nugj

Q: So my 2010 15" MBP has served me well. On the one hand I never really taxed it. 6 year old machine now and very slow now. Buy new or try to upgrade?Opinions?

My MBP has 8 GB of ram. 256 HD not even half full...but its still slowwwwww! While I know an SSD will provide some relief it might just be far enough out of current OS compatibility to just have too much going against it.

 

Can't get the Activity Monitor to work properly any longer. Not sure what is going on with that. But it just balks constantly. Had been losing scroll bar lately but would get it back as soon as I cut the number of open windows. Now it seems permanently gone. I had abandoned icloud services long ago as I don't have an iphone anymore. Even having closed out the icloud accounts never having used them anyway....dialog box continues to pop up asking about icloud services.

 

I could buy a new (refurbished actually) MBP and then set about the business of adding new guts to the older one. That would likely work I am guessing and would give me two dependable Pros. That would not be half bad.

 

I guess if making the effort, I would remove the optical drive and install two new SSD's, one in the HD slot and other where the optical drive had been located. Would not likely change out more than that and then see what I had unless you guys think there is more that I should change. Then load an OS onto the new drive and hopefully have a very solid backup machine or make it an MBP for my kid. He would likely be thrilled with that idea.

 

Clearly if taking a pass on a new machine, the cost of two SSD's installed by me is great risk/reward. But if intending it as a backup machine, does the expenditure make sense then? Are decent internal SSD's for this thing about $100 each or $200 each? If we are talking about $200-$300 in hardware....well just the fun of taking it apart and trying to rebuild it makes that a worthwhile investment.

 

Anyway....what do you guys think.

MacBook Pro 15, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Aug 14, 2016 4:02 PM

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Q: So my 2010 15" MBP has served me well. On the one hand I never really taxed it. 6 year old machine now and very slow now. Buy new ... more

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  • by theratter,

    theratter theratter Aug 14, 2016 4:12 PM in response to nugj
    Level 4 (3,907 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 14, 2016 4:12 PM in response to nugj

    Buy new or refurbished.

  • by BobTheFisherman,

    BobTheFisherman BobTheFisherman Aug 14, 2016 4:15 PM in response to nugj
    Level 6 (15,269 points)
    Aug 14, 2016 4:15 PM in response to nugj
  • by alex7375,

    alex7375 alex7375 Aug 14, 2016 10:45 PM in response to nugj
    Level 2 (215 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 14, 2016 10:45 PM in response to nugj

    Upgrade it with 16gb of Crucial brand ram and an 240gb. OCZ-Trion-150-series SSD for about $120 total.

    purchase on Amazon.com

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 15, 2016 4:41 AM in response to alex7375
    Level 9 (52,118 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 15, 2016 4:41 AM in response to alex7375

    alex7375 wrote:

     

    Upgrade it with 16gb of Crucial brand ram and an 240gb. OCZ-Trion-150-series SSD for about $120 total.

    purchase on Amazon.com

    A 2010 15" MBP is limited to 8 GB RAM.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 15, 2016 4:43 AM in response to nugj
    Level 9 (52,118 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 15, 2016 4:43 AM in response to nugj

    I have a 2010 17" MBP that runs as good as the day it came out of the box.

     

    Download and post an Etrecheck report:

     

    http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

     

    Maybe we can find some relief.

     

    Ciao.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Aug 15, 2016 8:49 AM in response to nugj
    Level 8 (48,633 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 15, 2016 8:49 AM in response to nugj

    Can't get the Activity Monitor to work properly any longer. Not sure what is going on with that. But it just balks constantly.

     

    Something is obviously wrong, but you knew that already. Of course you can replace your Mac with a new one; that's the easy choice for anyone with unlimited funds. It seems as though you're on the fence regarding that decision, but if you are interesting in fixing what's wrong with yours then more information is required.

     

    A solid state drive would be an excellent upgrade. I suggest shopping for one at OWC / MacSales, whose products receive excellent support. Installing a SSD in the optical drive bay conveys limited advantages due to the slower speed of its interface though, so I don't recommend that.

     

    You do not need an iPhone to benefit from iCloud's services.

     

    Age does not cause a Mac to become slow. Your 2010 MPB should be as good or better than it was when it was new, so whatever problems are afflicting it ought to be fixable.

  • by nugj,

    nugj nugj Aug 15, 2016 10:24 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 15, 2016 10:24 AM in response to John Galt

    I agree ...age does not translate to speed. I do think compatibility with the current OS does become more and more difficult as your computer ages and the new OS's keep coming. I have been reluctant to bring this one up to totally current as it did not like the one before el-C at all and has gotten progressively balkier the farther from its original OS it has gotten. Yet at some point Apple stops supporting the older OS versions and you are just stuck. New OS was coming pretty regular for awhile there and I really don't like seeing them when your hardware is over 6 years old. This is not specific to Apple...just the way it is. Expecting a company "ANY COMPANY" to cover all the bases for all configurations and contingencies is just unrealistic even regardless of said company's claims to the contrary.

     

    I would bet there is another corrupted file in the library. Took a brief look around and there are a couple of cache files I do not recognize for one thing.

     

    I appreciate the help and will probably try to get a Etrecheck up here for a look.

     

    I am leaning to getting a refurbished MBP (never had an issue with Apple refurbs) and then attacking this one. Regardless of what I "fix" as to corrupted files what have you, I am half way to a full HD and that is not where you want to be. The ram is the ram and when you already have 8 on a 2010 that is that.

     

    But my 17 inch 2007 is now no longer viable as you cannot update it to an OS that is supported. It is just too old. I don't like being down to only one working computer device even in a household of just two people. The one is aging and balky to boot. None of us is using the last computer we are ever going buy I would bet. Its only a matter of time. Since the 07 MBP really is not viable at this point maybe buy another and fix the current is the best approach to take. Lately whenever I bust open some piece of electronics I do it with my son. So he gains some hardware experience.

     

    As for cloud services.....Call me old fashioned...probably am old fashioned. But I really have to see a compelling advantage or need to open myself up to more two way traffic with the "cloud" the "internet" any of it. There is still enough risk involved to keep me up at night and I am getting too old to keep up with which services and which sites have access to what. So while some might just be very active in that regard....I am not. Might not have saved me a darn thing other than a little piece of mind.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Aug 15, 2016 11:00 AM in response to nugj
    Level 8 (48,633 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 15, 2016 11:00 AM in response to nugj

    Much as I wish that Apple would make another 17" MBP, I agree that a 2007 Mac has reached the end of its economic life. I never had much regard for the Core 2 Duo CPU anyway.

     

    Historically I have grown to expect about seven years of useful life from Macs. I no longer have any 2010 models but I understand El Capitan runs well on them, so that one is probably worth fixing.


    ... I am half way to a full HD and that is not where you want to be.

     

    Why not? If a HD's available space becomes insufficient the Mac will tell you.

     

    As for cloud services...

     

    Say no more, I understand. Apple has been behaving as though everyone enjoys high speed Internet service everywhere on Earth, and that's nothing new. It's been that way for at least a decade, and it can be utterly maddening when some iCloud-dependent service misbehaves (and practically everything Apple does is iCloud-dependent). The future is portable, interconnected devices and that's what they design. Apple "skates to where the puck is going" as Steve Jobs quoted from Wayne Gretzky. At some point they drop support for hardware they deem too old, but any Mac that runs the latest OS X isn't worth abandoning just yet.

  • by nugj,

    nugj nugj Aug 15, 2016 11:08 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 15, 2016 11:08 AM in response to John Galt

    Not to hijack my own thread (isn't that too funny) is it possible that the OS was coming fast and furious for awhile because Apple ran into too many issues with the older machines as they were releasing these new OS's. Wondering if I chickened out on el-C and should have just done that one at the time. Any comments on the OS's immediately ahead of el-C and whether they were a bit balky on the older machines for others as well???? I remember people with 2010 MBP's coming here and actually going back to the OS they had during that period of several OS releases. Maybe el-C actually cured all of that and I was too chicken to try it????

  • by Courcoul,

    Courcoul Aug 15, 2016 11:16 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 6 (14,193 points)
    Aug 15, 2016 11:16 AM in response to John Galt

    Heh heh... I can clearly visualize Galt and Ogel crying in their beers at the corner bar when their ancient 17" MBP dinosaurs bite the dust....

     

    BTW, nugj, here in the ASC there's a place where eagles fly and those of us persistent enough to last eventually get admitted, where thread hijacking is the nom-de-jour. If your thread doesn't you almost feel slighted!

     

    As for the thread subject, if the device is RAM-maxed and with appropriate new-gen drive, it can last until Apple comes out with an OS that really can't run.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Aug 15, 2016 2:10 PM in response to nugj
    Level 8 (48,633 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 15, 2016 2:10 PM in response to nugj

    nugj wrote:

     

    Any comments on the OS's immediately ahead of el-C and whether they were a bit balky on the older machines for others as well???? I remember people with 2010 MBP's coming here and actually going back to the OS they had during that period of several OS releases.

     

    Every OS X release since Jaguar has elicited complaints claiming Apple deliberately ruined their formerly well-functioning Macs. Of course that's absurd. Some time ago I compiled a list of those complaint threads, which grew with each succeeding upgrade. It's on this site somewhere.

     

    In nearly every case, the cause of poor performance was due to one or more of the following factors:

     

    • failure to update third party software for current OS X compatibility
    • poorly supported or abandoned third party software lacking any ability to update
    • operating system modifications / "hacks" of various descriptions
    • ill-conceived "anti-virus" or "cleaning" junk that should never be installed on any Mac

     

    In the remainder of cases, upgrading OS X revealed incipient hardware faults such as a hard disk drive that was on the verge of failure, or a battery approaching its charge / discharge cycle limit. That's not a case of upgrading OS X causing a failure, because those failures would have occurred following any similarly demanding process.

     

    The same variety of complaints are certain to occur with the upcoming release of macOS "Sierra" and I eagerly anticipate that ensuing racket. In fact, since I began objectively evaluating OS X releases (with Lion) each succeeding release resulted in quantitative improvements in both performance and battery life... the usual metrics contributing to a user's perception of how well his or her particular Mac is functioning.

     

    Sierra may or may not continue that trend, who knows, but the complaints are just as certain to roll in as the sun is certain to rise in the east tomorrow morning.

     

    Downgrading to a previous OS X release is only justified when the user simply cannot cope without software incompatible with the current OS X release. Such software was usually developed for a very narrow market, and if a user absolutely needs it the best solution is to maintain an earlier OS X system on a separate boot volume for as long as it takes for that developer to update their software, or to find a functional equivalent from a vendor more interested in supporting their customers.

     

    If you have not yet purchased El Capitan I encourage you to do so, since in all likelihood it will no longer be available for purchase after Sierra is released. You do not have to install it, you just have to "purchase" it (for $0) for it to appear in your Mac App Store "Purchased" list. Then, it will be available for you to download and install on as many Macs as you wish, whenever it's convenient for you.

  • by CBennett2498,

    CBennett2498 CBennett2498 Aug 15, 2016 10:17 PM in response to nugj
    Level 1 (94 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 15, 2016 10:17 PM in response to nugj

    An install of an SSD can make lightyears of a difference. A 256 GB SSD from Amazon costs anywhere from $70-$100. Since it's not even half full, you could even go with a 128 GB SSD, which would run you roughly $50, if you wanted to save the money. I did that on my 2011 Macbook Pro before I took advantage of a refurbished Retina Pro from Apple. It was super simple to install myself. I was scared as well, but it's such an easy process. I used a video from ifixit.com, which really helped me. 8 GB of ram is plenty, and would be complimented with an SSD. I don't see why you'd need to install two SSD's, especially if you use only half of your 256 HDD.  If you were going to purchase a new Macbook Pro, I'd wait until the fall as it's rumored that Apple will unveil a revamped Pro, which hasn't happened since Early 2015. Lastly, what processor does your computer have?

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 16, 2016 4:28 AM in response to alex7375
    Level 9 (52,118 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 16, 2016 4:28 AM in response to alex7375

    nugj has a 2010 15" MBP, not a 2010 13" MBP.

     

    The 2010 13" MBP will accept 16 GB RAM but the 2010 15" MBP WILL NOT accept 16 GB RAM, only 8 GB RAM.

     

    Ciao.