Can I run 16GB RAM on my 2011 Macbook Pro

[mockney]

Hi,

I have a Macbook Pro - 2.2ghz I7 Quad Core. It's an early 2011 model.

It currently has 4GB of RAM pre-installed and last week I took it to my local Apple re-seller (Next Byte) to upgrade it to 8GB RAM (which I thought was the maximum).

I was told that I can actually upgrade to 16GB RAM (x2 8GB's). They said Apple dont actually advertise the fact it can run at this spec.

Obviously if this is the case then for the extra few dollars it seems like a 'no brainer' to do this. Is there anything that I need to consider before I go ahead an do this.

Why doesn't Apple advertise the fact you can actually run your MBP on 16GB RAM, will it cause any problems or damage anything?.

Thanks

 

[BrianLachoreVPI]

Yes - you can. I do in mine.

 

[pigoo3]

Why doesn't Apple advertise the fact you can actually run your MBP on 16GB RAM, will it cause any problems or damage anything?.

Thanks

Yes you can. It's not about "Apple Advertising this detail"…it's about what Apple officially supports.

This doesn't mean that other folks (3rd party vendors & individual users) don't "experiment" to see if particular computer models can utilize more ram than Apple officially supports. So from time to time…some Apple computer models can support more ram than Apple supports…and this also means that some computers cannot use more ram than Apple officially supports.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[mockney]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will go ahead and upgrade then, I presume I will see a huge performance difference going from 4 up to 16GB in one hit .

 

[Dysfunction]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will go ahead and upgrade then, I presume I will see a huge performance difference going from 4 up to 16GB in one hit .

The honest answer is, it depends.

 

[BrianLachoreVPI]

Mike's right - but I do believe it's a safe bet that you'll see a performance improvement - since you only have 4GB. If you had 8GB - then it really would depend on how you use your computer.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will go ahead and upgrade then, I presume I will see a huge performance difference going from 4 up to 16GB in one hit .

Not necessarily. It really depends on how you use your computer.

- If you only had 1 or 2 gigs of ram…and upgraded to 4gig…you would certainly see a difference.
- Going from 4 gig to 8gig…you may see some improvement.
- Finally going from 8gig to 16gig…I don't think the average user would see a big difference.

More ram simply means that more applications can be opened at the same time…without any single application being "starved" for ram.

I not saying going from 4gig to 16gig you won't notice some extra "snappiness"…but it's not going to be like going from Warp 1 to Warp 9!

- Nick

 

[Izakbar]

I bought my mbp with 16gb in and it flies. Dunno if its faster than with 8gb... Don't care tbh. Wanted 16gb to run vm's in. Works as intended.

If you are upgrading memory, worth putting in more than you need - then there will never ever be an issue. Nothing worse than wishing you had put 16gb in it 6 months down the line.

 

[CrimsonRequiem]

I'm still using 4GB >_>" Although I did add two SSDs on my MBP. Very snappy now. I might add more RAM cause I have been doing a lot of Photo editing lately.

 

[mockney]

Yea. I doubt that I actually need 16GB 8 would I am sure do the trick quite nicely, my MBP is not used for work it's more my leisure tool... but then I do enjoy photo and video editing plus I often have multiple programs running so sometimes I do get the beach ball spinning round for a while.

As I said for the extra few dollars I may as well go all out and have 16GB, its nice just being able to say my MBP is running at 16 . Size matters you know!.

It gets upgraded tomorrow!.