The SSD is also made from flash chips that are almost as fast as the RAM. The SSD knows where all your data is instantaneously. With an SSD, there is no waiting, this is because your data is effectively in a spreadsheet. A traditional hard drive is like a record player, when you send data from the HDD to the CPU the computer has to find it, it hunts around the platters/disc looking for all the data. It is not the raw speed of the SSD, it is how it works. It is stuck on an older OSX, so it can not run Sierra or be used for any power applications, but it does show what an SSD can do to make an iMac more usable. It can perform moderate tasks with ease, browser, mail, word processing. The start time went from 2 minutes to 15 seconds. How fast can it perform? The results even surprised us.
We have a 2006 iMac in the Upgradeable office and we decide to upgrade the hard drive to an SSD to see the effect. A RAM upgrade is easy, a iMac SSD upgrade is a bit harder, but after reading this guide you'll be an expert with all the knowledge to make an SSD upgrade simple.įor general use, most iMacs have enough CPU power. Replacing your mechanical hard drive with an SSD, and you will experience an incredible increase in speed.
Applications will open quicker, starting up is snappy, and the overall result is extending the life of your Mac. Upgrade to an SSD and you can make your Mac run like new.
How To Upgrade Your Macbook Pro with an SSD.Since her data is backed up, too, it’ll probably remain in service until its dying day or until I get another new Mac, whichever comes first. In the meantime, my wife has had no issues with it and hasn’t complained about its speed (or anything else about it for that matter). Glamor shot of my wife’s seven-year old MacBook Pro, still working like a champ. I recently handed my 2008 MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and a 480GB SSD over to my wife and replaced it with a 2014 MacBook Pro with a Retina display, a faster processor, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Since, as you know, I am obsessive about backing up, having a Mac die unexpectedly might be a hassle and an inconvenience, but it won’t be a disaster. I keep my Macs until they either feel too slow and can’t be upgraded any further, or until they die - whichever comes first. That being said, I know of many ten-year old (and older) Macs that are still in service and working great. Moving right along to the actual question of how long a Mac will last, it’s been my experience that most Macs are reliable for at least 7 or 8 years, as long as you’ve taken proper care. Or, of course, you can have it upgraded by an Authorized Apple Dealer or Apple Store, though you’ll surely pay more than if you did it yourself (which isn’t that difficult with many Macs). The kits include instructions, all the tools you need, and even an external USB enclosure so you can use your old hard drive after you remove it. They offer excellent do-it-yourself SSD upgrade kits starting at just US$109 for a 120GB SSD. My go-to source for SSDs has been Other World Computing for years.
If you’ve never experienced the dramatic difference between using an SSD and using a hard disk, your boot times will go from minutes to seconds and most applications will launch instantly with only a bounce or two of their dock icons. And yes, I know I don’t know what Mac you have, but whatever it is, it’ll feel twice as fast after the SSD goes in. Trust me, upgrading from a hard drive to an SSD will make your Mac easily feel twice as fast. Since some of you are surely facing a similar situation and have the same questions, here is what I think:įirst, regardless of your Mac’s age, if it doesn’t already have an SSD (Solid State Drive) and you’re still booting from an archaic mechanical hard disk, you’ve got to replace that rotating anachronism with a sleek, modern SSD. Question: What is expected 'life' of these machines? I would rather go buy a new one if the one I have is at risk of dying of old age. I back it up with a separate hard drive via Time Machine. MacBook Pro that I purchased in 2009 and love it…I do consulting, and run some small business matters with this computer and depend on it heavily. To be precise, here’s exactly what he said: A reader recently asked me how long he could expect his Mac to last.