issues. In 2013, they went to an even cooler, slower drive.

In any case, a 27” 2009–2011 with an SSD (preferably installed a few years ago) is a great machine as long as you don’t need to run Mojave. The 2011 has a SATA bus which gives it a minor performance edge over the 2009–2010. I also like that I don’t have to pull the motherboard in a 2011 to replace the battery.
Click to expand...
I bought three 17” Mac Book Pros, for myself and family members, which was the 2011 Model that I upgraded to 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, and it was plenty fast, but the Fans would blow like a wind tunnel. The Graphics cards had to be repaired three times on each Mac Book Pro, and Apple abandoned their Customers who were loyal to them, and bought their most expensive Laptops, and their Largest Consumer Desktop Customers of the 27” iMac, which both had Graphics Card issues and Apple did nothing, and asked us to buy again, and because I love Apple products and their OS, I was Loyal and bought the last 2020 27” iMac ( 3.6Ghz/64 GB of RAM/5700 XT-16GB Graphics Card/Nano Textured Screen/ 8TB SSD), and after Apple swore that they wouldn’t make another Laptop bigger than 15”, made a 16” with Ports again, and I bought a 16” M1 Max, (64 GB of RAM/32-Core GPU/4 TB SSD), and I don’t care what the new M2 or M3 Mac Book Pros can do, but make no mistake, Graphics Card issues were a BIG PROBLEM ,and had to be repaired numerous times at the Customer’s expense!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Slix
I know what you mean about the fan going off the chain! The fans spinning at max speed was terrible.

I use an app called Mac Fan Control and this does help my MacBook Pro of the quiet side. I also have a laptop stand with build in fans. I keep it on low because I do not like the fan noise.

So your 17inch MacBook Pro does use the additional 8GB?
Many said the computer would not use it after it being installed.
What memory did you go with?

I feel ya bigtime, Apple is all about the money these days, probably was always about the money. It took me over 20yrs to wise up to this money grab.

Thanks
 
PamelaGirl80 said:
I know what you mean about the fan going off the chain! The fans spinning at max speed was terrible.

I use an app called Mac Fan Control and this does help my MacBook Pro of the quiet side. I also have a laptop stand with build in fans. I keep it on low because I do not like the fan noise.

So your 17inch MacBook Pro does use the additional 8GB?
Many said the computer would not use it after it being installed.
What memory did you go with?

I feel ya bigtime, Apple is all about the money these days, probably was always about the money. It took me over 20yrs to wise up to this money grab.

Thanks
Click to expand...
These Macs could always safely use twice what Apple said that they could use. Other World Computing and the Mac publications had been running 16GB forever, safely, and many of us used two 8 GB Chips, and it was a great upgrade, especially in conjunction with the 2TB SSD, which was the first big, weak link, and after Apple saw it safe to declare our 17” MBPros “Vintage” or “Obsolete”, they forced us to fix the Graphics cards, Replace the Graphics Cards, or buy New Macs Book Pros, KNOWING that it was not the Customer’s fault! The SSD increased the speed so much and it had a SuperDrive for Burning and Listening to DVD/CD’s, that I didn’t have Speed issues( it was a Quad-Core i7), but it was so old that I couldn’t upgrade beyond High Sierra, and still run well. I absolutely adore and am astonished by the performance, battery life, Screen Quality, and Port selection on the M1 Max, and since Apple didn’t give any guidance on whether the 27” iMac would be replaced with a Apple-Silicon version, I bought the 2020 iMac last December, and it is a Fantastic Mac, with an awesome Screen, Great Processing Power, Superb Graphics Card, more Storage than I even sought (it was Refurbished and came with a 8TB SSD-I wanted 4TB), and I don’t have to wait and worry anymore, because my 2011 Refurbed iMac was working but I couldn’t even use the latest version of Safari. I was glad that the 2020 27” iMac is the only Mac besides the Mac Pro that allow you to upgrade RAM, and it came with 8GB, and I upgraded the Memory to 64GB myself, and I can go to 128 GB, but I couldn’t wait any longer, and a 24” iMac, even a M3 model, is NOT a substitute for a 27” 5K iMac.
 
Sweet...
I will have to look into that memory from Other World Computing.
I was able to get Ventura running on my early 17inch MacBook Pro thanks to the Good People on this forum giving support using OpenCore-Patcher.

I also have a late model 17inch MacBook Pro that came with 16GB of memory, and wondering if this could be bumped up to 32GB?

I really like having all the old school ports. Aside from speed increases, some of the newer gear just seems like less without the additional ports.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacPowerLvr
PamelaGirl80 said:
...

I also have a late model 17inch MacBook Pro that came with 16GB of memory, and wondering if this could be bumped up to 32GB?

I really like having all the old school ports. Aside from speed increases, some of the newer gear just seems like less without the additional ports.
Click to expand...
The last MBPs with upgradeable RAM max out at 16GB RAM—there's no workaround per OWC. Later ones have soldered RAM.

As to which 17" MBPs can take 16GB, the answer is simple: Some can while others can't. EveryMac.com and OWC both have correct information on this.

I have yet to see a GPU issue on any of the hundreds of MBPs I have serviced over the years. I have always installed SSDs long before the GPUs developed problems, usually when it was time to replace the battery. I always recommended upgrading the drive based upon increased performance including boot speed which is dramatic as we know.

I've checked every HDD and, though not many showed symptoms, the only one that ever tested good was in a 2012 13" that I serviced in September of this year—I might frame it.

I don't like fan noise either but mine roar for a couple minutes every hour or so. Nowadays, both of my personal 2012 MBPs have 4TB Crucial MX500s. The 13" runs Mojave; the 15" runs Catalina. Both have 16GB RAM installed. With OWC charging $37 these days, I've been using these kits for about 10 years, now. Haven't had a problem yet but, at $18, I don't care. My time is more valuable than chasing down the warranty.
Timetec 16GB KIT(2x8GB) Compatible for Apple DDR3L 1600MHz for Mac Book Pro(Early/Late 2011,Mid 2012), iMac(Mid 2011,Late 2012,Early/Late 2013,Late 2014,Mid 2015), Mac Mini(Mid 2011,Late 2012) MAC RAM
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
  • Like
Reactions: MacPowerLvr, Queen6 and PamelaGirl80
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back