2009 13'' Macbook Pro - quick memory question.

[Brookie.]

Apple guru's.

I love my Macbook pro to death, but on occasions when I'm running a lot of applications I sometimes see the spinny rainbow wheel and get a delay.

I currently have 4GB DDR3. Will my macbook support 8GB? and if so, can you reccomend some.

On my 'About this mac', the model number for my Pro is Macbook Pro 5.5

Cheers guys.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Crucial's website has a memory checker .. I cant remember if it downloads something, or works on-the-fly .. probably the former.

Try that .. it'll tell you what you have, what you can have and you can buy it directly from there with no hassle either I did just that with my iMac.

 

[Tom]

yeah it will.

 

[Brookie.]

Cheer boys!

 

[Al_G]

Is it easy to fit?

 

[Mr Pants]

Wouldn't an SSD be a better purchase?

 

[Brookie.]

Wouldn't an SSD be a better purchase?

I haven't a clue which is why I was asking for suggestions!
Would it?

 

[Tom]

Wouldn't an SSD be a better purchase?

Not in a 13"

 

[SamP]

Beachball of doom FTL.

 

[Brookie.]

Not in a 13"

Do you have any suggestions Tom? Or even better, links?

 

[Tom]

Depends on how much you want to spend. (If you say "as little as possible" you are banned)

 

[Brookie.]

Depends on how much you want to spend. (If you say "as little as possible" you are banned)

To be honest with you I'm not too sure on prices. I saw 2 x 4GB Crucial DDR3 on HUKD for around £80. That was for the 2011 Macbook Pro however.

Does that sound around the right price bracket?

 

[Christopher]

Ten minute job to fit, by the way.

 

[Mr Pants]

Not in a 13"

How come? Not arguing the point, just curious!

 

[Tom]

Well if he has a 13" He probably doesn't have endless pockets of cash, nor does he want a uber powerhouse of crazy proportions.
SSD's are still really a pain in the arse, they cost a fortune, you lose a tremendous amount of storage (unless you are willing to bin the DVD drive)

Momentus XT 500GB would be a good shout.

 

[Brookie.]

Well if he has a 13" He probably doesn't have endless pockets of cash, nor does he want a uber powerhouse of crazy proportions.
SSD's are still really a pain in the arse, they cost a fortune, you lose a tremendous amount of storage (unless you are willing to bin the DVD drive)

Momentus XT 500GB would be a good shout.

Don't want to sound like a dick (which I may well end up doing) but isn't that a hard drive?

 

[Mr Pants]

Ah I meant better as in, not taking into account the financial aspect of it. I see..

 

[Brookie.]

...I am confused.

 

[Tom]

Ah I meant better as in, not taking into account the financial aspect of it. I see..

Yeah obviously, but you need to be realistic.

Yes its a hard drive, you wanted to improve system performance?

 

[Brookie.]

Yeah obviously, but you need to be realistic.

Yes its a hard drive, you wanted to improve system performance?

I did yeh. I just assumed that more RAM would be the answer to speeding up processes, and allowing more high capacity applications to be open at once?
TBH I don't know much about it at all, which is why I'm asking for help.

Would that hard drive make my MBP faster?

 

[Tom]

Yes, significantly.

 

[Brookie.]

Yes, significantly.

More so than increasing my RAM from 4GB to 8GB?

Thanks for asking my noobish questions btw, appreciate it.

 

[Tom]

I'm not sure. Probably better than ram.

 

[Brookie.]

I'm not sure. Probably better than ram.

Thanks for the help! I'll have a look into getting one. The prices seem good!

 

[cava83]

I have the same model.

I use an SSD - 160gb works fine, didn't bother with a second HD, still have the DVD drive in there.

The HD made a HUGE amount of difference.

The price is a lot for an SS, I would get the RAM upgrade.

Check permissions on your HD, might be something wrong there, additionally, I would use onyx - it's an application that simply fixes aspects of your HD.

Thanks,

G

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Have you tried Crucial's memory checker as per my post above and their price ?

Also recommend iStat widget to go on the dashboard to see what's going on. When it's being slow, have a look and see if all your RAM is used up, or what else is going on.

I find it very difficult to get my 2008 2.66 / 4GB iMac to stutter, and my 13" 2009 MB 2.4 / 2GB doesn't have issues with anything ever, processing/RAM wise...

 

[Brookie.]

Have you tried Crucial's memory checker as per my post above and their price ?

Also recommend iStat widget to go on the dashboard to see what's going on. When it's being slow, have a look and see if all your RAM is used up, or what else is going on.

I find it very difficult to get my 2008 2.66 / 4GB iMac to stutter, and my 13" 2009 MB 2.4 / 2GB doesn't have issues with anything ever, processing/RAM wise...

I haven't been home since you told me about it mate, I'll be giving it a go this weekend.
Yeh something does seem odd. Not sure what. I'll check it out!

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

No worries chap...

 

[Brookie.]

LOL at dirty stop out. I wish!
I stay at the girlfriends most nights through the week, I get another half hour lie in for work haha!