upgrading a laptop's hard drive

[skunkindunks]

I bought a stock 13" macbook pro a year ago with the smallest hard drive offered. Sometimes when I'm on some more complex websites or running a few programs at once I get the spinning rainbow pinwheel icon and it may take up to a minute to load. If I wanted to improve my computers performance what is the best upgrade? Thanks in advance.

 

[whyhellothere]

upgrade to an SSD. Look at the Crucial M4.

 

[wilroc]

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

upgrade to an SSD. Look at the Crucial M4.

This. But they're pretty damn expensive. I've been trying to cop a 512gb SSD but they're like $700+ so I'm hesitant.

 

[scshift]

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

upgrade to an SSD.

This.

SSD and RAM are all you need, I'm assuming your processor is already fairly solid.

 

[createdestroy]

Kingston 8gb DDR3 Laptop Ram (Macbook compatible)
This will help you run much faster... I think you are running on 4gb of ram..upgrading to 8 will improve your performance issues.

 

[skunkindunks]

Correct me if I'm wrong, the Ram will improve performance and a larger SSD will increase how much I can store on the hard drive?

 

[whyhellothere]

Originally Posted by SkunkInDunks

Correct me if I'm wrong, the Ram will improve performance and a larger SSD will increase how much I can store on the hard drive?

both will increase performance.
an SSD will provide greater performance but is way more expensive ( 64GB Crucial M4 is like $110-115)

 

[alchemist iq]

OP, the spin wheel comes from not having enough RAM in your computer, RAM is what you mainly need. getting a new (HDD) Hardrive won't stop the rainbow spin wheel, if you put an SSD the whole OS will load much faster and apps as well.

buy this one, same thing but priced lower. What create destroy showed you, and this same one i just bought for my mac 2 weeks ago.
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...spx?Item=N82E16820139481

Yes throwing 8GB of ram into your mac will increase performance.
Get an SSD, HUGE PERFORMANCE JUMP from getting a regular HDD.

Highly Recommend SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...spx?Item=N82E16820147137

 

[whyhellothere]

I swear im the only person with a faulty 830, just my luck.

 

[bgl2687]

Originally Posted by SkunkInDunks

Correct me if I'm wrong, the Ram will improve performance and a larger SSD will increase how much I can store on the hard drive?

SSD doesn't have moving parts so you retrieve data faster, but the cheapest way to improve performance is ram without killing the pockets.

 

[odog24]

Originally Posted by SkunkInDunks

Correct me if I'm wrong, the Ram will improve performance and a larger SSD will increase how much I can store on the hard drive?

yes that is correct. i dont reccomend biying a hard drive because there was a flood of the hard drive factory a couple months ago so the prices went up

 

[crcballer55]

Originally Posted by SkunkInDunks

Correct me if I'm wrong, the Ram will improve performance and a larger SSD will increase how much I can store on the hard drive?

Correct on both.  Beware though... An SSN and HDD can both hold your information, but an SSD is A LOT more expensive since it can perform much quicker.  However, it will also help improve the batter life of your mac as well.

Before you upgrade your drive, consider sticking in more RAM first since it'll be much cheaper.  The only reason you should get a new drive is if it's almost full.  Even then, I would recommend sticking with a spinning drive since you'll get more bang for your buck.

 

[whyhellothere]

If SSD's cost a bit more than what you want to spend, you could also consider getting a hybrid drive like the Seagate Momentus XT. Its slower than a regular SSD but faster than a regular hard drive and offers more storage space than an ssd without breaking the bank. The 500GB version is 89.99 until 12/21 at newegg.

 

[zk1mpls]

^ yup, what he said.

OP, just go with RAM first, before shelling out a ton of $$$ for an SSD. SSD's are still out of my budget as of the moment. Maybe in my next build.