Couple of 13" 2012 MBP questions

[DinkThifferent]

Hi!

Bought a second hand Mid-2012 13" 2,5Ghz Macbook Pro (non retina) yesterday, to play around with since an Apple laptop is the only Apple product I did not have yet 🤪. It won't be my primary Apple device, just to play with, watch DVD's on and play some 32bit games that I dearly missed after upgrading my iMac to Catalina.

The machine is in very good shape given its age and it runs High Sierra okay, but not great. It currently pains itself on 4GB of RAM but tomorrow I am going to upgrade it to 8GB (2x4GB) to unleash more of its potential. I know unofficially the MBP supports 16GB but i'm a bit hesitant to do something that's not officially supported (I mean, why would Apple not officially allow it if it wouldn't give any problems?)

After I bought the MBP I did the hardware check by booting up while pressing the CMD+ D combination and the checks came out clear. So far so good.

Now I did a Disk Utility check tonight and even though the 'First Aid' test came assumably out okay (I saw a "✅Done" and no warnings) but something struck me when I clicked on 'Info'.

Halfway down Attachment 1 you see
"Can be verified - Yes"
"Can be repaired - No"

Question 1: Does that mean my HDD is broken or am I seeing ghosts? Because when I do the same check on my new 2019 iMac i see "can be repaired - yes". The only difference between the iMac and the Macbook is that the iMac has a Fusion Drive and the Macbook a 'old fashioned' harddrive.

Question 2: I did a Blackmagic Disk Speed Test (free app from App Store) and it gave me +/- 100 to 110 mb write and 95-100mb read. According to System Report it is a WDC WD5000LPVX-22V0TT0 harddrive. Are those normal read/write speeds for a 5400 rpm drive? (screenshot 2). I know a SSD is much faster, but I've invested in RAM first and perhaps a battery second... which brings me to:

Question 3: When I started the MBP the first time when i got home I noticed the "⚠Service Battery" warning in the power menu. It had 499 charging cycles according to the MacOS System Report. After reinstalling High Sierra ( Boot up with CMD + R -> format disk with disk utility -> reinstall high sierra) I also reset the PRAM and SNC and suddenly the "⚠Service Battery" warning disappeared and the battery health switched back to status "Normal". Coconut battery (screenshot 3) says my MBP has 72% battery health left. I have used the MBP unplugged and even though it doesn't last as long as a brand new MBP (naturally) i doesn't appear to have a battery defect, what I could tell after 24 hours of use of course: it doesn't shut down unexpectedly or drains dramatically fast. Should I replace the battery anyway or just leave it as it is, dealing with a shortened but not dramatically reduced battery time? The reason I am a bit hesitant to replace the battery is because of the amount of HORRIBLE batteries that are floating around online. So I'd rather have an original Apple battery that shows its age than to turn my Macbook into a Galaxy Note 7.

Bonus Question 4: This is more MacOS related. (Moderators: If you believe this question doesn't belong here I will move it to the MacOS part of the forum)
I just can't get Mac Mail and Calendar to work and I seriously don't know why. After reinstalling MacOS (High Sierra!) I entered my iCloud credentials and I got a notification to sign in to my Google Account too. So I signed in, successfully entered the 2-step verification code I received and then nothing happened. In mail the status of my account is stuck on "Checking" (see screenshot 4) and in Calendar my whole Google Account is not even visible, it says 'Google' twice but nothing underneath it (screenshot 5) where it should show my gmail address. I have removed my Google Account again and re-added it, deleted cache, rebooted ten times but nothing seems to work. And it's all working perfectly on my iPhone, iPad and also my iMac. I followed the same steps on my MBP as I did on my iMac when I got it but for some reason i just can't get it to work now. To add to the weirdness: my contacts in the Contacts app DO sync! Just not the appointments and mail. Also my iCloud tabs don't work in Safari, but could that be an OS incompatibility? Catalina vs High Sierra vs iOS 13?


If you can't find a direct cause or solution for Question 4 I will upgrade to Mojave after the RAM upgrade and then do a disk wipe/reinstall since I haven't put anything special on the MBP yet (aside from letting it synch my 14.000 pictures in the Photo's app 😅). I will hope that will fix it.

Thank you for reading all of my drama and thanks even more if you want to take time to answer (some of) them! Here's a beer: 🍺

 

[matram]

Q3: 80% is the limit when the battery should be replaced. You cleared the service indicator with the rest but it will come back on.

 

[justashooter]

I have this very same MacBook Pro (actually I have 2 of them), I am writing this on one of them. Your 8 gigs of ram should be sufficient for general use, mine is used for Photoshop editing and some video editing so it has had 16 gigs of ram for a long time and it runs great. No issues.

I can't answer your question about the hard drive, but since it is 7 years old (Coconut battery says your computer was built in 2013) a new drive is probably a good idea. The read/write speeds you post are normal for a platter drive. I would replace the hard drive with a SSD and you will love the speed of this computer. I put a 500gb Samsung 850 EVO in one of mine about 5 years ago and it reads/writes at just under 500 MB/s. Boots up in 18 seconds. I have a Crucial MX500 in my second MBP which works great also and it's a little less expensive. It is the best upgrade that I have done to them. My DVD drive quit so I put a second used smaller SSD, that I got cheap on ebay, in its place.

I wouldn't worry about the battery if it hasn't swollen and you don't get any more warnings. It probably sat for a time until you bought it. One of mine, which I bought used, has 304 cycles and 76% health. The other, which I bought new, has 1820 cycles and 83% health.

I can't help you with Q4. But I will say Mojave runs great on my 2 MBP's.

 

[DinkThifferent]

I have this very same MacBook Pro (actually I have 2 of them), I am writing this on one of them. Your 8 gigs of ram should be sufficient for general use, mine is used for Photoshop editing and some video editing so it has had 16 gigs of ram for a long time and it runs great. No issues.

Awesome! Thanks so much for your reply. It's a great machine, beautiful design and an AMAZING keyboard (seriously, how could they replace this typing-icon with that awful butterfly keyboard?!). Honestly, I now prefer typing on the MBP over typing on the keyboard that came with my iMac. Just after 48 hours of use.
I feel like a total engineer after I upgraded the memory from 4 to 8 gigs this afternoon. Already a huge performance difference. I'm so glad I bought this upgradable MBP instead of the Macbook Air I saw with just 4GB's non-upgradable RAM. I'm not gonna use this MBP for heavy apps like the ones you described. It's just a hobby Mac, for YouTube, DVD's, Music, writing and games. And if i'd ever wanted to edit video, I think i will prefer the Retina 5K screen of my iMac over that non-retina 13 inch display anyway 😜

I would replace the hard drive with a SSD and you will love the speed of this computer. I have a Crucial MX500 in my second MBP which works great

I've been looking into this SSD but I read that folks got issues with their MBP's after switching from a HDD to a SSD because of the amount of power it uses and that the SATA connecter cable between the motherboard and the SSD could not handle it, resulting in crashes? But you're saying it didn't do any harm to yours? Prices here are approximately 50 euro (including tax) for 250GB or 70 for 500GB.

I wouldn't worry about the battery if it hasn't swollen and you don't get any more warnings.

The battery looked totally normal when i placed the RAM this afternoon. Not swollen, dented or oddly shaped. Aside from a bit of dust it looked brand new. Tonight I charged the battery to 100% and am using it now for my normal evening use of browsing the web, some youtube video's and mail to see how long the battery lasts and it's currently at 33% after 3 hours and 15 minutes. A 4 to 4,5 hour light/normal usage seems absolutely doable and reasonable.

I'm gonna upgrade to Mojave tomorrow (and if necessary a clean install of it afterwards) cause i just can't seem to find a fix for this crazy mail/calendar/icloud tabs issue. It's so weird! Even Handoff works when I open mail on my iPhone, yet nothing happens when I open mail on the MBP. I've tried everything, googled it for two days straight and tried every solution i could find but it's not working. As long as it's working on my main Mac and iPhone/iPad I'm not to worried about it.

 

[justashooter]

It's a great machine, beautiful design and an AMAZING keyboard (seriously, how could they replace this typing-icon with that awful butterfly keyboard?!).

The keyboard is one of the reasons I have kept this MBP. I really hate the butteryfly keyboard. You might as well type on a touch display. And the new keyboards are not much better, in my opinion.

And if i'd ever wanted to edit video, I think i will prefer the Retina 5K screen of my iMac over that non-retina 13 inch display anyway

A fair amount of my work is done remotely but at home I have an ASUS PB258Q 2560x1440 monitor that is 100% sRGB / 73% Adobe RGB. I am very pleased with it.

I've been looking into this SSD but I read that folks got issues with their MBP's after switching from a HDD to a SSD because of the amount of power it uses and that the SATA connecter cable between the motherboard and the SSD could not handle it, resulting in crashes? But you're saying it didn't do any harm to yours? Prices here are approximately 50 euro (including tax) for 250GB or 70 for 500GB.

I replace my hard drive with an SSD and have no problems. I also replaced my broken DVD with a SATA 2 SSD that I bought cheap on ebay and have no problems. The problems I have had, and it is pretty well documented if you do a search, is that the SATA cable to the hard drive fails. Apparently it is quite thin and rubs on the underside of the MBP (under where your left hand rests) and causes a failure and must be replaced. I have replace mine twice, first time it still had a hard drive in it and the second time after I had put a SSD in it. The second time I covered the aluminum where the flat cable lays with a layer of packing tape so it would not rub against the rough aluminum. The interior aluminum is not finished as smooth as the exterior.

The battery swelling usually pushes on the track pad, making it hard to click.

Other World Computing has a video tutorial on how to replace the sata cable here

 

[KPOM]

The battery looked totally normal when i placed the RAM this afternoon. Not swollen, dented or oddly shaped. Aside from a bit of dust it looked brand new. Tonight I charged the battery to 100% and am using it now for my normal evening use of browsing the web, some youtube video's and mail to see how long the battery lasts and it's currently at 33% after 3 hours and 15 minutes. A 4 to 4,5 hour light/normal usage seems absolutely doable and reasonable.

I'm gonna upgrade to Mojave tomorrow (and if necessary a clean install of it afterwards) cause i just can't seem to find a fix for this crazy mail/calendar/icloud tabs issue. It's so weird! Even Handoff works when I open mail on my iPhone, yet nothing happens when I open mail on the MBP. I've tried everything, googled it for two days straight and tried every solution i could find but it's not working. As long as it's working on my main Mac and iPhone/iPad I'm not to worried about it.

I’d suggest getting the battery replaced. Note that the 2012 MacBook Pro becomes “obsolete” at the end of June (standard for any Apple product that has been discontinued for more than 7 years). That means that Apple will no longer supply the battery to its stores or authorized service centers. It’s possible the service centers will have a supply for longer, but it will be hit-or-miss. But as long as you get it in before the end of the month, an authorized service center can obtain a genuine Apple battery for it.

 

[DinkThifferent]

I’d suggest getting the battery replaced. Note that the 2012 MacBook Pro becomes “obsolete” at the end of June (standard for any Apple product that has been discontinued for more than 7 years). It’s possible the service centers will have a supply for longer, but it will be hit-or-miss.

Thanks for the advice about the battery and ssd. I will absolutely consider it! Unfortunately the Apple Store here is still closed due to the corona crisis. And other repairshops are asking astronomical sums (300 euro?!?!) to replace it, so that's definitely not worth it.
But i saw you can fix it yourself, I will search some dutch forums to see which batteries my fellow countrymen have used to service their MBP.

Update: I've discovered that iFixit also has an EU shop! I thought they only shipped in the USA. I really like them, since they dare to challenge the big guys in our right to repair. Even though the battery is slightly more expensive, I know that they deliver good quality. Better to spent 20 euros extra, than to ruin my MBP with a bad battery! Ordered it immediately (with the screwdrivers included) and gonna do it myself. 💪

The battery swelling usually pushes on the track pad, making it hard to click.

The trackpad clicks normally. I clicked everywhere firmly and felt nothing strange or something pushing against it except for the upmost left and right corner but i think that's normal? Or should the entire trackpad, 100% of it, be clickable?

 

[servenvolley]

I’d suggest getting the battery replaced. Note that the 2012 MacBook Pro becomes “obsolete” at the end of June (standard for any Apple product that has been discontinued for more than 7 years). That means that Apple will no longer supply the battery to its stores or authorized service centers. It’s possible the service centers will have a supply for longer, but it will be hit-or-miss. But as long as you get it in before the end of the month, an authorized service center can obtain a genuine Apple battery for it.

I think it's from the last year of sales for the model. Which in this case the 2012cMBP was last sold in 2016. So it has a few more good years left with updates.

 

[KPOM]

I think it's from the last year of sales for the model. Which in this case the 2012cMBP was last sold in 2016. So it has a few more good years left with updates.

True. They did keep the 2012 13” around until 2016. The 15” is going “obsolete” soon.

Apple's First MacBook Pro With a Retina Display Will Become 'Obsolete' in 30 Days

If you are still hanging on to a Mid 2012 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, and require a new battery or other repairs, be sure...

www.macrumors.com

[automerge]1591276075[/automerge]

Thanks for the advice about the battery and ssd. I will absolutely consider it! Unfortunately the Apple Store here is still closed due to the corona crisis. And other repairshops are asking astronomical sums (300 euro?!?!) to replace it, so that's definitely not worth it.
But i saw you can fix it yourself, I will search some dutch forums to see which batteries my fellow countrymen have used to service their MBP.

Update: I've discovered that iFixit also has an EU shop! I thought they only shipped in the USA. I really like them, since they dare to challenge the big guys in our right to repair. Even though the battery is slightly more expensive, I know that they deliver good quality. Better to spent 20 euros extra, than to ruin my MBP with a bad battery! Ordered it immediately (with the screwdrivers included) and gonna do it myself. 💪



The trackpad clicks normally. I clicked everywhere firmly and felt nothing strange or something pushing against it except for the upmost left and right corner but i think that's normal? Or should the entire trackpad, 100% of it, be clickable?

See the clarification above. Apparently it’s only the 15” that is going “obsolete” soon since they kept selling the 13” until 2016. So it won’t go obsolete for another 3 years.

 

[justashooter]

The 2012 MacBook Pro goes vintage in 2021 and will go obsolete in 2023.

The trackpad clicks normally. I clicked everywhere firmly and felt nothing strange or something pushing against it except for the upmost left and right corner but i think that's normal? Or should the entire trackpad, 100% of it, be clickable?

I only meant along the bottom where you normally click the trackpad. When the battery starts to swell it pushes against the trackpad and you will feel resistance to clicking the track pad, it will feel mushy, etc.

A note about batteries, I like to exercise them regualarly, which means to let them die down until you get the low battery warning (around 7% charge remaining) at least once a week. I think that keeps them in the best shape.

 

[DinkThifferent]

I only meant along the bottom where you normally click the trackpad. When the battery starts to swell it pushes against the trackpad and you will feel resistance to clicking the track pad, it will feel mushy, etc.

A note about batteries, I like to exercise them regualarly, which means to let them die down until you get the low battery warning (around 7% charge remaining) at least once a week. I think that keeps them in the best shape.

oh yes, than the trackpad still clicks absolutely normally! Yay.
Well, I’m gonna place a new battery anyway, it didn’t give that “⚠ service battery” warning for nothing before I reset it and after 500 cycles and 7 years it’s time for a fresh battery. If I give my iPhone a new one after two years than after 7 years it’s overdue haha!

for now I will keep the original HDD, cause otherwise the upgrades are going to be a bit too expensive to do all at once and for what I wanna do with it it’s okay. SSD’s aren’t going anywhere so that can always be upgraded at a later stadium.

thanks a lot guys! Really appreciate your tips and advice. After installing the new battery I will follow the OWC video tips of letting the new battery drain completely, recharge it completely and then drain it again before I will start using it like I want to.

 

[Camarillo Brillo]

Hi!

Bought a second hand Mid-2012 13" 2,5Ghz Macbook Pro (non retina) yesterday, to play around with since an Apple laptop is the only Apple product I did not have yet 🤪. It won't be my primary Apple device, just to play with, watch DVD's on and play some 32bit games that I dearly missed after upgrading my iMac to Catalina.

The machine is in very good shape given its age and it runs High Sierra okay, but not great. It currently pains itself on 4GB of RAM but tomorrow I am going to upgrade it to 8GB (2x4GB) to unleash more of its potential. I know unofficially the MBP supports 16GB but i'm a bit hesitant to do something that's not officially supported (I mean, why would Apple not officially allow it if it wouldn't give any problems?)

After I bought the MBP I did the hardware check by booting up while pressing the CMD+ D combination and the checks came out clear. So far so good.

Now I did a Disk Utility check tonight and even though the 'First Aid' test came assumably out okay (I saw a "✅Done" and no warnings) but something struck me when I clicked on 'Info'.

Halfway down Attachment 1 you see
"Can be verified - Yes"
"Can be repaired - No"

Question 1: Does that mean my HDD is broken or am I seeing ghosts? Because when I do the same check on my new 2019 iMac i see "can be repaired - yes". The only difference between the iMac and the Macbook is that the iMac has a Fusion Drive and the Macbook a 'old fashioned' harddrive.

Question 2: I did a Blackmagic Disk Speed Test (free app from App Store) and it gave me +/- 100 to 110 mb write and 95-100mb read. According to System Report it is a WDC WD5000LPVX-22V0TT0 harddrive. Are those normal read/write speeds for a 5400 rpm drive? (screenshot 2). I know a SSD is much faster, but I've invested in RAM first and perhaps a battery second... which brings me to:

Question 3: When I started the MBP the first time when i got home I noticed the "⚠Service Battery" warning in the power menu. It had 499 charging cycles according to the MacOS System Report. After reinstalling High Sierra ( Boot up with CMD + R -> format disk with disk utility -> reinstall high sierra) I also reset the PRAM and SNC and suddenly the "⚠Service Battery" warning disappeared and the battery health switched back to status "Normal". Coconut battery (screenshot 3) says my MBP has 72% battery health left. I have used the MBP unplugged and even though it doesn't last as long as a brand new MBP (naturally) i doesn't appear to have a battery defect, what I could tell after 24 hours of use of course: it doesn't shut down unexpectedly or drains dramatically fast. Should I replace the battery anyway or just leave it as it is, dealing with a shortened but not dramatically reduced battery time? The reason I am a bit hesitant to replace the battery is because of the amount of HORRIBLE batteries that are floating around online. So I'd rather have an original Apple battery that shows its age than to turn my Macbook into a Galaxy Note 7.

Bonus Question 4: This is more MacOS related. (Moderators: If you believe this question doesn't belong here I will move it to the MacOS part of the forum)
I just can't get Mac Mail and Calendar to work and I seriously don't know why. After reinstalling MacOS (High Sierra!) I entered my iCloud credentials and I got a notification to sign in to my Google Account too. So I signed in, successfully entered the 2-step verification code I received and then nothing happened. In mail the status of my account is stuck on "Checking" (see screenshot 4) and in Calendar my whole Google Account is not even visible, it says 'Google' twice but nothing underneath it (screenshot 5) where it should show my gmail address. I have removed my Google Account again and re-added it, deleted cache, rebooted ten times but nothing seems to work. And it's all working perfectly on my iPhone, iPad and also my iMac. I followed the same steps on my MBP as I did on my iMac when I got it but for some reason i just can't get it to work now. To add to the weirdness: my contacts in the Contacts app DO sync! Just not the appointments and mail. Also my iCloud tabs don't work in Safari, but could that be an OS incompatibility? Catalina vs High Sierra vs iOS 13?


If you can't find a direct cause or solution for Question 4 I will upgrade to Mojave after the RAM upgrade and then do a disk wipe/reinstall since I haven't put anything special on the MBP yet (aside from letting it synch my 14.000 pictures in the Photo's app 😅). I will hope that will fix it.

Thank you for reading all of my drama and thanks even more if you want to take time to answer (some of) them! Here's a beer: 🍺

I put 16g in my 2011 13" and it works great