Worthwhile computer upgrades

[Chris Dodkin]

I drooled at the new MacBook specs yesterday, but I'm not in a position to drop the cash for one - so have been looking at speeding up my existing machine.

Since installing CS6 and NIK Silver FX Pro - it's been a little sluggish

Two options came to mind:

Boost the RAM - an easy upgrade with industry standard memory - Photoshop etc loves more RAM!

Replace the hard drive with a solid state drive (SSD) - the new MacBooks have SSDs, as does the MacBook Air - they are super fast and use less power.

RAM is 'cheap' these days, and the max for my laptop is 8GB in two 4GB cards - checked around and Amazon was as cheap as anywhere for a certified brand with good reviews. Total cost was $59.95 for 8GB, so about 40 quid.

SSD's have been expensive for a while now, but have recently dropped in price as more products have been released, and volume sales have grown. I had been watching a Crucial 512 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive on Amazon for a while, which would be a direct swap for my existing 512 GB HD, but was $699!

Last week it fell to $399 - so I pounced. (260 quid)

I also needed a USB cable to connect the new SSD to the computer while copying data from the original HD - there was one by Apricorn for $19. (Came with free PC disk copy software and a link to free Mac disk copy software)


Install was easy - connected the SSD to the Mac with the cable - formatted the SSD as a new drive.

Downloaded the free application to duplicate my Mac HD over to the SSD - It was easy to set up the copying, and I left it over night to duplicate - took 4.5 hrs.

MacBook back plate is secured by small crosshead screws, just make sure you remember which goes where - they are not all the same!

HD is lower right corner - memory is the blue card in the middle.

Memory clips in/out with some plastic clips to hold it in place - just make sure it's seated properly.

HD has a black clamp top and bottom - just remove the top one with two crosshead screws and lift out the old HD. Unplug the drive connector.

The old HD has studs on the side to lock it into the clamps - transplant them to the SSD and re-fit the drive connector and the clamp.

Clean the fans - replace the rear plate, and power on.

One more thing to do - SSDs need some software housekeeping, called TRIM, and this needs to be enabled in the operating system. This keeps deleted space / free space clear etc.

On the Mac, I used a free app called Trim Enabler: Trim Enabler

Ran the App - set TRIM to keep tabs on the free space on the SSD - and then rebooted to engage it.

Result: WOW! It's fast - it's like a new machine - night and day speed increase for apps, accessing files, browsing the web etc etc.

Should be lower battery use as well - time will tell.

Well worth while - and way cheaper than a new machine!


Note - when ever you update OSX, you'll need to re-run the Trim Updater app to switch trim back on.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

You've got the job. We'll all send you our laptops. Mine first, please...

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks for this Chris. My 17" MBP is fine but my 15" (pre-unibody) MBP could be a bit quicker. I put a new HDD in about 18 months ago mainly for space and that made things faster (but not cooler!). I'm also using 6GB ram (which it is not supposed to take, but actually works fine - but not 8GB). I had a few problems with early SSDs (premature failure) and so have been wary and went with an HDD on the 27" iMac. However, having read this, I'm tempted to give one a go in my old workhorse MBP. I'm still running Show Leopard after reading about a few issues with older MBPs and this might be an opportunity to make the switch and see how it works. This is something I need to look at as only one of our machines is on Lion (a new Mac Mini). There are 3 unibody MBPs, my old MBP, a 21" iMac, a 27" iMac, a Mac Pro and a Mac Mini Server all running Snow Leopard. Those that are used for imaging are now running LR4, PS CS6 and the latest Nik filters. But I have few older pieces of software I'm a bit uncertain about. Decisions, decisions!!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Another tweak to add - the MacBooks have a 'sudden drop' sensor in them, to detect if the computer is dropped, parking the HD heads to try and save the disk in case of impact.

With an SSD, this is no longer required.

You can go in at terminal level and disable this feature - instructions here: Apple Portables: About the Sudden Motion Sensor

- - - Updated - - -

You've got the job. We'll all send you our laptops. Mine first, please...

IM'd you my PayPal account Rob...

 

[Lesley Jones]

Hmmm... we really need to do something to our old PC. I have CS5, plus Nik Color and Silver Efex. Some of my images get very large indeed and it's forever falling over. I have to save in between each step just in case. I don't think my husband quite appreciates the problem. It has 3 GB at the moment. Does anyone know if there is anything I can do? I can get more information if necessary

 

[adrian jordin]

If you're running windows XP then 3Gb is pretty much your limit as far as memory goes.
But it should be enough to run photoshop. The rest of the system may need tuning.
Without getting hands on it its difficult to know what might be limiting it...old processor, too little space for the pageing file...

 

[Austin O'Hara]

Great post Chris.
You have got me hooked.
Just one question: How does one make certain that the 2.5 " drive will be compatible with my current setup.
My Macbook is about 4 years old.
It has a max of 2GB RAM which I upgraded.
I noticed on Amazon one person complained that the SSD was not compatible with Lion OS.
I have Tiger.

- - - Updated - - -

.. I'm also using 6GB ram (which it is not supposed to take, but actually works fine - but not 8GB).

Pete.
Would it be possible for me to upgrade to 6Gb for a bog standard MacBook which came with only 1Gb and I upgraded to 2Gb?

 

[Lesley Jones]

If you're running windows XP then 3Gb is pretty much your limit as far as memory goes.
But it should be enough to run photoshop. The rest of the system may need tuning.
Without getting hands on it its difficult to know what might be limiting it...old processor, too little space for the pageing file...

Cheers Adrian! It's Windows Vista - does that make any difference?

 

[adrian jordin]

Cheers Adrian! It's Windows Vista - does that make any difference?

Possibly, if it is a 64bit version then it will cope with more than 3 GB of memory.
I still wonder why its not running better on 3GB, however..

When you say "very large files"... just how large?
Do you have a fair amount of free space on your hard drive?

 

[Lesley Jones]

Um... how big are people's files generally? Since I started working in 16 bit and with a non-destructive work flow, then an image from the Sony can get to around 350 Mb. That may sound huge, but just calling the background layer a smart object instantly makes it around 275 Mb with nothing else added. The vintage look I did the other day for this forum was the first scanned negative using the same work flow and that was around 420 Mb. I'm not sure how much free space is left on the PC. All my images are on an external hard drive (400 Gb I think) and that isn't yet half full.

I should really keep Bridge closed when I'm working in Photoshop. If I forget, then it falls over much earlier. I get a lot of display problems too - so effects already on adjustment layers disappear if I do pixel changes in the PSB file. Sometimes 90% of the image disappears and I'm left with a tiny block in one corner. I'm getting used to the quirks, but I do worry that when I go back to scanning in a few weeks something is going to go on strike

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Great post Chris.
You have got me hooked.
Just one question: How does one make certain that the 2.5 " drive will be compatible with my current setup.
My Macbook is about 4 years old.
It has a max of 2GB RAM which I upgraded.
I noticed on Amazon one person complained that the SSD was not compatible with Lion OS.
I have Tiger.

- - - Updated - - -


Pete.
Would it be possible for me to upgrade to 6Gb for a bog standard MacBook which came with only 1Gb and I upgraded to 2Gb?

Austin - quick way to check, go to the Crucial website here: Crucial Solid-State Drives - Hard Drive replacement for notebook and netbook

You'll see a drop-down option in the center of the blue area where you can check by manufacturer, model, version and it will tell you then if your Macbook can take the new drive.

You can then do the same for Memory here: SDRAM, DDR2 and DDR RAM memory upgrades from Crucial.com

Go through and tell it which model you have and it will tell you what's possible for RAM.

 

[adrian jordin]

Lesley, those files are huge....!

a 10Mp RAW devloped to a 16 bit tif is only 60Mb on my machine.
If I open that in PScs5, convert to a smart object, add a filter and an adjustment layer, then open bridge I end up running at about 2GB of memory, so your files will easily hit the maximum memory you have.

 

[Lesley Jones]

I thought they might be a tad on the large side. I was going to start a thread called "How big are yours?", but I thought better of it!

The number of smart filters makes almost no difference - literally just tens of kbs. It's converting to a smart object that does the real damage. Actually... you want to see the size increase if you use the Photokit sharpener. I can't see well enough to sharpen, so I remove it in RAW and use the capture sharpen, but that does get merged down because of the size.

What I was doing before I got my head around the adjustment layers was duplicating a pixel layer at any significant change. A bit clumsy, but at least I didn't have to go back to square one. Those were 8 bit files though and generally stayed under 200 Mb. The silly thing is that I don't do a huge amount of post processing. A neutral grad here, a darken/lighten there and some tonal contrast.

Thank you very much for telling me how much memory is being used. I'll keep Bridge closed when I'm working from now on...

 

[Austin O'Hara]

Austin - quick way to check, go to the Crucial website here: Crucial Solid-State Drives - Hard Drive replacement for notebook and netbook

Cheers Chris.
Austin