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Level 1

4 points

Should I upgrade my 2009 MacBook Pro 17"?

I have a 2009 17" MacBook Pro. Recently it's started shutting down randomly, so I replaced the battery and reset the SMC, it helped for a few days but now it shuts down during boot up. It should also be noted that the 500GB hard drive is just about full.

I've read a million articles trying to figure out what to do. It's not an option to buy a new Mac right now and if I can give my Mac some TLC and buy a couple more years, I would love that.

1. Should I install a new hard drive? What kind? 1TB?

2. Should I install new RAM? What kind?

Any help or advice would be appreciated, and please explain simply as I'm still learning all of this.

More info:

MacBook Pro 2009

17"

OS X El Capitan 10.11.6

2.8 Ghz intel core 2 duo

8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Macintosh HD

Posted on Mar 16, 2018 11:50 PM

Best reply

Limnos

Level 10

411,121 points

Posted on Mar 17, 2018 12:03 AM

It would be good to determine why it is shutting down. It may be something meaning end of the line for the computer and not drive related at all.

About the screens you see when your Mac starts up - https://support.apple.com/HT204156

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac (formerly: Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up (formerly: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X))) - http://support.apple.com/HT201262

Using Apple Hardware Test - https://support.apple.com/HT201257

If it turns to be the drive you can either go for speed but reduced storage (use an external drive for that) and install a SSD, or go for a 7200 rpm 1 TB HDD for storage and maybe a tiny speed bump.

8 GB is enough RAM for most things unless you're doing serious video or photo processing. This is a 9 year old computer after all.

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Should I upgrade my 2009 MacBook Pro 17"?

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