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Ele Erre

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2016
1
0
Texas
Hello I have a late 2011 13" MacBook Pro laptop with 512 GB hard drive 4 GB ram. Is there a way to make it more powerful with compatible parts to be able to video edit effectively. I've heard that I need a bigger laptop to use programs effortlessly. Will any data from my laptop be lost in doing so? Do I need to buy a new MacBook Pro?
 

r6mile

macrumors 65816
Feb 3, 2010
1,004
504
London, UK
If you are doing video editing, you could upgrade to the max 16GB your computer allows. And if you don't have an SSD drive already, buy one - it will make it feel like a new laptop. You won't lose data as long as you 'clone' your existing hard drive into a new SSD using a SATA to USB cable or enclosure. With the right upgrades your machine is still capable, but up to you whether you'd rather replace it.
 
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T5BRICK

macrumors G3
Aug 3, 2006
8,314
2,391
Oregon
Is there a way to make it more powerful with compatible parts to be able to video edit effectively.

You're stuck with the dual core CPU and integrated graphics. More RAM might help if that's your bottleneck.

I've heard that I need a bigger laptop to use programs effortlessly. Will any data from my laptop be lost in doing so? Do I need to buy a new MacBook Pro?

Sounds like a new laptop with a quad core CPU may be the solution. Transferring your data is easy. Just use migration assistant.
 

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
It is probably just not a powerful enough graphics card for modern video editing in which case no there's nothing you can do.
 
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