!rant

Ranters, I would like your suggestion:

I have an early 2011 13" macbook pro with 4gb ram, 320gb hdd and <400 battery cicles, which I use mostly for web dev. I started to get some annoying slow downs since last osx update, and now I am trying to figure out what to do.

I could buy an SSD hd and a new set of 16gb ram (8gb x2) and replace the internals. This would increase the performance greatly.

Or I could sell it and buy a new Retina version (with 8gb ram and 128gb ssd), at the expense of not being able to update the ram or the hard drive in the future.

It is a ~$200 option against a $1200 one. What would you do if you were in my situation?

it seems ur update was unsuccessful. it happened with me between public beta 4 and 5.
by the way new mbp is abt to release so my advice hold down. secondly 8x2 will cost you 61 euros on amazon. may be it will enhance the life of mbp by 3 4 months.

I am not a mac guy, but I would share what I think.
Most laptops that have 4Gb RAM or below when hit the 8GB mark start performing much better.
Its an unofficial minimum requirement, it feels. You are going to get 16GB and SSD. That's definitely gonna be a fast one given no gaming is involved.
Although, according to some online articles (sorry have no link right now) 16GB is not a big upgrade from 8GB RAM. It only provides minor speed boost.

Depends on number of tabs opened.

Tho the new retina MacBook Pro is much easier on eyes compared to the older screen.

That computer is still totally valid, I would get more ram for sure, an SSD wouldn't make too much of a difference in terms of performance, but with a spinning harddrive that old, it would be a good idea to invest in one now. Then do a clean install, this should be the major source of slowness, set it up as a new computer and just manually move pertinent things over for best results. If all that still results in a bit too slow for your tastes you can install a light weight linux OS on there in place of osx.

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro, upgraded to 8 GB and with an SSD, latest OS version. It's better than when I bought it, and the cost is worth it. SSD is only required if you want your application open fast, fast spotlight searches etc.

Perhaps try dual booting windows or Linux. And instead of another Mac I'd instead buy a Dell xps or something... I never understand why devs get MacBooks, they're overpriced, limited, and get slow (as in your case) after time. Although they do have noteworthy battery life

Get yourself 16gigs of ram and SSD. May not be retina but runs better than new. Thing is that if you get one of the newer models you'll spend 1,2k on something you won't be able to upgrade. Unlike the model you have now.

I have only two requirements for a laptop: good battery life and hassle free machine. Although my MBP got a bit slow, overall it is a great machine to work, no doubt, and it might last some more years with the update (There are people still using MacBooks from 2008).

The reason why I don't want a Windows laptop is durability. You can get better specs for the money but on the long run it might not be that relevant. My dad got a top tier$1000 ASUS laptop by the end of 2012. Just 3 years later the battery was no longer holding charge and the screen hinge broke, making the lid unstable. You could only use it with charger and external monitor plugged in - it became a desktop basically.

It is clear that getting the new MBP is not cost effective, so I might stick with the update option and save some cash for other stuff 💸💸

Thanks everyone for the answers!! Keep ranting 😂

@alandemaria I did that same operation to a customer's Macbook Pro, and it was definitely worth it for them. Unless you are in a position to get a new Macbook really soon I would do it. There are plenty of people who will be looking for a cheap Mac with an SSD on eBay and you'll be sure to sell it whenever you do make the jump.

I would do this
upgrade ram to 16
replace HDD with 240 SSD
replace DVD player with 1tb WD blue HDD (it will be a lot faster than the old drive)

Going to update 16gb ram and a 480gb ssd drive. Planning to take out the cd drive and leave the slot for future hd installation.

Thanks guys!!