How con I find out what hardware is preventing my MBP from being faster?

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Level 1

8 points

How con I find out what hardware is preventing my MBP from being faster?

Hello,

I have a late 2011 MBP, and I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me what pice of hardware I is preventing my computer from being faster?

I have 8gb of RAM, a 750gb 7200 RPM HDD and it has a 2.4 GHz i7 processor.

Is there any way of telling out of those 3 what would be preventing my MBP from being faster? I know that I can not replace my Processor 😝, but would like to know if upgrade my RAM or installing an SSD HD would help significantly?

Thanks in advance for any advice 🙂

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 7, 2014 8:21 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 7, 2014 8:27 PM in response to Inkoosikas

It's the CPU. Nothing else can make the computer run faster except a faster and bigger CPU. Adding RAM won't make it faster, nor will adding a faster HDD, nor adding an SSD.

You have plenty of RAM. Maybe you are trying to run too many concurrent applications for the amount of RAM you have. If you are running out of RAM, then the system starts using disk-based virtual RAM. That will slow down the computer. An SSD will help a program load faster and let you load files faster, but it doesn't make the computer faster.

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Answer 2

Inkoosikas Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 7, 2014 8:34 PM in response to Kappy

Thank you for the quice responce! That is exactly the answer I was looking for and unfortunatly expecting. I figured that it was my processor slowing me up. Ah well, well next computer I get, I will be sure to get a better processor 😝, I think that when I got this MBP I chose the faster processor.

Thank you again for you responce!

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Answer 3

Feb 7, 2014 8:50 PM in response to Inkoosikas

It really depends on what you consider "Faster"

You could upgrade the CPU to something crazy fast but a SSD upgrade will still boot faster in most cases.

I would get a SSD. Kappy sayd nothing will make the computer run faster, but I disagree. Anything file related will be quicker. Turning the computer on, moving files, saving files, deleting files, etc. This in turn will make the computer seem snappier, apps will open quicker, you will get files moved around quicker. It also will help if you ever do swaps with ram since it uses your hard drive.

So yes, a SSD will speed your computer up. It has limitations, but it will speed it up in some areas.

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