2011 MBP RAM Question

By darkz
in Apple (macOS)

 Share

Recommended Posts

Mentor

darkz

Posted
Posted

I want to upgrade an early 2011 Macbook Pro, it's running a little too slow.

It officially supports 8Gb, but some people say it can run 16Gb just fine.

Replacing the RAM after purchase would be a relatively huge hassle for me.

So if anyone has already done this (put 16g in early 2011) on their MBP, I would love to hear your experiences.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1126056-2011-mbp-ram-question/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Gotenks98

Posted
Posted

I want to upgrade an early 2011 Macbook Pro, it's running a little too slow.

It officially supports 8Gb, but some people say it can run 16Gb just fine.

Replacing the RAM after purchase would be a relatively huge hassle for me.

So if anyone has already done this (put 16g in early 2011) on their MBP, I would love to hear your experiences.

How is it a huge hassle? Its as simple as remove 8 screws on the bottom and swap out the ram chips. Nothing hard about that.

Guest

Posted
Posted

I did mine 3 days ago and its worked great! typing the message on it right now. I went to kingston

http://www.kingston.com/en/memory/search/devices?DevicesType=Desktop

You have to choose notebook from the menu and then it recommends what you need. I only put in the 8 gig in mine, yes it might run 16gb but i would rather stick with a supported configuration. I have had kingston for years, and its been great RAM. You might be able to put 16 gig in it but what happens if you boot into os x and it only shows 8 gig? I would save the difference for coffee!

  • 4 months later...
Mentor

darkz

Posted
  • Author
Posted

With "replacing" I meant getting the shop to take back my 16GB and replace them with 8GB in case it turned out my mbp doesn't support them.

Got 16GB of Kingston working for half a year now, great, if the next OS X is not going to be any more memory hungry, then you're right about the coffee.

It's a good thing there isn't much going on in the Mac Discussions, else I wouldn't have found this post.

Grand Master

Matthew S.

Posted
Posted

You MBP will support 16GB fine. I have a Late 2011 15" MBP and it has 16GB in it. even my Late 2009 13" MacBook only officially supported 4GB but I put in 8GB and it worked fine :D

Mentor

DeadEndAccount

Posted
Posted
I want to upgrade an early 2011 Macbook Pro, it's running a little too slow.

It officially supports 8Gb, but some people say it can run 16Gb just fine.

Replacing the RAM after purchase would be a relatively huge hassle for me.

So if anyone has already done this (put 16g in early 2011) on their MBP, I would love to hear your experiences.

If you're doing it because it is a 'little slow' then I think you're better off maybe checking the computer, clean install, what applications you have running in the background - maybe investing in an SSD maybe a better investment and then putting the old rotating disk in an external hard disk case (maybe an external hard disk case with Thunderbolt?).

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Microsoft about to radically change how often your Edge browser updates

      By testman · Posted

      Everyone else has said it. I'm gonna say it - you don't know what you're talking about. I do. I have two laptops. One work, one personal. I have access to two more laptops - both personal. At home I manually update my personal laptop when I see on Neowin that there is an update - I carry on and only apply the updates when I am ready. My work one only updates when my workplace decides to send it - I carry on and only apply the updates (when they actually arrive, which is usually days after the release) when I switch off the laptop at the end of the day as usual. The two other personal laptops only get updated when I get to it which is rarely - the people who own them carry on using them until I get to it and update them. All of the browsers on all laptops are configured to restore the tabs when launched. Google and Microsoft have changed from 6 weeks to 4, and it looks like it's going to move to 2. None of these changes affect how any of these browsers on the laptops are used. Not one jot. My advice to you is stop panicking whenever you see an update. Just carry on with what you're doing. This even benefits you in a way - from your comment you sound like you don't like the changes or the frivolous new features - great - then carry on as before!
    • Lethal fake phone chargers are still being sold on Amazon and eBay, UK watchdog warns

      By Brian Miller · Posted

      AMAZON needs to take total accountability for this.
    • Windows Server gets DNS over HTTPS (DoH) support

      By binaryzero · Posted

      Server Summit had a heap of announcements, ADCS changes are baller.
    • Linux 7.1 arrives with an NTFS overhaul and major hardware performance boosts

      By Max Norris · Posted

      Nice, hope they *finally* fixed the issue with the NTFS driver where the system would completely brick during large file copies using the built in driver. It's been broken for years requiring me to use the older, slower, NTFS-3G FUSE driver.
    • Windows 11 KB5094126 BSODing, freezing, forcing BitLocker lockout, breaks OneDrive, and more

      By hellowalkman · Posted

      Windows 11 KB5094126 BSODing, freezing, forcing BitLocker lockout, breaks OneDrive, and more by Sayan Sen Microsoft released Windows 11 KB5094126 and KB5093998 last week as the latest Patch Tuesday updates. Following that the company also published the accompanying dynamic updates under KB5094149, KB5095971, and KB5094156. While Microsoft has so far not acknowledged any major problems with the release, some users online are running into problems. These range from OneDrive and Dropbox access issues, BitLocker recovery lockouts, to blue screens and BSODs. The most common one seems to be happening with HP systems wherein affected users say they hit 0xc0430001 BSOD (blue screen of death) error code after the KB5094126 update. We wonder if this could be related to the recent bug we covered on HP devices wherein the ongoing Secure Boot certificate updates are leading to similar issues. While we are not certain, users affected by this issue likely need to ensure that the boot.stl file is included on the installation media (such as a USB installer or ISO), if the above-mentioned dynamic updates are deployed. If this file is missing, computers may fail to boot from the installation media and could display the error 0xc0430001. This STL file is used by Secure Boot to verify that the boot files are trusted, so it must match the same Windows version and system architecture. To ensure the file is included, Microsoft recommends using the Update WinPE script, which automatically updates the image and handles the required files. Alternatively, you can manually copy the boot.stl file from the Windows\Boot\EFI folder on a Windows device and place it in the matching folder on your installation media before deploying the updated image. Aside from blue screening some users also note their systems have been freezing following the update. This could be happening to Lenovo PCs specifically. In the case of the OneDrive and Dropbox access issues, a user figured out that there could be a conflict with UAC. He explained: "Okay, so I did some digging, and in our environment KB5094126 breaks OneDrive and Dropbox in Explorer. I went through all our GPOs and found out that the combination of disabling UAC and having my user being a local admin breaks OneDrive in Explorer. ... If I enable UAC again, then it works, even with KB5094126 still installed." Hopefully, Microsoft will look into these issues. Source: Microsoft forum (link1, link2, link3, link4), Reddit (link1, link2, link3, link4)

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jeroen Wilms earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      508
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      197
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      138
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      80
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!