RAM Upgrade for Mid-2010 MacBook Pro?

Question

I have a mid-2010 15 inchMacBook Pro with 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 4 GB of RAM. I've put OSX Mavericks on it, and it's painfully slow. I reaize it was probably a mistake to upgrade to Mavericks on an older machine. I'm too lazy to roll back the operating system but was wondering if upgrading the RAM might help. Appreciate thoughts on this. Also, how much RAM can go into this machine?

Answer 1

melophage has a 2010.  so i would think that he's had some experience. 
I have a 2011 MBP so my specs are probably different, however, mine was set max at 8g.  I did some researching and found that my particular model can accept 16g.  some could not, and there was a lot of anxiety that I had, in making that jump LOL.  But like whywutt, I went to crucial and got their confirmation on my model.  I got the type they indicated, which abrody is very adept, if you get it wrong, it can cause complications. 
further some did and it didn't work.  and it may not work for your model.  but doing the research is what had me going, dipping into some forums, doing some reading.  not relying on just a post.  going to crucial, making the double checks, helped me correct a potential error I almost made during ordering. 
i broke a sweat putting them in and powering up.  its worked.  and i had a few little glitchy things here and there.  but with some updates, some recognition of the memory heavies.  my basic issue is rising heat.  but for regular programs, i can use the machine with similar speed to my thought process, which is very scary.  lol
however, i rock with 16g.  LOL. I wouldn't want to gloat if you cannot upgrade to 16g  but if you couldn't, and you really want maverick, popping up to a late 2011 might be an upgrade choice, since there's hard cut offs by year on older models, which I absolutely despise that issue with manufacturers.  but the 2011 has graphics, like others above say.  so really part is the memory.  the other part is graphics.  duo to quad etc. etc. 
but do more asking.  search on your unit.  see what your options are.  and you are doing that.  that's a great step. 
i prefer maverick, hate the name, lost some things that I loved.  but overall, iOS compatibility.....
and you know on my older mac, i have a 2009/2010 white case, and yah, it didn't reach the speeds and processing that I personally required, and always had glitches, and funky electronic cul-de-sacs in working the machine.  mainly when you start wanting to do things like run parellels and windows, or you have a project and you need this plus that, but you are misisng a component.  i don't have those issues now.  not nearly as much LOL. 
but I lost all my old adobe apps.  adobe totally cut me off.  not interested in moving forward with adobe for the buy in and live comfortably without it. 
so there are some things that i mull through and remember, when I was in your chair, making similar comparisons in what to do and how to do it, and modifying my machine.  i upgraded.  i'm glad i made the jump.  but if you can't, there's probably some work arounds to assist you living with what you have and that's not a bad thing.  i did want to live with what I had. anyways.  good luck.