Painfully slow late 2011 Macbook Pro - upgrade or move on?

[purpletrees]

My late 2011 13" Macbook Pro takes 5 minutes to open a browser. It's the lower spec with 4GB / i5.

I'm concerned that dropping 50% of the price of a new AIR to upgrade to usable isn't worth it. I'd be looking for this upgrade to give me another 4 years of 'light' use but importantly a computer that works when I open it as it has 'bricked' once (used linux to fix.)

The upgrade would need around £330-470.
- SSD 525Gb £120
- battery £90 self-install from ifixit/£130 apple. {'service needed' warning +2 years.}
- RAM 16GB £160 or 8GB £85
- charger £30-60 {currently more electrical tape than wire}

Or buy an 1.8GHz air with 8GB 512GB for £1,250 or an apple refurbished 2.9GHz pro 8GB 512GB £1,500.

2011 Macbook was used very heavily as my PhD and entertainment device for 4 years (16hrs+ per day) and much less for the last two years. I have terrible wifi signal in my flat so I am focused on having a reasonable hard-drive. (We've tried so many gadgets to fix this but no luck - architecture problem)

Basically is the upgrade worth it - will the 2011 MacbookPro be buggy/potentially brick/be obsolete in 2 years?** Will an AIR survive 4 years? What would you do?

Thank you!
**I kept it on Mountain Lion till it wouldn't let me use Chrome but after upgrading it has struggled.

 

[kohlson]

My daughter's 2011 13-MBA went through 4 years of college and then 2 years of commuter life in Manhattan. Still works fine, and I'm re-purposing to another family member. My wife's 2012 is has been used daily in her job as a programmer since new. Other than batteries after 4 years, they just keep going.

 

[MacInTO]

I always advocate upgrading.

As for the battery, I took a chance and bought a $20 battery on Amazon and it's as good as an OEM Apple battery.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

My late 2011 13" Macbook Pro takes 5 minutes to open a browser. It's the lower spec with 4GB / i5.

I'm concerned that dropping 50% of the price of a new AIR to upgrade to usable isn't worth it. I'd be looking for this upgrade to give me another 4 years of 'light' use but importantly a computer that works when I open it as it has 'bricked' once (used linux to fix.)

The upgrade would need around £330-470.
- SSD 525Gb £120
- battery £90 self-install from ifixit/£130 apple. {'service needed' warning +2 years.}
- RAM 16GB £160 or 8GB £85
- charger £30-60 {currently more electrical tape than wire}

Or buy an 1.8GHz air with 8GB 512GB for £1,250 or an apple refurbished 2.9GHz pro 8GB 512GB £1,500.

2011 Macbook was used very heavily as my PhD and entertainment device for 4 years (16hrs+ per day) and much less for the last two years. I have terrible wifi signal in my flat so I am focused on having a reasonable hard-drive. (We've tried so many gadgets to fix this but no luck - architecture problem)

Basically is the upgrade worth it - will the 2011 MacbookPro be buggy/potentially brick/be obsolete in 2 years?** Will an AIR survive 4 years? What would you do?

Thank you!
**I kept it on Mountain Lion till it wouldn't let me use Chrome but after upgrading it has struggled.

Couple of things you probably won't need more RAM and just an SSD will transform that computer this is maybe worth trying but at 6 years old I'd be wary of putting any money into it at all. If you do decide to do it, then go for the ssd if that works all good if not then you can put it in a caddy and have a fast external drive for back ups etc.

Have you tried plug in wifi extenders to the rooms you need wifi in?? These work well for me .

If you are looking at a refurb I would go with a retina MacBook

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produ...Book-11GHz-Dual-core-Intel-Core-m3-Space-Grey

 

[Fishrrman]

PRIORITY #1:
Put an SSD into it.
You can do this yourself with two screwdrivers and 15 minutes of time.

NOTHING else you do will provide you with the performance increase of an SSD.
Your read speeds should increase 4x.

PRIORITY #2:
Bump up the RAM.
Fishrrman's quick-n-dirty suggestion:
Buy ONE 8gb DIMM, and put it into the uppermost slot while you have the back off to install the SSD. This will give you 10gb.
Saves money that way. Some will argue that 2 "dis-similar" DIMM sizes will slow down the speed, but I'll reply that whatever speed differences there might be, you won't even notice (especially after having installed an SSD).

Battery -- don't worry about this until you need to.

Charger -- you SHOULD replace this.
DON'T buy a "cheapie charger".
Get a good one (costs more).

 

[Brammy]

Buy ONE 8gb DIMM, and put it into the uppermost slot while you have the back off to install the SSD. This will give you 10gb.

Do they have to be matched pairs?

 

[YanniDepp]

Four minutes to open a web browser? Either you've got a serious amount of crap on that laptop, or your disk throughput is seriously wrong.

Usually this means the SATA cable is failing. It's really common on the 2012 model, but it can happen on the 2011 as well.

Download Black Magic Disk Speed Test and see what your read/write speeds are.

 

[Fishrrman]

Brammy asked:
"Do they have to be matched pairs?"

No.

 

[Brammy]

I'd advocate for a newer Air. I love the 2011 MacBook Pro, but I'm not sure how much longer it will still get macOS updates.

I'd get a 2015-era MacBook Air.

 

[jamface]

my 2009 pro was transformed with a 256 sad. still has the same useless battery, but i don't care, i just plug in all the time. And don't 'waste' money on loads of ram unless you know you'll really need it. It's pretty pricey for those older sticks now, if new certainly. i also found a genuine charger (for another macbook) on eBay for £25, so no need to spend a ton to get the right product.

 

[4ik]

Agree with YanniDepp, your computer may need to be eraised and OS reinstalled. Just did that with my 2009 iMac and browser works pretty fast now.

 

[purpletrees]

Couple of things you probably won't need more RAM and just an SSD will transform that computer this is maybe worth trying but at 6 years old I'd be wary of putting any money into it at all. If you do decide to do it, then go for the ssd if that works all good if not then you can put it in a caddy and have a fast external drive for back ups etc.

Have you tried plug in wifi extenders to the rooms you need wifi in?? These work well for me .

If you are looking at a refurb I would go with a retina MacBook

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/produ...Book-11GHz-Dual-core-Intel-Core-m3-Space-Grey

Thanks! The reason I don't want a macbook is the lack of USB ports as my work has a memory stick culture. I'd also want to perform back-ups other wired connections because the internet is stuck how it is. I have a wifi extender & I updated the router. There's 100 other flats in my building in an area that doesn't have fibreoptic with a router location that's stuck next to my front door. I can't move it without performing illegal DIY (renting.) My flat is lovely though so I cope. My previous flat had fast good internet... but also break-ins and people who screamed at eachother on the street till 3am most nights.

 

[Yaboze]

I would get a SSD and at least 8 GB of ram.

 

[purpletrees]

Agree with YanniDepp, your computer may need to be eraised and OS reinstalled. Just did that with my 2009 iMac and browser works pretty fast now.

Thanks for the reply!

I've already done this once. (After it bricked). Actually I've found that I needed to let the harddrive index afterwards as I hadn't left it on for more than 10 minutes as I kept finding it slow and then rebooting in safe mode/normal mode/safe mode to try and fix it (oops)! It is now more like 1-2 minutes of spinning wheel.

My computer is 70% full - 400 GbB and I'm attached to at least 300 of them. I'm that person.
[doublepost=1512045073][/doublepost]

I'd advocate for a newer Air. I love the 2011 MacBook Pro, but I'm not sure how much longer it will still get macOS updates.

I'd get a 2015-era MacBook Air.

Thanks for the reply

Yes, I am really worried about this. Previously I had a 2006 Macbook which lasted till 2011 and I forced to upgrade for this reason. [I run computers to the ground - previously I had an 2001 iMac, previous to that had a black and white screen MacOS 7(?)!] However, I use my personal laptop so much less now than I did as a student so I'm hesitant BUT I'd hate to spend the upgrade cost for just a year of laptop.

Does anyone have an idea of how long they think it'll be supported?

 

[travelsheep]

I do all my video editing (720p and more recently 1080p), creative work (inDesign, Photoshop), client communication, and bookkeeping on my MacBook Air 2011. Now on second battery replacement. Apple authorized Reseller told me that this computer is meant only for light Internet browsing and email, but here I am, sustaining my entire business with it. Only issues I had was with an external harddrive and USB 2.0, but that's about the only culprit, and man, do I love my built in SD card reader!

 

[ZapNZs]

T

Does anyone have an idea of how long they think it'll be supported?

Someone who works for Apple may be able to comment here, but the 2015 MBA and 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro Unibody may be special cases where they see extended OS support because Apple sold both models new up until a few months ago (and may still sell both as refurbs or as their "special deals"). The same may also apply to the 2013 Mac Pro.

 

[satinsilverem2]

At this point I don’t know if it would be worth it upgrading it. I came from a 2011 13 inch model earlier this year to a 2016 13 inch and the 2011 doesn’t even hold a candle to the new one.

 

[Naimfan]

Upgrade to an ssd, replace the sata cable, and buy a new Apple charger.

Memory and battery can wait.

You have a nice machine that cpu-wise is still highly capable.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If you want to save money, keep your current MBPro and speed it up significantly, I already told you what to do in reply #5 above.

I suggest you go back and re-read it.