[BigRivy]

Hi all,

I've got a late 2011 13" MBP that I've done some replacements on that have caught up with me. I work for a nonprofit and store pictures and videos for our organization (any myself). I'm also a data hoarder...like the show but instead of old magazines it's .pdfs of my utility bills.

The computer has really slowed down in the past 4 months to the point where I'm getting 10-20 second beachballs whenever I open a program, or try to 'open with' in Finder (my job means I've usually got 1-2 browsers with 5-10 tabs each open, Excel, photoshop, and Preview) and an additional external display. i know.

Here's what I've got going:

• OSX 10.11.6 El Cap
  2.8Ghz Intel Core i7
  
  Processor Name: Intel Core i7
  Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
  Number of Processors: 1
  Total Number of Cores: 2
  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
  L3 Cache: 4 MB
  16GB 1333 MHz DDR3 Ram
  Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB Card
  2TB hard drive (860GB free)

Question 1: If I replace the optical drive with an SSD and run that as my bootable HD and use the existing 2TB as additional storage, would that help my speeds at all? Or am i missing something obvious like bad Ram? Or a huge HD? Or is what I'm proposing even practical (beyond the 7min battery life...)

Question 2: Sorry if this is super obvious, but I've got the 2.8 i7 (which I assume is dual core given my specs)--but unless I want to drop $2k on a new MBP, I'm looking at dual-core i5's. So stand back as I embarrass myself--is that going to be as fast as what I have now?

I see the new specs have like 64MB of eDRAM while the cache numbers on mine are in the 4MB and KB area, but am I comparing apples to tractor tires here?

I just don't want to back myself into an SSD corner here because while not as painful as $2k, I really can't afford to blow $300 on a conversion attempt that would make a real Mac person use me in his/her "you won't believe what this one guy tried..." repertoire at the repair shop.

Help?

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums.

If I replace the optical drive with an SSD and run that as my bootable HD and use the existing 2TB as additional storage, would that help my speeds at all?

I don't have much experience with Apple computers, but to speak about PCs in general, this could help. Your OS will boot faster, but if all the programs are on the HDD (they probably are if that is your only drive), then the HDD may be failing. Something you could try is pulling all the data off, formatting the drive and reinstalling the OS.

is that going to be as fast as what I have now?

As fast, if not faster. The reason is, the CPU will have become more efficient.

Not sure about eDRAM, I would guess without searching that it is a form factor as opposed to a leap in technology.

[Lee_Bo]

Question 1: If I replace the optical drive with an SSD and run that as my bootable HD and use the existing 2TB as additional storage, would that help my speeds at all? Or am i missing something obvious like bad Ram? Or a huge HD? Or is what I'm proposing even practical (beyond the 7min battery life...)

Well I can't speak from the MBP side, but I do have a 2011 iMac that I did swap the optical with an SSD and yes, it did make a difference in data speeds. it came with 4 gigs ram and I upgraded to 16 and installed Photoshop and Lightroom and it runs them now with very little issues.

[Infinite7154]

I buy and sell MacBook Pro's...mostly 2011 or 2012's. The first thing I do to all of them when necessary is install 8 or 16gb or RAM. Then I get an SSD. Putting both upgrades in increases the speed of the machines exponentially. Since you already have the 16gb of RAM, you may want to make sure it's not corrupted. Also, changing the optical drive with an SSD and keep the OS and programs on it, it should speed up. Check the RAM first.

[o4liberty]

The latest MacBook pro is super fast much faster then my 2013 model.