Hardware Upgrade Advice Needed

[carabot94]

Hi all,

I apologize in advance if this is sort of long -- just looking for how to best go about doing some upgrades on my laptop.

Bit of background -- I produce electronic music on my laptop (Mid 2012 15" MBP, 2.6 GHz i7, 16 GB RAM 1600 MHz DDR3). As such I have many many third party VSTs that I run within a production program, so it is very CPU intensive (probably somewhat comparable to what a gaming computer would go through).

So, I have a few issues. For one, I need a new battery (getting a service battery notice). My computer dies when I run the production program in ~an hour if I'm not charging. Even when it is charged, it sometimes goes down in the 80's%. So, does anyone have any recommendations for good batteries to go for?

Secondly, my loading and startup times are very slow. Takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes to even load up a project. I assume this is because I don't have a solid state internal drive? Would replacing my current one with a solid state one improve startup/loading times, or would there be a better option to take?

Lastly, is it even worth it to go through with these upgrades? I feel like this laptop is sort of on it's way out, and maybe it would be in my best interest to invest in a new laptop altogether?

Thanks for your time guys!

 

[lclev]

While a 2012 is getting a bit old and the newer processors are much faster, you could do some upgrades and get quite a boost in speed. Changing the hard drive to an SSD will definitely speed things up - a lot! As for a new battery, I would go to OWC - macsales - for a new battery and an SSD. They have reasonable prices and back their products.

https://www.macsales.com/

If you want to compare models for a possible upgrade download the free app Mactracker. It will give you all the stats on all the current and past apple products. That will give you a look at the speeds of the various processors currently being offered.

Lisa

 

[pigoo3]

Secondly, my loading and startup times are very slow. Takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes to even load up a project.

This is certainly not normal...and I'm guessing when you first got this computer it was not like this. What could be causing it is:

- hard drive is failing
- hard drive is too full
- hard drive needs some serious maintenance
- combination

As Lisa mentioned...and SSD will certainly speed things up. But if you require lots of internal storage...SSD's are more expensive/gig...so it depends what your budget is if you decide to install an SSD & how large it is.

- Nick