MBP 7.1, 13" 2010 - Upgrade memory and storage advice?

[rsmmac]

My (2008) iMac hard drive died in July, it wasn't worth getting it replaced, and I've been using my MBP. Added an external monitor, using keyboard and mouse, and... it works!

Two issues - beachballing, and hard drive space.

Memory: I keep lots of browser tabs open, and work with several applications at once. Everything checks out as working properly, regularly check permissions, etc. EtreCheck found orphan files, I deleted them. Otherwise, rates either "good" or "below average" based on time. When I check the activity monitor, it is almost always Firefox causing the slowdown. Safari is a little better, but not much. Reading posts here, I need additional memory. (All other diagnostics, Onyx, etc, everything is fine. Battery has had only 20 cycles!)

It presently has 4gb of memory. Is 8gb enough, or should I go for the 16gb? Does memory have to be upgraded in pairs, or can I buy one 8gb module, and use one of the 2gb, and have 10 gb?

Hard Drive: The hard drive is 250gb, with 65gb available. Most is audio. I was thinking of getting a 128gb thumb drive (~$30 US) and using that for music, if space starts getting really tight. Then wondered since I'd be taking computer apart, should I get bigger hard drive? (SSD isn't in the budget.)

If I get a new drive, I'm guessing I'd want 7200rpm rather than 5400? And are the HGST that OWC sells okay, or do I want something else?

Finally... are the OWC videos relatively accurate with how easy it is to upgrade the MBP? For memory, it's just all those little screws to open the case. For hard drive, it seems that installing OS (I need to stick with Mavericks because of iWeb) and then the back-up of files, is the worst part. I would be buying memory (and hard drive) from OWC.

Thank you!!

 

[Slydude]

I can't vouch for that specific OWC video but every one I have looked at has been spot on accurate in terms of describing the steps. Their time estimates are usually off a bit for me but that is more due to my clumsiness than issues with their videos.

It sounds like 16 GB of ram might be a better option for you given the number of things open simultaneously but others may have a different idea.

You will notice the drive speed more on some tasks than others. I've had slower drives contribute to audio and video getting out of sync for example. You might not notice it as much for general web browsing, word processing, etc.

 

[Audit13]

If your budget allows, get a 120 gb ssd for the boot drive, replace the DVD drive with a hard drive caddy and move the mechanical to the caddy, and get 16 gb of ram. For ram, make sure you do not get high density, low voltage ram.

 

[rsmmac]

Thank you!! It was exactly that, how they describe the steps, I was worried that I'd find there were a dozen in between that I needed to know.

I can't vouch for that specific OWC video but every one I have looked at has been spot on accurate in terms of describing the steps. Their time estimates are usually off a bit for me but that is more due to my clumsiness than issues with their videos.

It sounds like 16 GB of ram might be a better option for you given the number of things open simultaneously but others may have a different idea.

You will notice the drive speed more on some tasks than others. I've had slower drives contribute to audio and video getting out of sync for example. You might not notice it as much for general web browsing, word processing, etc.

 

[rsmmac]

Thank you, that wasn't something I thought of at all. That video is a bit more daunting, but I'm going to consider it. And thank you for the ram details, I would have missed that.

If your budget allows, get a 120 gb ssd for the boot drive, replace the DVD drive with a hard drive caddy and move the mechanical to the caddy, and get 16 gb of ram. For ram, make sure you do not get high density, low voltage ram.

 

[Audit13]

You can get cheap 9.5 mm Macbook DVD drive caddies on Amazon.com. Owc stuff is nice but, since you tend to do th in s once and it's inside the machine, I've always used the caddies from Amazon.