I've just tested my Macbook Pro 17" core i7 2.66Ghz, 2010 model and Core i5 2.53Ghz 15" 2010 Macbook Pro.
If you load Windows 7 onto the MacBook Pro (2010 i5 or i7) with 16GB RAM loaded, Windows 7 will boot OK and be able to see/address the 16GB RAM.Īs far as I can tell, this appears to be an Apple SW limitation of some sort. Its not quite as easy as it is for earlier pre-Unibody MacBook Pro systems, as these later models require a screwdriver, but it still is simple and straightforward OWC Memory 1333MHz DDR3 PC3-10600 240 Pin. If you load Ubuntu 12 onto the MacBook Pro (2010 i5 or i7) with 16GB RAM loaded, Ubuntu will boot OK and be able to see/address the 16GB RAM. The RAM upgrade procedure for the Mid-2009, Mid-2010, Early 2011, Late 2011 and non-Retina Display Mid-2012 MacBook Pro models is fairly easy. A maxmem=2048 will allow the system to boot normally with 16GB RAM loaded however only 2GB RAM will be usable. This would limit the usable RAM to a maximum of 8GB (official Apple Max) however this also will cause a kernel panic during normal boot when 16GB RAM is physically loaded. It is possible to limit Max RAM to 8GB using the command: sudo nvram "-v maxmem=8192". " in safe mode, as opposed to "IntelHD.". Notice that the graphics card is listed as "Nvidia. You will be able to boot into safe mode OK and it will show the 16GB RAM in System Information. 61.2k 14 14 gold badges 139 139 silver badges 184 184 bronze badges. After doing some digging around, it sounds like the limitation has to do with the IntelHD graphics SW that is used by OS X.Ī 2010 i5/i7 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM running MountainLion/Mavericks will kernel panic during normal boot. 15' mid-2010 MacBook Pro models cannot use 16GB RAM 17' mid-2010 MacBook Pro models cannot use 16GB RAM Unfortunately, this means for you the answer is no.
When I open up system information, it does show 16GB of memory. I read that the 16GB upgrade was compatible with this model. I recently purchased and installed the 16GB RAM upgrade for this model from Crucial, BUT I have not noticed much of a difference in performance. I believe there is an EFI limitation in OS X Mountain Lion that will not allow the 2010 i5/i7 Macbook Pro's to be upgraded over 8GB RAM. My sister has an early 2011 model MacBook Pro 13 inch with the 2.3 i5. The type of RAM needed is DDR3 PC3-8500 1066. If you have a 2010 MacBook Pro Core2Duo (13"), then you are in luck and you can upgrade to 16GB RAM. The following table shows that the max RAM supported by your Macbook Pro based off size (mid 2010) is 16GB (officially 8GB).Īny mid-2010 MacBook Pro i5 or i7 is limited to a maximum of 8GB RAM. OWC continously tests the max RAM which apple computers support - which is usually more than Apple officially states.
Note that for all-around computing, the SSD might actually outperform the 8GB memory, since some programs have modest memory needs, but access the drive significantly.(Note: The original post said "No", which was right at the time it was written, but as of February 15th, 2014, the OWC page says that you can install up to 16GB of RAM on mid 2010 MacBooks (2.4GHz).) It Depends. The SSD is also a huge improvement, but having 8GB is a better choice than the SSD for this type of work. The gray bar is the standard Apple configuration- miserably slow performance.įor this workload, 8GB memory is clearly the best first-choice performance optimization.
That’s because the problem size for the diglloydMedium benchmark used here approaches 16GB.
How to get BIG performance gains by upgrading the memory and drives in your MacBook Pro.įocus here is on demanding tasks, such as Adobe Photoshop editing, Lightroom 3 and video. Send Feedback Related: hard drive, how-to, laptop, MacBook, MacBook Pro, memory, Photoshop, RAID, RAID-0, software, SSD, storage