As the cost of replacing my HD with a SSD and/or upgrading RAM begin to add up in my head, I'm starting to wonder what is the best route to go.
For my mid-2010 MBP (MacBookPro6,2) , i would like to see a performance upgrade. I would also like to extend the life of my computer. Do I go with a SSD? Or do I upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 8GB?
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
81TIGER04,
what sort of things are you doing in which you’d like to see a performance upgrade? Do you run several programs simultaneously, or do you run them one at a time?
Melophage wrote:
81TIGER04,
what sort of things are you doing in which you’d like to see a performance upgrade? Do you run several programs simultaneously, or do you run them one at a time?
Usually run more than one thing at a time, but nothing too complex. We're talking Safari (5 or so tabs), iTunes, Excel, iPhoto, and maybe even Quicken. That's my usual usage.
RAM as such will not speed up your MBP, it will allow more applications to be run simultaneously or allow resource hungry applications be processed faster by the CPU (but always limited by the CPU speed). An SSD will allow a speed increase in resource intensive applications (plus boot and shutoff times).
Note that impact of RAM and an SSD in this display:
If you analyze carefully, you will note that a SSD has a greater impact than additional RAM.
Ciao.
I've got to jump in with an opinion here, since I have the same model. I've considered a newer machine, but I don't like the lack of upgradeability in the current lineup. Mine has 8gb of RAM and an SSD, and it's a pleasure to work on even though it's closing in on 4 years old. The RAM upgrade at Crucial is about $90, and a 500gb SSD from them is $269. So for a little over $350 you get a machine that's pretty darned fast.
If you're pretty happy with the performance you have now, the SSD will give a more noticeable increase in speed. Boot time is much faster, programs load faster, etc. If your machine lags now once programs are loaded, or you get a lot of beach balls, RAM would help that.
Performance boost: SSD or RAM?
