MacOS – the maximum amount of RAM a 2011 MacBook Pro can utilize

macmacbook promacosmemoryupgrade

I know macs can be picky about how much their max memory capacity is, so what is the maximum RAM I can install in my two available memory slots?

Model: Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

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Can I put in 16GB with 8GB in each slot?

According to the Apple support, my specific model can officialy take 8gb, 4 on each slot. But many people say that we can put double the official, is this true?

**EDIT: It works, and I wrote an article about this whole process here **

HELL YEAH!

Best Answer

Yes.You can install and use 16GB of RAM in that machine. There are several discussions in Apple's forum on this subject.

I Have same same model MBP and upgraded two weeks ago. Works great.

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Edit: (as to the comments)

This is the product I have purchased to my mac. Please, before you buy make sure that the memory fit your specific mac model. Apple do have a good webpage of How to identify my mac model.

Here, you can find a similar discussion in iFixit forum

In my original answer I have mentioned SSD. Thanks to @tubedogg clarification, the SSD and RAM are unrelated in this discussion. Yet, when upgrading considering to upgrade the SSD is not a bad idea. Sorry for the bad analogy: it is like replacing parts in your car that will make it runs great, but it takes 15 minutes to start it. For me, I decided to start with RAM. Upgrading the Hard Drive, made it even better.

I didn't see the Mac going over 8MB yet, so I opened every application on my mac just to get to 51%. Since the update it usually runs between 30%-45% of RAM used.

Which brings me to the following conclusion:

  • Can You install 16MB RAM? Yes
  • Do you need it? depends on your usage
  • Why would you still install it? Upgrade once, even if you don't use it right away
  • Should you also upgrade your hard drive? If you have the resources (money, time, transfer method), then yes
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