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iOS

Posted by swiftlover
swiftlover
1,597 Points

Which is better? Changing HDD to SSD or increasing RAM?

I have a MacBook Pro 2012 model with 4GB of RAM and HHD. It's slow and I want to make it fast to use Xcode smoothly . So I have two options now; either change HHD to SSD or to increase RAM to 10 GB. Please tell me which would be a better choice for me.

3 Answers

Christopher Blair
PLUS
Christopher Blair
Courses Plus Student 1,154 Points
Christopher Blair
Christopher Blair
Courses Plus Student 1,154 Points

Hello! Simple answer is a SSD would make the program open faster at startup, but adding more ram would make the program smoother while it is running.

swiftlover
swiftlover
1,597 Points

Thanks .

Victor Ruiz
Victor Ruiz
16,570 Points
Victor Ruiz
Victor Ruiz
16,570 Points

Hi there,

Ram would be the cheapest way to upgrade you computer without that much of a hassle. I usually go to Other World Computing for macs and newegg for pc. Ram will speed up programs drastically, SSD will speed up the loading times of programs and you computer. This is a great option if you find a great deal I'm currently running on a 1TB samsung evo on my mac pro. The difference between the HHD and the SSD is that HHD runs on a disk type memory while the SSD is more dynamic and doesn't require any moving parts to work. If you turn off and turn on you computer it boots up faster than the HHD thats one of the main difference you will notice.

I would start out upgrading the ram because it's the cheapest and fastest to do. Then I would do the SSD because you have to backup your files and this requires more time than the plug and play of adding ram.

Here are some links for your specific mac: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3_1600MHz_SDRAM

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-SATA-Internal-MZ-7TE1T0BW/dp/B00E3W16OU/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1452588487&sr=1-3&keywords=SAMSUNG+850+EVO+2.5&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A6797521011

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA12K2GN1593&cm_re=samsung_evo-_-20-147-374-_-Product

Michael Reining
Michael Reining
10,101 Points
Michael Reining
Michael Reining
10,101 Points

I moved from HHD to SSD two years ago and I would never consider running a computer with HHD again if you can afford it. Since having a faster computer speeds up my productivity I always try to work on the fastest machines possible since the payback when you calculate it over a year is tremendous.

I hope that helps,

Mike