Reddit mentions of Vengeance Performance Memory Kit

Yes, when buying a Mac I generally recommend purchasing RAM and hard drives separately. Apple upgrades are often twice as expensive and what they use is nothing special.

To upgrade a MacBook Pro from 4GB to 8GB RAM is $200 through Apple...or $43 through Amazon.

Plus you can pull the HDD, drop it in an enclosure, and voila, a Time Machine.

There are a few exceptions to my recommendation:

• Current iMac HDD cannot be easily upgraded.
  
• Current MacBook Air HDD cannot be easily upgraded. RAM cannot be upgraded at all.
  
• Pre-2010 Mac Mini HDD and RAM cannot be easily upgraded.

I have an i5 2011 Mini with 8GB and the 6630 video card, and "slow" isn't a word I'd use to describe mine. This is what I put in mine, but 16GB may be better for you since you're running Pro Tools.

SSD was a Samsung 840 EVO SATA III Series MZ-7TELT08W that I bought in October 2014. It works great.

RAM was this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002YUF8ZG?ref=olp_product_details

Installed in 2012.

Adding the ram will definitely improve performance. 4gb isn't enough to run the newer OS well. You'd have to get all new 2x4gb sodimm 1333 Mhz ram since there are only two slots.
Depending on how much money you want to put into it, an SSD will also improve performance greatly. You'll have apps open almost instantly.
You won't see a change in performance with a new battery, but you won't have to keep it plugged in constantly.

After these improvements you'd spend around 200 bucks. For that laptop its definitely worth it, you won't get better performance for that price. Don't expect to be doing major gaming, but you can do quite a bit on it.
You could always sell it. You'd be hard pressed to find something with similar performance with the few hundred bucks you'd make but you could put that towards something better.


SSD $128
RAM $49.99
Battery $59.99

I've used all of these they work well:

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-1333mhz-PC3-10666-204-pin-SODIMM/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482370512&sr=8-1&keywords=2x4gb+1333+mhz+sodimm

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD68/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482370628&sr=1-1&keywords=500gb+ssd

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZGAW95/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Installation:
SSD
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Hard+Drive+Replacement/5119

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAz_u9eL-oc

Battery
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Battery+Replacement/5116

RAM
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+RAM+Replacement/5117

Thanks, thats a great link! I am assuming this memory would do it:

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-1333mhz-PC3-10666-204-pin-CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Your iMac supports up to 16 GB RAM (4 x 4 GB RAM modules). It has 4 RAM slots, meaning 4 RAM modules in total will fit in. A higher total amount than 16 GB RAM won't work due to a limitation in the logic board.

You need RAM that matches the following specification:

PC3-10600 DDR3 1333 MHz, 204-pin

Here are some examples of RAM modules that should work flawlessly in your iMac:

• https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-10600-SODIMM-LAPTOP-MEMORY/dp/B0067GGPXC/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9-1333mhz-PC3-10666-204-pin/dp/B002YUF8ZG/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/OWC-1333MHz-204-Pin-PC3-10600-OWC1333DDR3S16S/dp/B00C758EJK/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-SODIMM-204-Pin-SO-DIMM-PSA316G1333SK/dp/B006BMBUAA/
  
  It doesn't really matter whether you perform the RAM upgrade with 2 x 8 GB RAM modules and leave two RAM slots empty, or if you use 4 x 4 GB RAM modules. Though I will say that with the 4 x 4 GB RAM modules method all RAM slots will be used and the load will be more evenly distributed, though performance gains coming from that shouldn't really show up in real life. I suggest going with the Samsung or Corsair memory from my top two links.
  
  This video shows the RAM upgrade, it is very easy:
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjU_NQh6e1k

No prob! I just hope it's helpful.

I believe that the base level Mini ($599) comes with the 2gb and the mid-level ($799) comes with 4gb. I bought the mid level, but I just bought and installed 8gb of ram courtesy of Amazon for a super cheap $55 ($45 once I get my $10 mail in rebate).

The install process is super easy. Just pop the bottom cover off, no screws required, and swap the memory out. All-in-all it took me like 2 minutes.

All of that having been said, 4gb of ram is fine for the average user. I'm a bit of a power user (large image manipulation via Photoshop, DVD encoding, video games) and I probably didn't need 8gb. I just couldn't pass up the $45 price tag.

Oh and one more thing. If you plan on using Parallels or VMWare to run a virtual Windows environment (really handy for using Windows apps without having to reboot into a bootcamp partition) then I would recommend the 8gb upgrade. Both OSX and the Windows virtual machine will benefit from having that much memory available.

Pretty sure its max 8GB, i ordered mine when i bought the NAS

Corsair 8gb 2x4gb

EDIT: Mine is not a "+", so not sure of the difference between TS-451 and TS-451+

4GB on Board. Looks like a single slot here

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/VPCSA2_VPCSB2_series.pdf page 240ish

DDR3/1333MHz so something like http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-1333mhz-PC3-10666-204-pin-CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9/dp/B002YUF8ZG

this 8 gig ram stick is tempting: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=twister_B0051LSNL6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Hard drive and RAM are likely the issue, though the GPU could be fried.

First I would take it into Apple and make sure there isn't an issue with a major component. As long as nothing (except maybe the battery) is wrong with it, do the following.

-Buy an SSD. EVO 850 from Samsung, $100 for 250GB. Of course you can shop around, but it's one of the best out there. Don't spend extra on the Pro.

-Upgrade RAM. Looking at 8GB of DDR3 1333 MHz. $50
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-1333mhz-PC3-10666-204-pin-SODIMM/dp/B002YUF8ZG

And of course if the battery needs replacing, get it done. $150 max.

So for $300 you've given your computer new life. Save the extra to buy a new machine in 2 years.

If the GPU is gone, you would have to take it to a 3rd party to get the motherboard replaced. This will likely blow your budget, DO NOT REPLACE THE MOTHERBOARD.

My suggestion? Look at Swappa for a 2012-2014 MBP 15". It will be a bit more than your budget but at least you'll get more out of it than you would replacing the motherboard, as you would still need to do other upgrades.

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-1333mhz-PC3-10666-204-pin-SODIMM/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473757439&sr=8-1&keywords=DDR3+SODIMM+laptop

Do you think something like that would be good? Is there anything to check on my laptop to make sure it can handle that much memory/that kind?

8 GB with tons of good reviews here