Upgrading the RAM of my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) India

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Level 1

8 points

Upgrading the RAM of my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) India

My MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) India, has become very slow. I want to increase the RAM, it currently has a 4gb ram (two 2 gb chips). I have some doubts regarding this:

1. Is this gonna help me or mess-up my beloved Mac?

2. Should i do it myself or trust the apple service centre?

3. Is there a brand of chip/memory that's apple approved/verified?

4. How much ram can my device support?

Here's some more info on my device:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27

SMC Version (system): 1.68f99

Serial Number (system): C2WFDL0PDH2G

Hardware UUID: 6BD6AE3B-CF59-5C5C-9132-942B002D1A5F

Sudden Motion Sensor:

State: Enabled

Thanks!

Mod

Model N

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), early 2011

Posted on May 22, 2015 1:08 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

May 22, 2015 1:21 PM in response to maclove!

Understanding top output in the Terminal

The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.

Adding RAM only makes it possible to run more programs concurrently. It doesn't speed up the computer nor make games run faster. What it can do is prevent the system from having to use disk-based VM when it runs out of RAM because you are trying to run too many applications concurrently or using applications that are extremely RAM dependent. It will improve the performance of applications that run mostly in RAM or when loading programs.

You can add the memory yourself.

You can use any kind of RAM you wish as long as it carries a Lifetime Warranty and comes from a reputable vendor.

Maximum Memory	16 GB (Actual) 8 GB (Apple)
Memory Slots	2 - 204-pin PC-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

May 22, 2015 1:23 PM in response to maclove!

It may or may not help depending on what the problems with performance may be. It definitely will not hurt performance.

There is no reason that you cannot install the RAM yourself. Look at this video:

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro_13_unibody_early11_mem/

There is no Apple approved RAM. The RAM modules must have the correct specifications which for a early 2011 MBP are: 204-pin PC-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM. Ram from OWC and Crucial are the best sources of Mac compatible RAM.

The maximum RAM a 2011 MBP can accept is 16 GB.

Ciao.

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