SSD aside, here’s what you’ll need to fit your new hard drive: Samsung, SanDisk, Crucial, KingSpec, and Transcend are standout brands. You’ll typically find that brand name SSDs rank the highest. See what experts and other users say about SSD performance and reliability. The greater the capacity of an SSD, the more it will benefit Mac’s performance. The former is cheaper and capable of holding more information, but the latter is more reliable.Ĭapacity - Get as much space as you can afford. Memory - MLC (multi-level cell) and SLC (single-level cell) are the two options available. Something in the range of 500MB/s and above is good, although the actual speed will be about a third less than what’s advertised. The higher the speed, the better the performance. Read/write speed - SSDs are rated on their reading and writing speed. To reap the benefits of an SSD, you need a drive that’s up to the task. What to consider when choosing a MacBook Pro SSD

That’s why you’ll have to choose the proper amount of storage when buying a Mac. In newer models, it is soldered onto the motherboard, so it cannot be replaced.

Permission denied errors to files that were previously fineįollowing the steps we provide below, you can upgrade SSD in older Macs only.

Sluggish performance in resource-intensive apps such as Adobe Photoshop.If, however, you’re noticing any of the following issues, an SSD upgrade will most certainly help: That might be the only fix you need (this way, junk that is clogging up your system, such as old files, images, apps, duplicates, and iPhone backups, will be cleared away). If your system feels a bit sluggish, try running CleanMyMac X first to clean away any resource-hogging junk. If you only really use your Mac to browse the web and do some word processing, your current hard drive is probably fine. Do I really need to upgrade my Mac hard drive?įitting a solid state drive in your MacBook Pro is a quick and simple way to boost performance, but an upgrade might not always be needed. It’s also surprisingly easy, even if you don’t know your way around the insides of a Mac. Swapping out your old hard drive for a modern SSD is surprisingly affordable and results in 5X better performance: a reputable 500GB MacBook SSD can be had for around $150, while 1TB options are available for around $300 - both considerably cheaper than a new MacBook. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here’s a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

A1278 hard drive