Macbook pro - do I need to upgrade my memory?

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Level 1

4 points

Macbook pro - do I need to upgrade my memory?

I have been advised by apple support that if I want high sierra I probably need some more RAM. I use a macbook 13"pro late 2011. The system was sluggish on high sierra. I have now had it downgraded to el capitan as sierra is no longer available, and I can't download numbers, key note and pages as they are no longer compatible. I tried open office but this didn't work either.

I have 4g ram in 2 x 2gb memory slots and it says this. Your Mac contains 2 memory slots, each of which accepts
a 1333 MHz DDR3 memory module.

I don't know what size ram I need to buy or whether it is better to buy an external memory. This is all new to me so need some help.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Nov 17, 2017 1:15 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Nov 17, 2017 1:35 PM in response to angelarowe81

Hi,

If you need more RAM, this is a good place to get it (or Crucial.com): Memory Upgrades For MacBook Pro 2011 - 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB

4GBs should be enough to run basic apps on your Mac though.

How/why are the apps you mentioned not compatible?

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Answer 2

angelarowe81 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 18, 2017 11:35 AM in response to tjk

The apps weren't compatible as I was downgrading and el capitan didn't support the newer versions. I have now gone back to time machine and using yosemite 10.10.5. This isn't great but better than the other two. How much RAM would I need to buy and how does it work?

Thank you

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Answer 3

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Nov 18, 2017 11:54 AM in response to angelarowe81

Yosemite requires at minimum 2GBs of RAM. 4 might get you by. To find out, go to Utilities and open Activity Monitor > run for awhile (including heavy-weight apps like video editing), browser tabs open, etc. > click on the Memory "tab" > click on Memory just underneath it > click as needed to bring the highest RAM usage to the top of the list > look to the bottom where it says Memory Pressure and Swap. If the Memory Pressure is up beyond green, then there is more Memory Pressure than is desirable. If there is any Swap Used, then the OS is out of RAM sometimes and is using the much slower HD as "RAM" and this greatly slows things down. (Posting a screen shot would be helpful.) It means you don't have enough RAM for the OS and apps to do what you want them to do.

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Answer 4

angelarowe81 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 18, 2017 12:10 PM in response to tjk

The memory pressure is on pale yellow and swap is 58mb. I am wanting to upgrade to high Sierra though and when I tried that it really slowed the system down. Back on Yosemite the mac seems to be faster than on high Sierra, but it won't do things like sync my yahoo account to mail as the system is too old.

Thanks for the tips.

Sent from my iPhone

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Answer 5

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Nov 18, 2017 12:21 PM in response to angelarowe81

Then you should upgrade your RAM. If you're going to run High Sierra and keep the MBP for awhile, I'd get 16GBs. See the link I posted earlier and also: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/macbook-pro-2*4ghz-in tel-core-i5-%2813-inch-ddr3%29-late-2011

See the following for installation instructions: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Late 2011 RAM Replacement - iFixit

If you want to speed things up more, a solid state drive (SSD) instead of your current hard disk drive would definitely do that.

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Answer 6

angelarowe81 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 18, 2017 12:50 PM in response to tjk

Thank you. I have no idea difference between ssd and ram. I looked it up but it still baffles me. The MacBook Pro is now classed as vintage. Do do you think it is worth spending a 150 quid on? I hope it will last a while but soon I think the latest operating system might not work.

Thanks for your help

Angela

Sent from my iPhone

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Answer 7

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Nov 20, 2017 3:20 AM in response to angelarowe81

Very loosely, SSD/HDD is storage, like a file cabinet with all your stuff stored. RAM is like the short term memory in your brain. It helps you store your stuff, but eventually forgets about it until you go back to access your stuff again.

Given that the cost of a new MBP is USD $1500 (the cheapest model you should get), and that you might use it for seven years, it's going to cost you about $200 per year. So if you spend $200 on updating your MBP and get at least one year of use out of it, you're coming out about even; if you get more than that, you're coming out ahead. The difference is when you buy a new MBP, you're going to be using a faster, new machine (this also comes with some potential headaches like lack of ports) instead of your existing one. You can also factor in the money you'll get for selling your old MBP, and the "savings" of not spending that 150 quid to upgrade your existing Mac.

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Answer 8

angelarowe81 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2017 8:22 AM in response to tjk

I have ordered 8GB ram, which will give me 10GB in total. The guy from crucial seemed to think that might be enough and it should still last a few years with that. I can still upgrade it to 16GB and buy another 8GB if I need to.

Thank you for all your help.

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Answer 9

angelarowe81 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 28, 2017 1:31 AM in response to angelarowe81

I have added and extra 6GB of RAM, one 8GB and one 2GB to give me 10GB. It was much speedier when I first was using it on the older software yosemite, but I have now installed high sierra. It is slower, but seems to be working fine so far.

When I look at the activity monitor this is what it says. The memory pressure is green but it is using 78.2GB memory, 1.63 cache, and 41MB swap used. Does this mean I still need more RAM, or because it is green it should be fine?

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