Chosen Solution
I am in the process of researching to what extent I can upgrade my Apple Refurbished 15” mid 2010 MacBook Pro with Model Identifier 7,1. My question arises because apparently there is no such thing as a 15” 7,1 model. I am guessing the refurbishment of my machine is the cause of this discrepancy. Processor: 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Memory: 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 OSX 10.6.8 I want to upgrade the OS to the most current possible, the RAM (to the highest possible), and the HD to at least a 1 TB SSD. I also need to replace the battery and possibly the trackpad. I understand that 15” mid 2010 MBPs only officially support 8 GB RAM; only the 13” models support 16 GB. How do I determine the official capacity of my machine? When attempting to determine compatibility with an SSD or any other parts, how do I know what will work when my machine falls in between categories? I am only barely computer literate. Is the reason my machine falls between categories because of a difference in the motherboard? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Go here and enter the serial number from the back of your machine to find out exactly what you have: https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup… Apple MacBook Pro “Core 2 Duo” 2.4 13" Mid-2010 Specs Identifiers: Mid-2010 13" - MC374LL/A - MacBookPro7,1 - A1278 - 2351* https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbo… Pre-Installed MacOS:X 10.6.3 (10D2125)Maximum MacOS:X 10.13.x* Standard RAM:4 GBMaximum RAM:16 GB* RAM Type:PC3-8500 DDR3Min. RAM Speed:1066 MHz Details:Supports 1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM.
Serial ATA (3 Gb/s) Use a backward compatible to SATA II drive like the Samsung 860 Replace the hard drive I/R cable with the one from the 2012 if you do indeed have a 13” model.
When you replace your cable, patch the pain points. If you don’t, the new cables always end up failing the same way. I never had an issue with my 17” 2009, but that’s because those things are so heavy you only move them when you have to. This is what I do to protect the cable from the optical drive*: *I’m sure this isn’t needed if you put a optical drive HDD caddy in, but most of these still have the internal optical drive despite the fact they all seem to die in 2-3 years (and as such, a lot of notebooks with a drive that’s dead from day 1 when someone gets it used) - and I’d bet most of them don’t work or have problems with rough insertion/ejection. For mine, electrical tape or thin double sided with a back that stays with the tape will work. I used double sided because I had some on hand.
In addition to this, a patch I didn’t show as I did it after the fact is I put kapton tape over the cable AND on the optical drive. It can’t move and it’s protected, so it gives the cable the best odds of not perpetually failing. The patch @mayer uses (which my fix compliments): He uses electrical tape by the hard drive area (rough chassis milling tends to kill these) and Kapton tape on the optical drive, along with 3M Extreme mounting tape.
