Replacing a Mac’s 500GB or 1TB hard drive with a same-sized SSD required at least $250 back then, but the benefits were tremendous: even an aging machine became markedly (5x) faster, silent, and — unexpectedly — more fun to use. When I first wrote about using solid state drives (SSDs) to radically improve the performance of older Macs, high-capacity SSDs were just beginning to become affordable. Kingston test and qualify all their upgrades extensively meaning guaranteed. Backed by a lifetime warranty Kingston memory is an excellent choice if you are looking to upgrade. KingstonMemoryShop stocks DDR3 4GB and 8GB memory upgrades for your Apple MacBook Pro Late 2011 - 13-inch 2.8GHz Core i7 Apple to boost performance and capacity.Note: The i3 model (late 2011) 21.5-inch iMac is a special release to educational institutions only. FREE Shipping by Amazon.Use this guide to upgrade the RAM in your Mid/Late-2011 21.5' iMac to a maximum of 16GB (8GB x2 - i3 model), or 32GB (8GB x4 - i5/i7 models). Get it as soon as Tue, Aug 24.Even without changing a Mac’s CPU, GPU, or RAM, replacing the hard drive with an internal SSD instantly leads to much faster macOS performance, app loading, restarting, and file accessing. So this is a perfect time to revisit the topic of SSD upgrades if you held out before, now’s the time to jump in!For nearly a decade, SSDs have been acknowledged as the “future” of Mac storage. Once unthinkably huge 2TB and 4TB SSDs are now commonly available, too, albeit at eye-watering prices.(44) 44 product ratings - Apple Macbook Pro A1297 2011 17' 4 core i7 2.2Ghz 4GB RAM 128GB SSD Notebook 319.90 601 Apple MacBook Pro 13' Core i5 Late 2011 i5-2435M 2.4GHz 250GB SSD 4GB RamWith this week’s release of macOS High Sierra, Apple has officially made SSDs its preferred Mac storage solution, introducing the new APFS standard to further optimize SSD performance over Fusion and traditional hard drives. Replacing your old 500GB hard drive with a same-sized SSD from a reputable manufacturer costs only $150, while 1TB drives are under $330, each $100 less than only a couple of years ago.
Ssd Pro Late 2011 Install The SSDOwners of the very latest MacBook and MacBook Pro models shouldn’t bother going further these laptops have hardwired SSDs that can’t be replaced, a trend that Apple may expand to future desktop Macs.If your Mac is one of the following models, it can probably be upgraded with an SSD.Mac mini: Up through late 2014 (current) models.Mac Pro: Up through late 2013 (current) modelsMacBook Air: Up through 2017 (current) modelsMacBook Pro: Up through mid-2015 models For Non-Upgradable Macs, Consider External SSDsIdeally, you’ll install the SSD inside your Mac, squeezing maximum performance out of its chips without needing to power an external device. But if your Mac can’t be internally upgraded, or you’re squeamish about opening up your computer, you can buy an external SSD and connect it to a USB 3 or Thunderbolt port. Apple continues to shrink its desktop and laptop machines, more tightly integrating the few remaining components inside, so you’ll want to follow an iFixit disassembly guide to safely open and close your machine. Bad news: the newer the Mac, the greater the likelihood that actually installing the drive yourself will be tricky. Not all SSDs are equivalent in reliability and performance, but ones from top-tier chip companies are pretty incredible.Which Mac Models Can Be Internally Upgraded?Good news first: most older Macs and even some current Macs can be easily user-upgraded to include SSDs. With limited expertise and only three tools, I was able to swap out my 2011 iMac’s old hard drive for an SSD in roughly 30 minutes. Running cooler, quieter, and with superior energy efficiency than traditional hard drives, SSDs have fewer failures, and reputable manufacturers tend to warranty them for longer than their predecessors.For instance, Samsung’s consumer drives generally have 5-year warranties, and if you’re willing to pay more, its PRO series drives have 10-year warranties, eclipsing all but the most expensive enterprise-class desktop hard disks. The January 2008-vintage original MacBook Air was the first Mac with the option of a 64GB SSD (for a $1,300 premium over the laptop’s base price), and 1TB SSDs were going for roughly $4,000 — Apple didn’t even try to sell 1TB SSDs at that point.Nine years later, dramatically faster and smaller SSDs with the same capacities can be had for less than a tenth of those prices, so every current Mac either has an SSD by default or as an option.![]() Backing up your Mac is always a good idea before opening it up, but all you’ll need to do after the SSD installation is run Disk Utility and format the new drive, then transfer files over as you see fit.However, if you plan to make the SSD your boot drive, follow the instructions above so you can enjoy the speed benefits of running macOS directly from the SSD. This will give you a completely fresh start, though your emails, app settings, and other files will need to be separately hunted down and brought over from your other hard drive.For users with plans to swap an optical drive for an SSD, keeping the SSD as a non-boot drive, nothing needs to be done to prep software beforehand. Achieve this after a Command-R boot by choosing Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities list, and selecting the new SSD as the destination for macOS. IMac: Internal + External SSD OptionsI’ll leave the specific iMac opening instructions to the experts at iFixit (this guide works for pre-2012 27-inch iMacs), but it suffices to say that the iMac isn’t super difficult to upgrade – iFixit suggests less than an hour of total install time, and I personally took around half an hour in total.Before you begin, you’ll need several components: the SSD, a mounting bracket, an in-line digital thermal sensor, and a small collection of tools.For the SSD, I recommend Samsung’s 850 EVO series (250GB/$100 and up), and NewerTech’s AdaptaDrive mounting bracket ($15) to secure the drive inside your iMac. Under macOS High Sierra, the Samsung EVO drives I recommend here shouldn’t have any problems working perfectly with your Mac, but if you need a tool for another drive, Cindori’s TRIM Enabler 4 is an option. It’s handled in the background by OS X, though for reasons unknown, Apple officially guarantees TRIM support only for its own drives. In short, TRIM — automatic recycling of SSD space freed up by deleting files — is a background task performed by your Mac. Windows 7 drivers for mac installWhich will be forward-compatible with USB-C computers. Alternately, this $19 Nimitz hard drive caddy is designed to fit a variety of 2009-2011 iMacs.If you prefer to go with an external drive, I would recommend LaCie’s Rugged Thunderbolt + USB 3.0 SSD ($285/500GB) if you need a Thunderbolt interface, otherwise a much smaller and less expensive Samsung T5 USB 3.1 SSD ($200/500GB). The guides omit only one step: placing the small SSD you buy within an adapter/caddy as large as the optical drive you’re replacing.Some people skip the adapter and use pieces of double-sided tape to hold their SSDs in place, but if you’d like to use a mount to keep your SSD firmly within the old optical drive bay, this $10 Micro SATA Cables-branded adapter is inexpensive and praised for its fit in 27-inch iMacs. IFixit has model-specific SuperDrive replacement guides for the 21.5-inch iMac ( late-2009, mid-2010, and mid-2011), 27-inch iMac ( late-2009, mid-2010, and mid-2011), and earlier 17-, 20-, and 24-inch models that are about as far back as you should consider for possible SSD swaps. OWC’s videos walk you through installation, too.Owners of SuperDrive-equipped iMacs also have the option of swapping the optical drive for an SSD. ![]()
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