Upgrading a MacBook Pro a1278 (late 2011)

[pacoMo]

Hi there,
I'm new to the forum and a not very experienced MacBook Pro user (I only own windows Pc).

So, the laptop we used at work just went dead and the only replacement I was able to find is my girlfriend's old 13'' MacBook Pro (late 2011).
I managed to resuscitate it by replacing the charging port that didn't work.

Now it kinda works and I was also able to upgrade the os the 10.13.6 ios (high Sierra).
But the notebook is soooo slow and laggy!

It now runs on 4 GB ram and a mechanical HD. I could upgrade the hardware by installing 16 GB of ram and a Ssd.
My question is: will it be worth it? Will I get noticeable better performances or should I give up on my hopes?

Thank you for your help!

Paco

 

[Amethyst1]

It now runs on 4 GB ram and a mechanical HD. I could upgrade the hardware by installing 16 GB of ram and a Ssd.
My question is: will it be worth it? Will I get noticeable better performances or should I give up on my hopes?

Installing more RAM and an SSD will definitely result in much faster boot and application launch times. Web browsers also eat up lots of RAM these days. There’s nothing you can do about the old dual-core CPU though.

Now it kinda works and I was also able to upgrade the os the 10.13.6 ios (high Sierra).

You can get newer versions of macOS running using patchers, but you should only look into that after more RAM and an SSD have been installed.

 

[pacoMo]

Thanks a lot for your reply, I think I'll give it a try.
Can you suggest the best way to migrate the OS to the new ssd?

 

[Amethyst1]

Can you suggest the best way to migrate the OS to the new ssd?

I’d put the new SSD in an external USB enclosure first, clone the HDD using SuperDuper! (it’s free and I’ve been using it for years), then install the SSD internally.

 

[pacoMo]

Thanks a lot!

 

[B S Magnet]

Installing more RAM and an SSD will definitely result in much faster boot and application launch times. Web browsers also eat up lots of RAM these days. There’s nothing you can do about the old dual-core CPU though.


You can get newer versions of macOS running using patchers, but you should only look into that after more RAM and an SSD have been installed.

Hi @pacoMo. I can second and attest to everything here, adding that I’m replying to you from my late 2011 A1278 MBP (the i7 variant).

Eliminating your two biggest speed bumps comes from moving to an SSD (which will speed up system start-up and application start-up dramatically) and increasing the RAM to the 16GB max (which gives the system significant breathing room and far less need to use the hard drive for swapping virtual memory once physical memory runs low).

With these two upgrades, it will feel like you’re using a completely different A1278 in the best possible way. And the late 2011 13-inch models are solid rigs.

 

[bobesch]

There's nothing wrong with that 13"MBP from 2011.
As @Amethyst1 and @B S Magnet already mentioned: upgrade to SSD and 16GB of RAM.
@Amethyst1 's way #4 is the exact way I'd migrate the system to SSD too.
You may go foreward to install @dosdude1 's MojavePatch (32bit-Support) or CatalinaPatch (only 64bit) or even OCLP Monterey. They'll work fine. Better not yet OCLP_Ventura since work is still in progress.

 

[pacoMo]

Glad to hear that, thanks a lot to both of you. And yeah, I'm planning to upgrade the os cause with high Sierra that I'm currently running I'm not able to download apps from the app store (I need Outlook and One Note at work).
The system tells me I need ios 11 or higher (Big Sur).
I found the OpenCore Legacy Patcher which I think will do the job. Any experience with that? Any other suggestion?

 

[bobesch]

[...] I need ios 11 or higher (Big Sur).
I found the OpenCore Legacy Patcher which I think will do the job. Any experience with that? Any other suggestion?

There's no other choice than OCLP, when it comes to BigSur, Monterey or Ventura.
But You may also install Win10(Pro) with BootCamp-Drivers coming from Mojave.
For OCLP You need the OCLP.App and two 16GB USB-(Boot)Sticks. Unfortunately USB2 on Your 2011 13"MBP is a bit of a bottleneck, when it comes to speed. (If You choose to install @dosdude1 patched macOS, you might create a 16GB partition at the very end of the SSD to hold the macOS installer and You'll have macOS installation at maximum speed plus a kind of Recovery on board.)
1. Download and install the OpenCore.App (0.6.1 should do fine for Monterey - later versions are in constant progress to cope with the latest Ventura-versions)
2. OCPL-GUI guides You to download macOS and create the universal macOS-Installer USB-BootStick.
3.Then You have to either bless the macOS-Installer-BootStick with individual OCPL-EFI-BootROM that fits the model of Your MacBook or better create a separate USB-BootStick for the EFI-BootROM and keep the macOS-installer stick unchanged and universal for use on different hardware.
4. during the installation both USB-Stick have to be connectet. Hold ALT-key on booting to launch to boot-picker and boot first the modded OCLP-BootROM and second the macOS installer.
If You have to rely on a stable system, I'd stay OCPL 0.6.1 and the latest Monterey-installer until the OCLP-team has sorted out the latest quirks of patched Ventura and Ventura has gotten more mature with only rare Updates.

 

[theMarble]

I found the OpenCore Legacy Patcher which I think will do the job. Any experience with that?

I've ran OCLP on various machines (of which a few have been mentioned on this forum).

For a little while, I was running Monterey on my 2011 A1278. It has 12GB of RAM and a 500GB Crucial SSD. Don't expect it to be feel like a new machine. It's fast enough for typical day-to-day use (eg: browsing the web, doing some light photo editing or graphic design...) however I would not recommend doing anything graphical intensive on it (eg: video editing, gaming...).

This is because modern versions of macOS require a graphics API called Metal. To explain simply, Metal is what allows the graphics chip to better communicate with the OS. The Intel HD 3000 in the 2011 MBP does not support Metal, therefore OpenCore patches it to work. While this does get it working, you can find that graphics performance can be poor at times, depending on what you are doing. However, if watching videos on YouTube, Netflix and other similar sites is all that you will be doing, then you shouldn't encounter any problems.

Metal support starts with the Intel HD 4000, in the 2012 MacBook Pro. I personally have Ventura running with OCLP on my 2015 15" MacBook Pro, which supports Metal and I can edit 1080p video, and watch 1440p content streamed and locally just fine!

 

[iModFrenzy]

I personally have Ventura running with OCLP on my 2015 15" MacBook Pro, which supports Metal and I can edit 1080p video, and watch 1440p content streamed and locally just fine!

Never knew they cut support off for the 2015 models, that's crazy to see. Didn't realize 8 years had gone by. Although I feel like 8 years ago from now isn't as drastic as it was in the early 2000s when tech was rapidly improving.

I'm currently typing this from a MacBook Pro 2012 15" i7 2.6, 16GB, 4TB Samsung SSD(Optical bay since legacy booting windows through this bay doesn't work)./PNY 240gb(Windows, HDD Bay) running Monterey with OCLP. They're definitely still super usable machines. As others have said, those upgrades will make a huge difference. Plus side is most upgrades are dirt cheap now too. My 16GB DDR3 ram was less than $20(TeamGroup incase you're curious) and a 120/256gb SSD can be had for $20 as well.

USB Enclosure will probably be the easiest way to go, if the machine has no data on it then I wouldn't even bother cloning (or if its a small amount, just grab what you need and transfer it over). OCLP will let you download the MacOS installer, what I'd do is the following.

Format the new SSD in APFS. Use OCLP app to install Opencore to the new SSD(using an external USB enclosure), reboot, hold option for boot selector and select the EFI partition(this is OpenCore) and boot back into the OS you were using. Download Monterey then open the installer and select the external drive to install to. Once its done, just shut down instead of rebooting, then take that new SSD and install it internally. Power on and it should continue the install.

Also while OpenCore is relatively stable, I like to have a backup partition with the last supported OS natively incase something breaks.

 

[B S Magnet]

Never knew they cut support off for the 2015 models, that's crazy to see. Didn't realize 8 years had gone by. Although I feel like 8 years ago from now isn't as drastic as it was in the early 2000s when tech was rapidly improving.

The early 2015 MacBook Pro, for the moment are still designated as “vintage” by Apple, so they’re not obsolete entirely just yet. But yah, the writing is on Apple’s wall (in applesauce, maybe?).

There are, nevertheless, some peculiarities on that list. For example, the early 2013 iMac 21.5-inch is still “vintage” (ostensibly because it was an education-oriented model), but the 27-inch variant and the late 2013 models, are not. Likewise, the mid-2015 15-inch MBPs are not, whereas the early 2015 13-inch is. Curiously, the mid-2012 13-inch unibody Macbook Pro is not listed as either vintage or obsolete.

My 16GB DDR3 ram was less than $20(TeamGroup incase you're curious) and a 120/256gb SSD can be had for $20 as well.

Well heck, I wish I’d known that a month ago when I bought an 8GB SO-DIMM for my late 2011. Still, I paid less than CAD$30, shipping inclusive, so I’m not going to kvtech much over a doubling of memory.

 

[theMarble]

Likewise, the mid-2015 15-inch MBPs are not...

That was because the 2015 15" without the dGPU was sold until July of 2018 IIRC.

 

[pacoMo]

Wow, you're all very supportive, thanks again! I was already contemplating the possibility of installing Windows, like @bobesch said. Any idea on how difficult would that be? Will it run smoother than Big Sur?
In any case I'm not using it for any high demanding tasks: only office and web browsing, nothing more.

 

[AlixSPQR]

Hi there,
I'm new to the forum and a not very experienced MacBook Pro user (I only own windows Pc).

So, the laptop we used at work just went dead and the only replacement I was able to find is my girlfriend's old 13'' MacBook Pro (late 2011).
I managed to resuscitate it by replacing the charging port that didn't work.

Now it kinda works and I was also able to upgrade the os the 10.13.6 ios (high Sierra).
But the notebook is soooo slow and laggy!

It now runs on 4 GB ram and a mechanical HD. I could upgrade the hardware by installing 16 GB of ram and a Ssd.
My question is: will it be worth it? Will I get noticeable better performances or should I give up on my hopes?

Thank you for your help!

Paco

I have one of those with 8 GB RAM (1600 works) and an SSD, with Monterey (via OCLP), and it works fine. I only use it for video conference apps*, but if it were to be my main computer I would have installed 16 GB RAM.

Please see the attached screenshot, (the language is Swedish).



*PS. Apropos video conference apps, I need to share some insights. OCLP isn't enough to get them to work, you also need a small app called Tccplus, which gives much needed permissions to apps that are otherwise impossible to give permissions to within Settings (especially camera and microphone). I have gotten Zoom and WhatsApp to work, but not Messenger. Perhaps Teams and Skype will work, I haven't tried them.

 

[bobesch]

Wow, you're all very supportive, thanks again! I was already contemplating the possibility of installing Windows, like @bobesch said. Any idea on how difficult would that be? Will it run smoother than Big Sur?
In any case I'm not using it for any high demanding tasks: only office and web browsing, nothing more.

Win10 is EOL in late 2025. I didn't try Win11 yet.
If You need BigSur or higher for some special App/task, then a single Win10-installation is not an option.
I'd not recommend to install macOS and Win10 onto a single drive, since the drive requires to be converted to hybrid-mode with mixed GPT/MBPR-partition-scheme (GPT for macOS and MBR for Win10). Add OCLP to that mix, and sooner or later you might end up in a hassle.

Like with @iModFrenzy 's dream machine of thread #11 I'd swap the optical drive for a second SSD if You consider a dual-boot machine with Win10 and macOS.
But bear in mind, that, as he said, Windows must be installed onto the drive sitting in the HDD-bay to be bootable (while macOS or Linux can be booted from both positions: HDD-bay or optical-bay).
And check the speed of the SATA-connections of your MBP first (Apple-menu/About this Mac/SystemInformation/SATA): the HHD-bay will certainly run at 6Gb/s, but the optical drive might be limited to 3Gb/s, which means, that the transfer-rates of macOS running from the position of the optical drive are cut half. That might make performance of OCLP Monterey even worse. (The mid2012 15" MBP9,1 has 6Gb/s-SATA3 ad both ports, so hopefully Your 2011 MBP too ...)

If you have spare place on a future SSD, You might install a backup-system at the very end of the SSD. For that purpose You'll have to create 3 (or 4) real partitions (all APFS) in the right order:
P1a: OCPL-Ventura; (P1b: Data); P2(60GB): Patched_Mojave(also for 32bit-support); P3(16GB): patched Mojave-Installer
(Mind the right order: P2 can be removed and fused with P1, but not with P3; P3 can be removed and fused with P2, but not with P1.)

 

[B S Magnet]

And check the speed of the SATA-connections of your MBP first (Apple-menu/About this Mac/SystemInformation/SATA): the HHD-bay will certainly run at 6Gb/s, but the optical drive might be limited to 3Gb/s, which means, that the transfer-rates of macOS running from the position of the optical drive are cut half. That might make performance of OCLP Monterey even worse. (The mid2012 15" MBP9,1 has 6Gb/s-SATA3 ad both ports, so hopefully Your 2011 MBP too ...)

I can confirm that the late 2011 A1278s yields SATA III/6Gbps speeds on both SATA buses:

In my use-case, the OEM hard drive bay is where 10.6.8 (on a 1TB SSD) lives, and the ODD-caddy is where a 10.13.6 (on a 240GB SSD) lives. On the above, it’s possible to just make out that info for the second SATA bus.

Veering with an aside, there is even a provision I’m pondering down the way, of throwing in four SATA SSDs into this MBP (because why not be a little extra with the best A1278 able to run Snow Leopard, as well as other OS builds, keeping each build on its own physical volume?).

Of course, all four of those SSDs will need to be m.2 form factor and will require that spendy StarTech SATA-to-dual-m.2 adapter (with the out-of-box ability to, separately, run hardware RAID 0 or 1, discrete, or just-a-big-ol-disk, if one so desired).

I’ve had one of these in an external FireWire enclosure, in RAID 0, for the last three years, and it has run flawlessly. [EDIT: Keep reading ]

 

[Amethyst1]

Of course, all four of those SSDs will need to be m.2 form factor and will require that spendy StarTech SATA-to-dual-m.2 adapter (with the out-of-box ability to, separately, run hardware RAID 0 or 1, discrete, or just-a-big-ol-disk, if one so desired).

It’s worth mentioning that using those four SSDs as individual drives requires Port Multiplier support, which Intel chipsets (of that vintage) lack.

 

[pacoMo]

Win10 is EOL in late 2025. I didn't try Win11 yet.
If You need BigSur or higher for some special App/task, then a single Win10-installation is not an option.
I'd not recommend to install macOS and Win10 onto a single drive, since the drive requires to be converted to hybrid-mode with mixed GPT/MBPR-partition-scheme (GPT for macOS and MBR for Win10). Add OCLP to that mix, and sooner or later you might end up in a hassle.

Like with @iModFrenzy 's dream machine of thread #11 I'd swap the optical drive for a second SSD if You consider a dual-boot machine with Win10 and macOS.
But bear in mind, that, as he said, Windows must be installed onto the drive sitting in the HDD-bay to be bootable (while macOS or Linux can be booted from both positions: HDD-bay or optical-bay).
And check the speed of the SATA-connections of your MBP first (Apple-menu/About this Mac/SystemInformation/SATA): the HHD-bay will certainly run at 6Gb/s, but the optical drive might be limited to 3Gb/s, which means, that the transfer-rates of macOS running from the position of the optical drive are cut half. That might make performance of OCLP Monterey even worse. (The mid2012 15" MBP9,1 has 6Gb/s-SATA3 ad both ports, so hopefully Your 2011 MBP too ...)

If you have spare place on a future SSD, You might install a backup-system at the very end of the SSD. For that purpose You'll have to create 3 (or 4) real partitions (all APFS) in the right order:
P1a: OCPL-Ventura; (P1b: Data); P2(60GB): Patched_Mojave(also for 32bit-support); P3(16GB): patched Mojave-Installer
(Mind the right order: P2 can be removed and fused with P1, but not with P3; P3 can be removed and fused with P2, but not with P1.)

The only two apps I really need are Microsoft Outlook (for calendar and email purpose) and Microsfot OneNote (which is used for managing customer records). I know it isn't ideal, but it's not up to me to decide.
That's why I was thinking about windows. But I think (I may be wrong) there is a free version of Microsoft outlook app for ios (that requires Big Sur to be downloaded from the app store) but there isn't a free one for windows (you need to purchase Office 365).
So, I think I'll stick with Big Sur for now and see how it goes. I'm not interested in a dual boot.
I've already oredered two 8 GB sticks of RAM, a 500 GB Crucial Ssd and a sata to usb adapter. Just need to understand the exact procedure to install the new OS and maybe transfer all the data to the new ssd, but you guys already gave me plenty of info.

 

[B S Magnet]

It’s worth mentioning that using those four SSDs as individual drives requires Port Multiplier support, which Intel chipsets (of that vintage) lack.

Oh? I had no idea!

Pish, Intel. Pish. BOOOOO…

EDIT: Sometimes (often) I get a reminder of how much a dum-dum I am.

 

[Amethyst1]

EDIT: Sometimes (often) I get a reminder of how much a dum-dum I am.

Hey, you shouldn't say/think anything like that! We're all continously learning and expanding our knowledge.

 

[B S Magnet]

Hey, you shouldn't say/think anything like that!

Soooooo glad none of you live in my brain, because you’d be hearing nothing but this daily — the unfixable, drip-drip-drip leak better known as humility…

 

[bobesch]

The only two apps I really need are Microsoft Outlook (for calendar and email purpose) and Microsfot OneNote (which is used for managing customer records). I know it isn't ideal, but it's not up to me to decide.
That's why I was thinking about windows. But I think (I may be wrong) there is a free version of Microsoft outlook app for ios (that requires Big Sur to be downloaded from the app store) but there isn't a free one for windows (you need to purchase Office 365).

You may synch Outlook Calender and email with macOS Email/Calender.App

So, I think I'll stick with Big Sur for now and see how it goes. I'm not interested in a dual boot.
I've already oredered two 8 GB sticks of RAM, a 500 GB Crucial Ssd and a sata to usb adapter. Just need to understand the exact procedure to install the new OS and maybe transfer all the data to the new ssd, but you guys already gave me plenty of info.

You may go for an external USB3-SATA-Case (about 10buck) and keep your old spinning drive for backups.
I'd make a bootable Clone-Copy of the internal drive to the USB-connected SSD, then swap the drives, boot from the (now internal) SSD.
Download OCLP install and run OCLP 0.6.1.
Create separate BootSticks for Monterey-macOS-installer and OCPL0.6.1. (BigSur has no advantages over Monterey).
Then run the Boot-sequence: (1) OCLP-Stick, then (2) Monterey-installer.
Then upgrade Your SSD to Monterey the usual way.
If anything should fail You'll have the original HDD for another run ...

 

[bobesch]

It’s worth mentioning that using those four SSDs as individual drives requires Port Multiplier support, which Intel chipsets (of that vintage) lack.

When (if ever) PortMultiplierSupport starts on intel MacBooks?

 

[pacoMo]

You may synch Outlook Calender and email with macOS Email/Calender.App

You may go for an external USB3-SATA-Case (about 10buck) and keep your old spinning drive for backups.
I'd make a bootable Clone-Copy of the internal drive to the USB-connected SSD, then swap the drives, boot from the (now internal) SSD.
Download OCLP install and run OCLP 0.6.1.
Create separate BootSticks for Monterey-macOS-installer and OCPL0.6.1. (BigSur has no advantages over Monterey).
Then run the Boot-sequence: (1) OCLP-Stick, then (2) Monterey-installer.
Then upgrade Your SSD to Monterey the usual way.
If anything should fail You'll have the original HDD for another run ...

That's more or less what I had in mind.
Are two USB sticks really necessary? I just watched a video tutorial for the OCLP patcher and they used just one.