What is the last Macbookpro I can add RAM + SSD to?

[mrk123]

My 2011 MBP 13 inch is on its way out. Maybe. Just getting really buggy and cursor skipping across screen.

2011. 13 inch. Upgraded 16gb ram. 1tb SSD. i5 processor.

It’s probably able to be fixed but o don’t know what it causing this.

I desperately need to get a new one.

What is the last MBP I can open up and upgrad the ram and HDrive? I know this not an issue on newer m1 macs but I don’t have £1500 bucks spare.
Will buy used.

I’d like a 15 inch also. Maybe a 2015/16?
What is the last year I can successfully upgrade ram and SSD??

Any tips or recommendations. ?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I'm not sure but buying another used Intel machine and sourcing the RAM is surely false economy. Have you considered looking at a used M1 MBP?

I'm typing this on a 2009 MBP and recent replacement of thermal paste has improved things but then I also have a M2 MBP.

 

[MacPeasant123]

As far as I know, the 2012 non-retina MacBook Pro was the last one in which you could upgrade both RAM and the storage, and I did that on mine.

1) I believe starting from the retina MacBooks (2012 onwards), the RAM was soldered on so you can't upgrade that.

2) I think from 2013-2015 MacBook Pros, you can upgrade the SSD storage if you buy the right convertor.

I think after 2015, everything is soldered on, so you'd need soldering skills and the proper equipment to replace either, which isn't for the faint of heart...

I think you're better off looking for a cheap M1 MacBook that fits your needs.

 

[mrk123]

I’d hate to get a 2016 MBP and then it’s slow as hell
Cause I’m stuck with 8gb ram and 256gb.
What year was last retina?
Cheapest m1 is £800+. Big.

Do you think there’s anything I can do just for now to speed my 2011 up?

 

[zgagato]

Forget about 2016-2019 macbooks. They have sa many faults. Screen cables, those damn keyboards - bleh.
The last mbp you could upgrade storage was 2017 non touchbar usb c only 2 port one.
It has a funky ssd but you can get a cheap adapter and small size ssd. but its not worth it.
If you want intel get a 2015 15" mbp and get a 2 tb ssd nvme drive inside.
If intel is not a requirement get a refurb m2 air 13 or 15". Just 16 gb of ram is a must. maybe a 24 gb ram with 1 TB SSD will be at a nice priz
e?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

For all practical purposes, it's time to replace a 2011 MBP.

Having said that, you have to accept the reality that memory and drive "upgrades" on new (and recent) Mac laptops are essentially IMPOSSIBLE.

If you can't live with that, perhaps it's time to consider windows.

Otherwise, when buying a new MacBook (and deciding on how much RAM to get, and how large an SSD)...

 

[Macdctr]

I’d hate to get a 2016 MBP and then it’s slow as hell
Cause I’m stuck with 8gb ram and 256gb.
What year was last retina?
Cheapest m1 is £800+. Big.

Do you think there’s anything I can do just for now to speed my 2011 up?

I recently picked up a used Mid 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro (2.5GHz quad i7 / 16GB RAM / dual graphics), picked up a new 2TB Black Western Digital SN770 storage drive and Syntech adapter. I then installed MacOS 14.4.1 Sonoma using Open Core Legacy Patcher 1.5.0n which the laptop has been running great with. Best part is that I paid $177 for the MacBook Pro, $150 for the Western Digital 2TB storage drive, and $20 for the Syntech drive adapter card.

The anti glare coating on my new MBP is pristine as well as the condition of the rest of the laptop. I purchased mine from GreenCitizen on eBay. With my current setup, I will be able to use this laptop for many years to come.

One thing to be aware of is Apple will soon cease support for all Intel machines as they go all in with their Silicone processing computers but at least for now you can pick up a decent Intel machine like the one I got and not spend over $500 and still run Apple's latest MacOS

EDIT: I have since updated the MacOS to 14.5 on my 2015 MBP

 

[macguru9999]

2015 MBP 8gb ram fixed (some are 16gb), ssd upgradeable. monterey os. not bad. i have a 1tb nvme and adapter in mine..... but i also have an m1 pro mbp 16/1t...

 

[Macdctr]

My current setup with my newly acquired Mid 2015 15-inch MBP with an external 4k 15-inch display connected. The cooling fans are not running on high speed and are barely noticeable. Pretty sweet setup and I have no delays in performance so you can still use these older laptops running current MacOS without any issues.

 

[MrGimper]

If you want bang for buck on intel, get a 16" 2019. Probably get a decent enough spec to not need to upgrade anything.

 

[AlexMaximus]

I’d hate to get a 2016 MBP and then it’s slow as hell
Cause I’m stuck with 8gb ram and 256gb.
What year was last retina?
Cheapest m1 is £800+. Big.

Do you think there’s anything I can do just for now to speed my 2011 up?

Your best bet is to get a MacBook Air M1. And there you have many great options. First, the M1 Air has been so successful, that it is sold by Wallmart in the USA right now for a reduced price. (NEW) Now, if you don't have a chance to get a US New one, or a friend over there that can send you one, you can still hunt on Amazon for MacBook Air M1 deals, either new, refurbished or slightly used / Open boxed. Everything else is slower, older and more expensive. The Air M1 is the sweet spot of 2024.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Running a Sandisk 3D Ultra 1TB NVMe on my 15" 2015 MBP.

Also, I've decided to keep it on Monterey
I ran it on Sonoma for over a month and it got gunked up somehow on Sonoma and was slowing down from something.

Monterey just flies on it though..
Could have been a lot of things I suppose

I love the old SysPrefs on Monterey

 

[mrk123]

New battery arriving today. Hope this sorts it.

I keep doing RAM resets.
CTRL. CMD. P. R.
Doesn’t seem to do much now.

If I open activity monitor it says system running at 94% in red. I don t see any reason what’s causing it to run so hot. This is what is slowing it down. Couod it be a bad program virus running in background?
If I start in safe mode by holding down shift button on start up it’s fine. But disown flickers in safe mode.

Any ideas?

 

[AlexMaximus]

New battery arriving today. Hope this sorts it.

I keep doing RAM resets.
CTRL. CMD. P. R.
Doesn’t seem to do much now.

If I open activity monitor it says system running at 94% in red. I don t see any reason what’s causing it to run so hot. This is what is slowing it down. Couod it be a bad program virus running in background?
If I start in safe mode by holding down shift button on start up it’s fine. But disown flickers in safe mode.

Any ideas?

If I understand it correctly, you decided against a newer model and got a new battery for your 2011 MBP?

Since I use a similar older MBP 17' from 2010, I am very familiar with that problem and how to optimize it:
Here is a short wrap up of what worked for me so far:

#1 Make sure your cooling fan has no dust built up inside it's cage and most important no dust build up inside the little heat pipe fin cooler that goes infront of your cooling fan. This is very important. If those fins on the heat pipe are clogged, your cooling doesn't work and your device heats up.
#2 Since you open up your MBP anyways, make sure your CPU/GPU thermal compound is renewed. Most compounds dried out over the years of usage, so you want to renew thermal compound. This will shave off 10° or more if your compound has never been renewed. All this reduces heat load which is important with newer MacOS installs.
#3 Check on the latest OCLP version. This is very important, because the software engineers may figured out how to add GPU support in their latest version. This happened to me and I was very very lucky with the last version of OCLP. It brought back GPU support for my Nvidia M330 card from 2010. It made a huge difference. My latest macOS Monterey works like a charm again. However this depends on your GPU or hardware configuration. If you do not have an additional dedicated GPU, still check out those new versions for non dedicated GPU Chip support.

#4 Tune Up/Optional:
I always try to keep my system in a workable range when it comes to RAM Memory pressure. Unfortunately I can not upgrade my MBP to more than 8GB Ram. I do always recommend to put the activity monitor on the Ram setting to see if you have any memory swaps. Swaps should be avoided, so close windows and programs to go back to a "No-memory Swap" setting, which is visible on activity monitor under RAM / Memory section.
If you don't have Swaps, your machine will run a lot better.

#5 A cooling mod that has worked for me very well is this method:

On my 2010 17' it worked out real great and cooling fans do not come up as often in the past.
During work the laptop gets how of course, because now your bottom case acts as a heatsink. Since your battery is encased in a plastic casing on your 2011, there is nothing to worry that the no hotter bottom plate heats up your battery. That's also the reason that this cooling mod should be avoided if you have newer MBP with battery that are no longer encased in a plastic box like our older models still have.
And since your bottom case is getting hotter now, finally a laptop cooling stand will work because it blows onto the bottom case.

If you keep those options in mind and combine a real new OCLP install with no-swapp & cooling mod, you have a good starting point from there to further optimize things.

Hope this helps, Greetings from Germany

 

[mrk123]

If I understand it correctly, you decided against a newer model and got a new battery for your 2011 MBP?

Since I use a similar older MBP 17' from 2010, I am very familiar with that problem and how to optimize it:
Here is a short wrap up of what worked for me so far:

#1 Make sure your cooling fan has no dust built up inside it's cage and most important no dust build up inside the little heat pipe fin cooler that goes infront of your cooling fan. This is very important. If those fins on the heat pipe are clogged, your cooling doesn't work and your device heats up.
#2 Since you open up your MBP anyways, make sure your CPU/GPU thermal compound is renewed. Most compounds dried out over the years of usage, so you want to renew thermal compound. This will shave off 10° or more if your compound has never been renewed. All this reduces heat load which is important with newer MacOS installs.
#3 Check on the latest OCLP version. This is very important, because the software engineers may figured out how to add GPU support in their latest version. This happened to me and I was very very lucky with the last version of OCLP. It brought back GPU support for my Nvidia M330 card from 2010. It made a huge difference. My latest macOS Monterey works like a charm again. However this depends on your GPU or hardware configuration. If you do not have an additional dedicated GPU, still check out those new versions for non dedicated GPU Chip support.

#4 Tune Up/Optional:
I always try to keep my system in a workable range when it comes to RAM Memory pressure. Unfortunately I can not upgrade my MBP to more than 8GB Ram. I do always recommend to put the activity monitor on the Ram setting to see if you have any memory swaps. Swaps should be avoided, so close windows and programs to go back to a "No-memory Swap" setting, which is visible on activity monitor under RAM / Memory section.
If you don't have Swaps, your machine will run a lot better.

#5 A cooling mod that has worked for me very well is this method:

On my 2010 17' it worked out real great and cooling fans do not come up as often in the past.
During work the laptop gets how of course, because now your bottom case acts as a heatsink. Since your battery is encased in a plastic casing on your 2011, there is nothing to worry that the no hotter bottom plate heats up your battery. That's also the reason that this cooling mod should be avoided if you have newer MBP with battery that are no longer encased in a plastic box like our older models still have.
And since your bottom case is getting hotter now, finally a laptop cooling stand will work because it blows onto the bottom case.

If you keep those options in mind and combine a real new OCLP install with no-swapp & cooling mod, you have a good starting point from there to further optimize things.

Hope this helps, Greetings from Germany

Thanks for info.
Getting hot isn’t the issue. It’s the computer power that reads 94%. Not degrees.

Point 1.
Fan is clear. The fins are clear too. Though my 2011 only has 1 fan.

Point 2.
Change the GPU? Is this a hardware or software update?

Point 3.
So download latest OCLP? Maybe I can do that I. Safe mode?

Point 4.
I have 16gb ram and a 1tb SSD. I think that’s what’s making it work then it Shouod not.
This no memory swap, I will have a look in activity monitor in safe mode. No doubt I’ll not be able to find it.

Point 5.
Can’t see what this mod does? Does it create a gap between the fan and base?


I am hoping new battery will solve all of this. As I heard even if plugged in a dead battery is bad for overall power.

 

[mrk123]

See image here.
New battery not arrived yet. Just unplugged old battery for 1 minute and put back in. Started up.
The ‘system’ is running at 95%. I am not sure 95% of what but obviously it’s not good.
Will my new better solve this ?
What’s causing it to run?
Sometimes when it works it reads 5%. And it works like a new laptop. I don’t understand why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t?

 

[headlessmike]

See image here.
New battery not arrived yet. Just unplugged old battery for 1 minute and put back in. Started up.
The ‘system’ is running at 95%. I am not sure 95% of what but obviously it’s not good.
Will my new better solve this ?
What’s causing it to run?
Sometimes when it works it reads 5%. And it works like a new laptop. I don’t understand why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t?

View attachment 2381271

95% for the first few minutes after booting it up is perfectly normal on an older machine as it takes time to complete all of the housekeeping, but it varies also with system. Which version of macOS are you running?

 

[mrk123]

Something isn’t right. Sometimes it works fine. Sometimes it doesn’t.
I am running High Sierra 10.13.6.
16gb ram. 1tb SSD. 2011.

This whole slowness only started 2/3 weeks ago. Out of nowhere. Not progressive.
Just ran Malware bytes in safe mode and detested nothing

I could leave it there for 30 mins and it still be on 94%. Something not right.

95% for the first few minutes after booting it up is perfectly normal on an older machine as it takes time to complete all of the housekeeping, but it varies also with system. Which version of macOS are you running?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

I realize it's probably already been said in this thread, but it's time for a new Mac.

If you can't live with the reality that you can no longer add RAM or a drive to a Mac "after the purchase", then perhaps it's time to consider a Windows machine.

There really isn't much more to say.

 

[AlexMaximus]

Your response indicate that you think this is power related. But that is wrong, it is not. The 95,8 % means CPU Load and is usually not power related. A new battery is for sure a great investment to lengthen the lifecycle, but will not change anything regarding this 95% CPU load number you currently see.
However, as you mentioned before, this indicates you may have downloaded some program or have changed something significant on your current programs, that let your CPU run on full throttle all the time. (Maybe constant upload because of Photos setting into iCloud?) There must be some Software task that runs in the background that gobbles up all of your CPU resources. (!) This slows down everything at the moment, so your laptop feels very slow. It makes sense now.

The good news is, you most likely just have a simple software problem, that can be solved without a big problem.
Something like that happens to me every fife years or so as well, don't worry. My recommendation ist this:

Use this situation now as a good opportunity to do a proper Backup of your current MacOS installation. See if you cyan find what kind of downloads you did in the last three weeks. See if you can remember if you changed settings somewhere that started a serious upload or something that taxes your CPU all the time. If you can't find or remember anything, that you need to go and do a new install after you did a proper Backup. This will take a while, but its always better to play it safe when it comes to data. Also note, when you do a Backup via external HDD via Apple TimeCapsule Backup, make sure you do a brand new one and not just a new slice. Once you have done this, I would do a new installation of your MacOS system on your new SSD. Once done, play back the TimeCapsule Backup and you are done. Since you do a new installation anyways, I would jump to a newer and more stable OSX as well. High Sierra wasn't that great and waste that stable. This also needs a decision from your side. If macOS Catalina would be fine for you and new enough, I would do a Catalina installation. Catalina is very stable and works great on 2011 machines. For this install, you will not need an OpenCore Legacy Patcher install. Its also important to know that Catalina is very easy to install without a lot of extra settings. A very straight forward install that just works great. Check out below the recommended install method, moderated by the developer himself:

You will have a very stable system with Catalina. Most likely your current problems will vanish with this method.

 

[mrk123]

Your response indicate that you think this is power related. But that is wrong, it is not. The 95,8 % means CPU Load and is usually not power related. A new battery is for sure a great investment to lengthen the lifecycle, but will not change anything regarding this 95% CPU load number you currently see.
However, as you mentioned before, this indicates you may have downloaded some program or have changed something significant on your current programs, that let your CPU run on full throttle all the time. (Maybe constant upload because of Photos setting into iCloud?) There must be some Software task that runs in the background that gobbles up all of your CPU resources. (!) This slows down everything at the moment, so your laptop feels very slow. It makes sense now.

The good news is, you most likely just have a simple software problem, that can be solved without a big problem.
Something like that happens to me every fife years or so as well, don't worry. My recommendation ist this:

Use this situation now as a good opportunity to do a proper Backup of your current MacOS installation. See if you cyan find what kind of downloads you did in the last three weeks. See if you can remember if you changed settings somewhere that started a serious upload or something that taxes your CPU all the time. If you can't find or remember anything, that you need to go and do a new install after you did a proper Backup. This will take a while, but its always better to play it safe when it comes to data. Also note, when you do a Backup via external HDD via Apple TimeCapsule Backup, make sure you do a brand new one and not just a new slice. Once you have done this, I would do a new installation of your MacOS system on your new SSD. Once done, play back the TimeCapsule Backup and you are done. Since you do a new installation anyways, I would jump to a newer and more stable OSX as well. High Sierra wasn't that great and waste that stable. This also needs a decision from your side. If macOS Catalina would be fine for you and new enough, I would do a Catalina installation. Catalina is very stable and works great on 2011 machines. For this install, you will not need an OpenCore Legacy Patcher install. Its also important to know that Catalina is very easy to install without a lot of extra settings. A very straight forward install that just works great. Check out below the recommended install method, moderated by the developer himself:

You will have a very stable system with Catalina. Most likely your current problems will vanish with this method.

Thanks.
Yep. New battery and still maxed out at 94.33%. What a joke.
Yep I think a new install is needed. It’s my last chance before spending big bucks on new maxpro.
Everything like 5 times slower. Loving the cursor takes eons across the screen.
Just noticed, I left it as was after new start up and after 10 mins it stopped to 26%. Then to 7%. And go ring up and down to 20%. It seems to have settled at 18%-24%Grrr. But still buggy. I think Catalina needed. I have just deleted the program that I think is culprit. From Pirate bay you know Let’s see if deleting that now cleans up my CPU % issue. In activity monitor now there are over 100 ‘things’ in the background. Is this normal. I only know what 2 or 3 are.

Quick question.
Yes I’d like to keep my programs.
I must admit some are ‘copies’ you know.
I did download one in the last 3 weeks and my gut feeling is telling me this was the culprit. But I’d not know for sure. Unless I delete that now?

Is this time time capsule easy to do? And that just makes sure the new OS can just place my existing set up on.

I’m keen for upgrading OS. IF you think it will be stronger than Sierra.

 

[mrk123]

P.S

25 mins after installed new battery. Was on 95% right away. Then slowly come down to 5%. Hovered around 18-24% and now seems to have stabilised under 2%. No slow cursor. Seems fine. Tho will see what happens in 1 hour.
I deleted the program I think might have caused a problem.
I wonder if doing that and a new battery it might now be ok?
I am still keek for a fresh install. If you think Catalina might be more stronger. Would like to keep all my programs tho. They are a Bar Stuard to install ain’t they.

I know I’m probably peeing a lot of devoted Apple Mac users off by sticking with my 2011 max but it suits my needs for now. Not got spare funds for an M1. I’d love a 15” 2012 tho and do the upgrades. As I understand after 2012 you can not upgrade ram.

 

[mrk123]

So after it settled down, after 20 mins of installing new battery it was on 1.5%. Nice. Super fast. No issues.
Today I come to it and open it up after ‘sleep’ and it’s buggy again. Staying on 20% and cursor moving slow. Just done a reset OPT CMD P R to reboot and it’s still slow. I think there’s a bad program running in the background now.

I want to do a time machine. Never done one beofee. Will this allow me to copy my system as it is with all existing programs. But won’t this just copy across all the bad programs?
What’s the deal?

 

[mrk123]

Your response indicate that you think this is power related. But that is wrong, it is not. The 95,8 % means CPU Load and is usually not power related. A new battery is for sure a great investment to lengthen the lifecycle, but will not change anything regarding this 95% CPU load number you currently see.
However, as you mentioned before, this indicates you may have downloaded some program or have changed something significant on your current programs, that let your CPU run on full throttle all the time. (Maybe constant upload because of Photos setting into iCloud?) There must be some Software task that runs in the background that gobbles up all of your CPU resources. (!) This slows down everything at the moment, so your laptop feels very slow. It makes sense now.

The good news is, you most likely just have a simple software problem, that can be solved without a big problem.
Something like that happens to me every fife years or so as well, don't worry. My recommendation ist this:

Use this situation now as a good opportunity to do a proper Backup of your current MacOS installation. See if you cyan find what kind of downloads you did in the last three weeks. See if you can remember if you changed settings somewhere that started a serious upload or something that taxes your CPU all the time. If you can't find or remember anything, that you need to go and do a new install after you did a proper Backup. This will take a while, but its always better to play it safe when it comes to data. Also note, when you do a Backup via external HDD via Apple TimeCapsule Backup, make sure you do a brand new one and not just a new slice. Once you have done this, I would do a new installation of your MacOS system on your new SSD. Once done, play back the TimeCapsule Backup and you are done. Since you do a new installation anyways, I would jump to a newer and more stable OSX as well. High Sierra wasn't that great and waste that stable. This also needs a decision from your side. If macOS Catalina would be fine for you and new enough, I would do a Catalina installation. Catalina is very stable and works great on 2011 machines. For this install, you will not need an OpenCore Legacy Patcher install. Its also important to know that Catalina is very easy to install without a lot of extra settings. A very straight forward install that just works great. Check out below the recommended install method, moderated by the developer himself:

You will have a very stable system with Catalina. Most likely your current problems will vanish with this method.

Do I really have to do it this way. Why can’t I just go to apple site and download Cat from there? What’s the issue?

 

[headlessmike]

In the activity monitor you should be able to see which processes are using the CPU, so there's no need to guess what is causing your problems.

If you use Time Machine it will back up everything that isn't a system file, so if you do a complete restore from a backup then you would run the risk of experiencing the same issues if is indeed a specific piece of softare that's causing issue. On the other hand doing a clean install and restoring from Time Machine may still help as it ensures that you are starting over with a clean slate. My method is usually to do a clean install, restore documents and other files that I need, and only install software that I need when that need arises. It's easy to fill a computer up with old software remnants if you go years without doing a fresh reinstallation.