Curious about my thinking here...

[RetiredGuy1000]

So I posted an article on my website and a few more places. It deals with my very own situation of upgrading my MacBook Pro instead of buying a new one. Just curious if my thinking is right on this, from a technician perspective...should I get a new MacBook or do the hardware upgrades? What would you do?

Here is the article...

“So, you want the new $2,399 MacBook Pro? Me too.

But, I already own a MacBook Pro...mid 2009 model. Is it dead?

Not necessarily. In fact, this is a true story as right now I am purchasing some needed upgrades to my MacBook Pro which will, hopefully, allow me to avoid a $2400 purchase!

So, what am I doing? Well, the existing Mac is quite slow as you can imagine with ten years of third-party applications installed all over the place and older slower hardware. What we must do to see if this computer is salvageable is to clean up all those files and potential conflicts. The second thing we need to do is to upgrade three critical hardware components...the RAM memory modules, the actual hard drive, and the battery. These three pieces of hardware must go.

Luckily through Amazon I can replace all three for a total cost of $190... Thus, if I am lucky, these improvements will noticeably improve my performance. But how?

Well, the cleaning up of the file system using diagnostic software obviously optimizes things. And the choice of new hardware is essential in determining if performance will improve.

For example, the new RAM I chose will be both twice in size to my existing RAM, but also the RAM itself is 50% faster than the old RAM. Similarly, the hard drive I am replacing is an optical disc drive and much slower than the newer solid state drives(SSD) that are out there and whose prices have come way down in recent months.

I’m replacing the battery, not because of performance improvements but because the existing battery is shot. What good is a laptop whose battery is dead? Good news is that my model of MacBook Pro has a replacement battery on Amazon for just $32!

I’ll report back on my results. I’ve only just ordered the parts. But I am hopeful that the 50% increase in RAM speed, the doubling of RAM size, and the addition of a new faster SSD will do the trick. It will still be slower than a new Mac. But in my case, I only need my Mac to run diagnostic programs on other Macs. I’m not doing CAD or gaming or anything really taxing on the CPU.

You can do the same thing with your Mac(or windows PC)...to a degree. Sometimes, buying a new machine makes the most sense. In this case, I sense that I am ‘on that edge’ with my ten year old MacBook Pro. Some would say that I blew right past that edge a few years ago! Yet, the repairman in me says there is still more life in it.”

 

[seedubya]

I'd never buy a Mac in the first place but if I did and it wasn't mission critical I'd upgrade it. My own laptop is a 6 year old 2nd Gen i5 with 8GB RAM and an SSD and it's faster than I need it to be.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

I'd never buy a Mac in the first place but if I did and it wasn't mission critical I'd upgrade it. My own laptop is a 6 year old 2nd Gen i5 with 8GB RAM and an SSD and it's faster than I need it to be.

Thank you! For the record, I thought that I could do similar Upgrades on Macs and leave the serious work to Windows clients.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

I’m using carbon copy cloner 5 to clone my Mac hard drive over to the new ssd. 500gb drives..both of them. It’s going on 5 hours and the thing isn’t 25% complete. Is that slowness due to my old MacBook Pro? It’s glacial.

The reason I’m asking is that I impulsively bought the program today. Heck, I need a cloner. Seemed good.

 

[Diggs]

Macrium Reflect is the preferred choice by most here I believe for Windows drives. I've tried quite a few different programs but the success rate and speed of Macrium is the best I've found. It clones down also - meaning you can clone a 500 GB down to a 250 data size permitting. I've cloned down from a 1 TB drive to a 250 quite a few times. Apple stuff? - I can't help you there. That's a rare beast in this neck of the woods.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

I see that Macrium has both a free edition for individual use and a free edition for business use. The feature set is basically identical to that of the paid products, except for speed. The free editions must be demonstrably slower than the paid editions. Which do you use?

 

[VISA MC]

For macs I’ve always used time machine. Do a backup install the new drive boot to recovery mode restore the backup.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

what about the recovery partition? Will time machine create that on the new ssd?

 

[VISA MC]

what about the recovery partition? Will time machine create that on the new ssd?

What do you mean by recovery partition? If you mean the data that allows recovery mode to work, that is not stored on the hard drive.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

That’s why I am mostly pc! Lol I’ve got a long way to go...

 

[timeshifter]

I've got a two part response.

First, I'd like to debate some of the points in your post.

But, I already own a MacBook Pro...mid 2009 model. Is it dead?

Yes!

Well, the cleaning up of the file system using diagnostic software obviously optimizes things.

Not sure what this means? Only thing I'd do to help would be a drive format and clean install of the latest OS. Of course for a 2009 Mac you won't find a current version of their OS that works, at least not one that still gets security updates from Apple.

but also the RAM itself is 50% faster than the old RAM.

I'm no expert on RAM and the nitty gritty of latency and memory speed, etc., but I question whether faster RAM would make any noticeable difference. More RAM yes, but faster RAM not so much, especially on a machine with a Core 2 Duo processor.

Similarly, the hard drive I am replacing is an optical disc drive and much slower than the newer solid state drives(SSD)

I don't think you said what you meant to say.

Some would say that I blew right past that edge a few years ago! Yet, the repairman in me says there is still more life in it.”

I agree with both sentiments. You blew right past that edge years ago. But I'd hate to see a functioning machine thrown in the garbage. As a fun project, learning experience, etc. it's probably fine, but I wouldn't put any actual money into it, maybe slap in a spare 120GB SSD I might have lying around.

Second part, what is the business case for posting this article?

It might be good to get your name out there, help with search engine optimization, etc. But, is the type of client who'd spend $300 to upgrade a 10 year old laptop the kind of client you want. Actually is there anyone out there who'd want to do it? I don't think I could ever recommend that to anyone.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

“Only thing I'd do to help would be a drive format and clean install of the latest OS. Of course for a 2009 Mac you won't find a current version of their OS that works, at least not one that still gets security updates from Apple.”
There is a copy on the recovery partition. Not the current OS, but El Capitan. My plan is to run with this OS as far as I can and then, if I still work on Macs, buy a new 13 inch MBP.

“I'm no expert on RAM and the nitty gritty of latency and memory speed, etc., but I question whether faster RAM would make any noticeable difference. More RAM yes, but faster RAM not so much, especially on a machine with a Core 2 Duo processor.”
It was an obvious upgrade. Prob will make an unnoticeable difference.

“I agree with both sentiments. You blew right past that edge years ago. But I'd hate to see a functioning machine thrown in the garbage. As a fun project, learning experience, etc. it's probably fine, but I wouldn't put any actual money into it, maybe slap in a spare 120GB SSD I might have lying around.”
Well, I put in $200 for a larger RAM and faster SSD(and a new battery). So, too late. Still, I am dying to see what performance improvements occurred.

“Second part, what is the business case for posting this article?”
There probably isn’t a business case except this one.....this Mac is mine. I need it to be able to do this very thing on other Macs. I don’t need lots of CPU performance. Will I be able to speed things up for $200? Who knows? We will see. And how far can I go on the ElCapitan OS with no updating allowed? Again, we will see.

I agree that you wouldn’t like to pursue these clients. After all, they are broke. They have no money. But sometimes a worthy soul is placed on your lap. Such is the case with Bonnie, a 75 yr old gal my wife goes to church with. I see her next week about her computer, also a MacBook Pro, and also 10 years old(or older). Now, Bonnie needs a new machine. But she cannot afford one. So it’s a moot point. I have to upgrade where possible. I’m hoping that an SSD and more RAM, in addition to a clean install of her existing OS, will help her in some way.

I’m not just going to blow her off.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

UPDATE: the new RAM they sent me from Amazon is bad. So I had to leave existing RAM in there.

Hard drive replacement went well. Still the OS is slow. Now I’m reinstalling the OS in hopes of a clean install improving performance.

 

[carmen617]

I have a 2009 MacBook Pro as well - there is no need to upgrade the RAM, just put a cheap SSD into it and it will be fast enough to do whatever you need it to do. I bought that MacBook 10 years ago so I could start supporting Macs, and it has served me well. I don't see the need to be running Mojave to continue doing the level of Mac support I do.

However, if I had a client come in with a 2009 MacBook, I would tell them it's time to upgrade. For clients, the only safe Mac is one that can run an OS that Apple is supporting with security updates. Apple tends to stop supporting an OS without any announcement, so users aren't even aware they are no longer getting any updates. El Capitan might be done with updates - Apple doesn't really tell us. But it appears to run in 3-4 year cycles. Every year there is a new OS, after 3-4 years updates are over. So, a 2010 MacBook Pro, which can be updated to High Sierra, has another 2 years or so left of life. Your 2009 is basically done as a client machine. For a machine that you putz around on and use to feel comfortable with Mac support, it's fine.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

UPDATE: Yeah, the old ram works just fine because after my OS reinstall(not a complete wipe and start over..because i still have all my files) the machine is running like its brand new. The new SSD helps a lot I bet. Email, word, etc all run very fast compared to before.

This will be perfect to service other macs with. I agree, also, about the need to recommend clients buy a new computer due to staying on top of all the security updates. Yet in one situation I am working on, lady doesn't have the cash so she is opting to optimize hardware/software wherever she can.

 

[carmen617]

UPDATE: Yeah, the old ram works just fine because after my OS reinstall(not a complete wipe and start over..because i still have all my files) the machine is running like its brand new. The new SSD helps a lot I bet. Email, word, etc all run very fast compared to before.

This will be perfect to service other macs with. I agree, also, about the need to recommend clients buy a new computer due to staying on top of all the security updates. Yet in one situation I am working on, lady doesn't have the cash so she is opting to optimize hardware/software wherever she can.

Macs are really picky about RAM - just the basic specs are not enough, you need to make sure it works on a Mac. I buy Mac RAM on Amazon and stick to a very few brands that I know will work.

As far as your cheap client is concerned, yes I have a few of those as well. I tell them what I told you - their system will work fine but it will be at risk due to lack of security updates. That's the chance they are taking. Also, eventually they won't be able to use a modern browser any more. Even those short of cash will start mentally budgeting towards a new system when it's explained to them properly.

 

[RetiredGuy1000]

what brand of RAM that works best with Macs do you like best?

 

[timeshifter]

what brand of RAM that works best with Macs do you like best?

For RAM I always prefer to buy Crucial direct from Crucial after getting linked to it by their system scanner.

 

[Computer Bloke]

what brand of RAM that works best with Macs do you like best?

Wrong question.

The brand doesn't matter but matching the precise specification that the computer needs often matters a lot. Major RAM suppliers such as Crucial and Kingston have a huge range of products and can sell you exactly the right components for your particular computer. Faster isn't necessarily better, and you can't just put in the "best" RAM from the "best" supplier and expect it to work.

As I think you're already finding out, some computers are more finicky than others and Macs are often the finickiest of them all.

 

[carmen617]

what brand of RAM that works best with Macs do you like best?

I like the brand best that works. On Amazon I buy Komputerbay or Timetech Hynex RAM advertised specifically for the model Mac I am upgrading - have never had a problem with either of them. When I've tried RAM with what looks like the same specs but not advertised specifically for Mac, it's a crap shoot.