Author Topic: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?  (Read 8851 times)

elagache

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Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« on: January 28, 2019, 10:47:48 PM »
Dear WeatherCatters who are keeping an eye on Apple developments,

For many years, I have been running a refurbished early-2010 17" MacBook Pro.

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp621?locale=en_US

Unfortunately, this computer wasn't particular well treated by its previous owner and finally it is showing signs of giving up the ghost.  I would much prefer to buy a new computer to avoid these sorts of problems and would also like to get as much ram as possible.  16GB just doesn't cut it anymore.

Apple doesn't make that many computers that would meet that spec.  Regular iMacs and MacBook Pros are limited to 32 GB.  I'm not sure doubling my memory is sufficient.  The iMac Pro certainly would meet the spec, but is extremely expensive - ditto for the Mac Pro.  That leaves one candidate as a compromise between price and performance - the Mac mini:

https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/

The options of 64 GB of ram and 1 TB SSD definitely bring up the price, but even with a 5K monitor it is substantially less than the iMac Pro.  In fact you could buy 2 monitors and still be cheaper than the iMac Pro.

Of course getting a monitor that supports the full resolution of a Mac is another kettle of fish.  Here is an article about it:

https://www.monitornerds.com/best-4k-and-5k-displays-for-mac/

If you want to use the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) adapter, you basically have no choice right now but the LG models sold at the Apple store:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HKN62LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k-display

That still leaves a problem about replacing my obsolete USB hubs to a model that supports USB 3.  However, I'm hoping that shifting from Firewire 800 to USB 3 for my hard drives will be seamless

Do I seem to have my head around the basic problem?  I'm hoping that I can make the leap from High Sierra to Mojave without too much suffering.

Any thoughts would be definitely appreciated!  [tup]

Cheers, Edouard

Blicj11

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2019, 12:49:02 AM »
Good post, with valid points. I'm right there with you regarding upgrading hardware - been thinking about that macMini as well. I got lucky and found a used Apple Thunderbolt Display as a second display for my iMac in an authorized Mac reseller store and bought it for $300. It was in terrific shape. You are dead on regarding RAM. 24 is the lowest I've run for years and it's not enough on some occasions. 32 might be ok. I'm pretty sure Steve is running 40 GB in his new rig, so I believe it must be an iMac Pro. I've got an external drive for CarbonCopyCloner that runs off the USB 3 bus and its plenty fast.
Blick


Steve

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2019, 04:02:19 PM »
The 27" iMac still allows you to swap out RAM. I bought mine with 8 GB, and added 32GB more for a total of 40GB. I think it will officially take up to 64, but unofficially up to 128. Not positive on the latter numbers, though.
Steve - Avon, Ohio, USA


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elagache

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Hmm, VERY interesting! (Re: Upgrading from a early MacBook Pro ?)
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2019, 11:31:32 PM »
Dear Blick, Steve, and WeatherCat seekers of Macintosh harmony,

The 27" iMac still allows you to swap out RAM. I bought mine with 8 GB, and added 32GB more for a total of 40GB. I think it will officially take up to 64, but unofficially up to 128. Not positive on the latter numbers, though.

Hmmmmm,   I hadn't thought about a regular iMac and upgrading the memory.  Other World Computing is more than willing to help:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/imac-2017-27-inch

It can be done in the new Mac mini, but apparently Apple made it really hard.  I haven't checked to see how hard it is to swap memory into the iMac.  However, that's as easy as checking out the videos!

Thanks for the tips!  [tup]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

Steve

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Re: Hmm, VERY interesting! (Re: Upgrading from a early MacBook Pro ?)
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2019, 01:05:41 AM »
I haven't checked to see how hard it is to swap memory into the iMac
Easy Peasy. Open the door, flip out the carrier, and swap cards. This only works on the 27" (at least as of the 2017/18 model, I assume still.) The 21" is not upgradable. And yea, I got my 32GB from OWC, too. Get two 16 GB cards so you can still use the 8GB built in.

Steve - Avon, Ohio, USA


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Blicj11

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2019, 03:40:54 PM »
Steve:

1. Has 40 GB been sufficient for you?
2. Do you have a fusion drive or SSD?
3. What size drive?

Thanks.
Blick


Steve

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2019, 05:03:15 PM »
Steve:

1. Has 40 GB been sufficient for you?
2. Do you have a fusion drive or SSD?
3. What size drive?

Thanks.

Absolutely enough RAM, even though I run way too much still 24 hours a day. Never even slows down when I have a couple heavy duty photo apps running. (2017 27" iMac w/3.8GHz i5 and Radeon Pro 580 GP)

I do have the fusion drive, and it is 2.12GB. I got rid of my various external drives and now have a Drobo, currently populated with three 4T drives, with two empty bays.
Steve - Avon, Ohio, USA


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Blicj11

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2019, 01:14:59 AM »
I do have the fusion drive, and it is 2.12GB. I got rid of my various external drives and now have a Drobo, currently populated with three 4T drives, with two empty bays.

Which flavor of RAID are you running on the Drobo?

I appreciate your info as these things are on my list for 2019.
Blick


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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2019, 04:20:33 PM »

Which flavor of RAID are you running on the Drobo?

Drobo uses their own proprietary BeyondRAID system, which allows for drives of different sizes, manufacturers, etc. Something like this:
One 4GB Drive: no backup
Two 4GB Drives: 4GB usable, 4GB Backup (mirrored)
Three 4GB Drives: 8GB usable, each drive backed up to the other two.

All one partition, although you can add a Time Machine partition. So my CCC backup gets dumped into the main partition with other folders/directories that I keep there.
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Blicj11

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2019, 08:29:33 PM »
Thanks. I'll check it out.
Blick


elagache

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Pulled da' trigger on a Mac mini (Re: Upgrading from a 2010 MacBook Pro ?)
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2019, 12:34:07 AM »
Dear Blick, Steve, and WeatherCat users who make no upgrade before it's time,

Well I'm definitely more on the late side than not, but I finally looked over the choices and decided that the new Mac mini had enough additional punch and technology that I preferred that.  I ordered one with the 6 core CPU upgrade, 64 GB of ram, and a 1 TB SSD.  I also ordered the LG monitor since basically that is the only choice at this point.

Unfortunately it will take Apple as much as 6-8 days to prepare this machine.  In the meantime, my poor old MacBook is having sporadic drive connection failures.  It seems to be related to overheating.  If I run the computer sparingly it still works.  But I'll try not to use it unless absolutely necessary.   So I'm back to my iPad and 2009 MacBook for most of my computing.  Sure hope Apple can get Mac mini ready to go ASAP!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

wurzelmac

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Re: Pulled da' trigger on a Mac mini (Re: Upgrading from a 2010 MacBook Pro ?)
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2019, 06:04:34 AM »
I ordered one with the 6 core CPU upgrade, 64 GB of ram, and a 1 TB SSD.

Wow, hammer machine and hammer price.  [woohoo]
Reinhard


Blicj11

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2019, 10:01:29 PM »
This will be a nice upgrade for you Edouard. A nice new bit of kit is always fun even if it takes too long for the shipment to arrive.
Blick


elagache

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I hope it will last a good long time (Re: Upgrading from a 2010 MacBook Pro ?)
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2019, 10:37:17 PM »
Dear Reinhard, Blick, and WeatherCat users who prefer that they hardware last a good long time,

Yes I decided to spend significantly more than perhaps I should have.  However, I really don't like to change my setup, so I'm hoping this Mac mini will last me many years.  So I had aim high to make sure it wouldn't fall behind too quickly.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

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Re: Advice for upgrading from a early-2010 MacBook Pro ?
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2019, 10:01:15 PM »
Looks like it's quite a beast you've bought  [tup]