Will a ssd upgrade help an old MBP?

[DogsAreBarking]

Hello all,

My 15inch macbook pro is approaching 5 years of work and is starting to get a bit slow at times. No major issues or failures, it just hangs a fair bit and struggles to do too many things at once these days. I'm definitely no expert but I've tried to do some research and poke about looking for potential fixes and I'm thinking that the old hard drive might be what is holding it back. I don't really have the cash to go shopping for a new machine, so can anybody offer some advice on upgrading to a ssd? Is it likely to help, and hopefully prolong the life of my laptop? Is it probably a waste of time and/or money?

Cheers

 

[Beerfish]

Hello all,

My 15inch macbook pro is approaching 5 years of work and is starting to get a bit slow at times. No major issues or failures, it just hangs a fair bit and struggles to do too many things at once these days. I'm definitely no expert but I've tried to do some research and poke about looking for potential fixes and I'm thinking that the old hard drive might be what is holding it back. I don't really have the cash to go shopping for a new machine, so can anybody offer some advice on upgrading to a ssd? Is it likely to help, and hopefully prolong the life of my laptop? Is it probably a waste of time and/or money?

Cheers

I'd probably try a fresh install of the OS before changing the hard drive.

 

[Small Moves]

Hello all,

My 15inch macbook pro is approaching 5 years of work and is starting to get a bit slow at times. No major issues or failures, it just hangs a fair bit and struggles to do too many things at once these days. I'm definitely no expert but I've tried to do some research and poke about looking for potential fixes and I'm thinking that the old hard drive might be what is holding it back. I don't really have the cash to go shopping for a new machine, so can anybody offer some advice on upgrading to a ssd? Is it likely to help, and hopefully prolong the life of my laptop? Is it probably a waste of time and/or money?

Cheers

An SSD does wonders in an old MacBook. I'd never buy a laptop/desktop system without an SSD, they're just that good.

Depending on the capacity you're after, the Samsung 840 EVO provides brilliant value.

 

[Gold Member]

An SSD does wonders in an old MacBook. I'd never buy a laptop/desktop system without an SSD, they're just that good.

Depending on the capacity you're after, the Samsung 840 EVO provides brilliant value.

Beware the 840 EVO's have just had a firmware upgrade as they had an issue with performance degrading over time.
The fix is only available for PC at the minute.

Apart from that I can and will vouch for 840 EVO's for bang for buck.

 

[Hate]

Beware the 840 EVO's have just had a firmware upgrade as they had an issue with performance degrading over time.
The fix is only available for PC at the minute.

Apart from that I can and will vouch for 840 EVO's for bang for buck.

I'm still more than happy with mine from when I built my PC earlier this year. By far the best out there, and seems pretty standard now in almost every build I come across.

 

[Small Moves]

I'm still more than happy with mine from when I built my PC earlier this year. By far the best out there, and seems pretty standard now in almost every build I come across.

Same. That being said, the average user won't notice the difference between the popular Samsung/Sandisk drives. For those who need the performance like myself ... I have often thought about lashing out for a big 850 PRO or a PCIe SSD such as the Asus ROG RAIDR.

 

[Gold Member]

Same. That being said, the average user won't notice the difference between the popular Samsung/Sandisk drives. For those who need the performance like myself ... I have often thought about lashing out for a big 850 PRO or a PCIe SSD such as the Asus ROG RAIDR.

A second 840 EVO in RAID 0?

 

[Small Moves]

A second 840 EVO in RAID 0?

Thought about that. Wasn't sure whether I'd get one higher capacity SSD or a second for RAID 0. At the moment I've only got a 120GB 840 EVO (which cost me $120 only a few months ago!) so I don't think there's any point in adding another identical drive, especially since I run a lot of virtual machines and some production software so I think a bigger drive is the way to go. Will definitely cross my mind when it comes time to upgrade, though.