Worth upgrading mid-2010 Macbook Pro?

"Is it worth it" is a hard question to answer because there is a wide ocean of opinions on the subject and funds available to owners. I like to keep older computers in service; others here will say put the money toward a newer model. Even given my "save'um all" attitude, the 2010 MBP13 has me fence-sitting. And it all comes down to the hard drive bus.

The 2009-2012 MBP 13s are reliable and durable workhorses. However, most "slow" reports are due to the entry-level mechanical hard drives Apple installed. Throwing RAM at a hard drive issue won't help. The 2009 and 2010 MBP13 had a 3GBps drive bus; the 2011 and 2012 had a 6GB/sec drive bus. Twice the data transfer rate. The factory mech drives when running up to nominals can do about 80MBps transfers. The fastest solid state drive compatible with that model will do 250MB/sec.

That is a significant boost and will be quite noticeable in use, but nothing like the 500MB/sec speed the fast bus in the 2011-2012 will produce.

I am blessed with enough retirement income to play with upgrades; it's a bit of a hobby for me. If your finances allow and you want to combine keeping a working computer out of the recycle bin and learning at the same time, I will not dissuade you.

On the other hand, if you have but one computer and it serves critical needs, I think you are better off getting a new one.

My checklist were I considering upgrading a 2010 MBP:

• battery condition--if this is the original battery, it needs to have at least 3 hours of runtime to interest me.
• minimal case scratching and ZERO case deformation or damage to the keyboard, trackpad, and display.
• optical drive--working is a plus but not a primary requirement. Many "dead" slot-load opt drives respond to a simple cleaning.
• no history of baptisms--most wet MBPs die young. Water bad. Juice, soda, beer, wine very much bad!
• I have to be able to do the work. No room in the budget for professional help.

Cost basis in US dollars. For what I would do, it adds up like this:

• 3GB/sec 500 GB solid-state drive with install kit: about $85 for OWC. My only other choice is Crucial. Cheaper--about $70--and will work later in a newer computer at 6GB/sec, but won't have the useful install kit.
• new hard drive cable (always change when doing a new HD or SSD on this model); about $15
• 8GB RAM: about $42

So you are looking at around US$150 after tax.

Think it over. If you want to do a smaller SD you can save $30 but I'd not go any smaller than 256GB. And please post back is this has raised more questions.

You are very welcome.

As for your checklist, the good/bad part is that I meet all of those criteria.

That made me smile!

Considering the slow issues you have now, even the slower 3GB/sec SSD speed may well feel like someone strapped a jet engine to a VW Beetle. There are not a lot of weak spots in these models, and I've not heard of a CPU failing. The only "frequent failer" from wear is the hard drive cable; that is why we replace the cable when we do a new drive.

The MagSafe power board is easily replaced, and failure of that component is usually prevented by keeping the connector and its port free of lint and other obstructions.

I think we can cap this by taking a hard look at your MBPs current performance levels. If we know the actual data transfer speed you now see, I think we will be in a better position to state an expected speed increase that may make your decision easier. The app we like for this shows actual drive transfer speeds and also lets us see if there are any software issues that could be contributing to the "slow."

We need a a snapshot of your software configuration. Fortunately there is a safe, secure way to do that. 

We can quickly and within the confines of these forums help you determine what issues are at play if you use EtreCheck, available free from the Mac App Store here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/etrecheck/id1423715984?mt=12

We can see hard data about drive performance, software issues, and RAM usage. Etrecheck is the development of a long-serving and trusted contributor here expressly for displaying information in these forums to help us help you. It will not reveal any personal or secure information.

Run it, select “Report" from the left-hand pane (scroll down to the bottom of that pane to find):

When its report displays, click the "Share Report" icon from EtreCheck’s toolbar and then "Copy report” from the resulting dropdown.

⚠️ Please DO NOT highlight the text in the report before using Etrecheck’s “Copy report” command—that will garble the formatting and make the report slower and harder to evaluate.

NOTE: Changes in late 2018 to the forum software require you use the “Additional Text" icon (see example below) to embed the report into a post:

Paste the report into the resulting “Additional Text” window:

Allan

PS: I may not be able to get back until tomorrow morning so not rush on the is end.

Sorry. Monday morning turned into Tuesday morning 🥴

Indeed, the "pachyderm in the pantry" is the old mechanical hard drive. The very slow speeds triggered the report's red flags of a failing drive.

Those should be at least 50-60 for a healthy drive.

The other issue is this:

We can't turn on Etrecheck's Full Drive Access to see wha this is, so we have to look for it the old-fashioned way: Activity Monitor. It's in Applications > Utilities.

See CPU activity for your Mac in Activity Monitor - Apple Support

Before starting, use Activity Monitor's "View" menu to change the view to "All Processes."

You'll have to watch the display for 30 seconds or so as the AM results are dynamic. Watch for process names that bubble to the top repeated and have a CPU usage over about 15-20%. Let us know what the shows.

You have at least one component of Symantec active.

And yss, Bob's point is a good one. High Sierra—your max possible OS version— is no longer supported and, as Microsoft has decide to follow Apple's support levels, you will not be not to run a current version of Office (now requires 10.14 or higher). And because Microsoft is taking down their activation servers for old Office versions, you likely won't he able to reinstall the version you now have.

So it may be software more than hardware that drives your decision.

Personally I would not spend any money on an 11 year old obsolete/vintage computer.

Better check the end-of-life for High Sierra the last MacOS that will run on your computer.