2012 13.3" MacBook Pro Upgrade!!

[jotygo]

So I'm looking to pick up a used 2012 MacBook Pro and upgrade to a 256+ gig SSD and 16 gig of RAM. Does anyone have any experiences with this and how it went for them, good and bad, and does anyone have any recommendations???

 

[jerryk]

So I'm looking to pick up a used 2012 MacBook Pro and upgrade to a 256+ gig SSD and 16 gig of RAM. Does anyone have any experiences with this and how it went for them, good and bad, and does anyone have any recommendations???

I assume you are talking about a 2012 non-retina MBP. I did that. It worked out well. The system booted in 10-15 seconds or so versus 50 second. Everything launched with one or two bounces.

I used a Samsung 850 Evo drive. I don't remember the brand of memory.

My only concern is that is a pretty old system. So I suggest you compare the price of the 2012 system + upgrades versus a 2013 or 2014 rMBP. The retina screen is quite a bit better and the SSDs in the new units are faster.

 

[Audit13]

With the 2013 retina, stay away from the Sandisk SSDs if possible as they are not as fast as the Samsung.

http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-n...taining-lesser-performing-sandisk-128gb-ssds/

 

[_Kiki_]

With the 2013 retina, stay away from the Sandisk SSDs if possible as they are not as fast as the Samsung.

http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-n...taining-lesser-performing-sandisk-128gb-ssds/

Toshiba is slow too and second thing their SSD dying quite easily in MacBooks (probably overheating)

Samsung SSD M2 (2014 model) for PC also has a bad history

 

[HippyRabbitFish]

I bought a refurb mid-2012 13", and ordered RAM from Amazon and OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 480GB SSD from macsales.com. Youtube videos for the hard drive and RAM videos helped, but I was comfortable opening up the case (OWC furnished tools for the job with the SSD purchase). Simple task for both the RAM and drive swap. I opted for external enclosure, but thinking of buying the adapter to pull out the optical drive to have two internal SSD drives. It turned this 5 year old tank of a machine into a performing workhorse.

For the cost, you can't really get a better MacBook Pro to upgrade, and with integrated graphics, you won't be at risk of the failure that sometimes happens with discrete graphics.

The only issue you might encounter is, if it still has the stock 500GB hard drive, is an issue with the ribbon cable. It was not an issue for me (I bought a refurbished unit), but if you run into the problem of the SSD being slow or not recognized at all, it could be the ribbon cable, which can be bought for $11-$15, probably.

I'm running Sierra on mine, and it does what I need it to do (music production) and does it pretty well. I am a happy camper.

 

[Audit13]

Congratulations on your successful upgrade.

Not sure how much you paid for the owc SSD but good alternatives are the Samsung 850 EVO and 850 Pro.

 

[bensharma]

I just did it this month.

16GB Crucial RAM, 1TB Samsung EVO 850 SSD.

Runs like a dream.

Wanted one final laptop with a DVD drive and an Ethernet port. I'll replace the battery before it goes vintage and keep it running for another five years.

 

[Rhinoevans]

Same here. Remember, they sold brand new 2012 laptops up until last year. But like some one said, do the math on cost and upgrade. If close to a new model, pass. Just remember, upgrading the 2012 way less expensive than paying someone who bought a retina 16G Ram and 500G SSD. Within a couple hundred dollars I would get a newer faster MBP. I love my 2012, but also can't wait to upgrade to a new model. Just afraid that this will last another 3-4 years. Check the battery cycle count. Ballpark is 500 is around 4 years old. That is what mine is. New in Oct 2013.

BTW, retina highly over rated!

 

[_Kiki_]

Samsung SSD are overpriced, Crucial SSD are cheaper and very good, because it's SATA standard, so everything will end about 500MB/s so isn't worth pay premium for only Samsung brand