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Hi guys,
I just upgraded my original mbp early 2011 320GB HDD to a SSD and 16GB RAM, and just due to curiosity, can I actually upgrade graphic card for it, as I've seen apple official store lists the graphic card sales under macbook accessories section.
Thanks in advance.
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Short answer:
No
Long answer:
The problem with upgrading your graphics card is it is soldered to the motherboard. If you were super confident, found the exact same pin arrangement on another graphics card, and were able to desolder the old one and resolder the new one without breaking anything then it would theoretically work. But I don't think its ever been done.
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Thanks. Yea if I don't want it anymore later in the future i would give it a shot.
=== Correction ===
All of the 13" MacBook Pro's use the built-in Intel Graphics engine with in the CPU chip. As such there is no means to upgrade the GPU logic at all.
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Some of the bigger (15" - 17") MacBook Pros had 2 GPUs. The one, low power, soldered to the motherboard, and the second, high power and only activated on demand by certain apps, was on a little extra circuit board. I've read somewhere that on these models, the secondary GPU could be upgraded.
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None of the MacBooks or MacBook Pro's have replaceable CPU's or GPU's (both are soldered directly to the logic board)
I'm thinking you're thinking of the iMac's. The Older 2011 and older models did have a serviceable MXM board for the dedicated GPU's. The newer iMac's no longer offer that (2012 and newer).
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Im running Big Sur on my early 2011 13inch pro i7 with a 500 gb ssd and 16 gigs of ram. I used open core legacy patcher to install big sur and the required patches to get gpu acceleration to work. My computer is running very well and fast. There is noo need to try a gpu upgrade. If you can try to get a new airport card to get airdrop working, i feel as that would be the only other worthwhile hardware upgrade.
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ahhhh i dont think 2011 macbook pros were soldered. thats the 2012 retinas and beyond, making the 2011 upgradeable
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Nope!
All MacBook & MacBook Pro's used soldered CPU's & GPU's (dedicated GPU chip).
The iMac 21.5" & 27" both had serviceable GPU cards (MXM)
A1278 macbook pro can we add new GPU as metal does not support new OS. so i think what is the use of upgrading SSD and ram if it cannot install new softwares?
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im running big sir on my early 2011 13inch pro i7 with a 500 gb ssd and 16 gigs of ram. I used open core legacy patcher to install big sur and the required patches to get gpu acceleration to work. My computer is running very well and fast.
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4 Comments
How did ur upgrade work with the ssd and and ram?? Noticable change? Was it worth it?
by mgmahaffey
I upgraded my 2011 macbook pro 13" to a SSD and 16 gb ram. much noticable difference
by Blaine Dunn
you can put a 2012 motherboard in a 2011 change from i3 to i5
by dustinbk811
you just have to add the 2012 heat sink
by dustinbk811