How much time left for my MacBook Pro 2012 Retina

[Komodo271]

Hello,

I just spent about 250$ to change the battery in my MacBook Pro mid-2012 Retina display and I'm wondering how much years my laptop will last. I'm using this laptop since 2012 and I handle it with care everyday. Is someone knows if MacBook Pro usually last several years?

Thanks

 

[Tom2893]

Did your battery suddenly die? I have a non-retina June 2012 MBP 13" and I haven't replaced anything. Battery seems to still be fine and everything else. Maybe a little slow at times with the 4GB ram but not too bad. Thinking about selling it and putting the money towards the new MBP with touchbar.

 

[chatbr]

I think that depends more on your own needs than anything else.
I own the same rMBP as you do, and I love to work on it everyday. It runs everything I need flawlessly and fortunately for me I had no reason to replace the battery as of yet, but that depends on your particular use as well.
I dont plan on replacing this MBP anytime soon, and have no reason to do so. Plus, the current rMBPs would hurt my workflow since I need the F keys, and going with the Touchbar would slow me down heavily. So even if I do consider an upgrade, would be to a 2015-ish version.
In a nutshell, I dont think this Macbook needs to be replaced, the newer versions dont bring anything astonishing new to my own everyday use, and I dont think it will stop receiving OS updates anytime soon either.

 

[Fishrrman]

I bought a MacBook Pro 13" in April 2010 and retired it in December 2016, still running fine. In fact, it ran "better than new" because I had installed an SSD into it. It still runs, I take it out of the box every other week to refresh the battery.

I believe if someone took good care of a MBPro it could yield 6-7 years of service, easily.

A friend still uses his white plastic "clamshell" iBook, now that's going back some years!

 

[ZapNZs]

A service life of 5 years on a MacBook Pro (with the exception of problematic models) is pretty common. 7-10 years isn't even all that unusual.

The bigger question may be whether or not the computer will remain technically relevant for the tasks you wish to do. If you have a 13-inch, you have a capable dual core processor that is still plenty capable of performing most tasks. If you have a 15-inch, you have a very capable quad core processor that is faster than many brand new laptops being sold today. So the biggest limiting factor may be the computer's RAM (since it is non-upgradable), or the hard drive size.

Further, Apple will eventually drop OS support for the 2012s. However, it should be supported for at least the next several versions of OS X, so I don't think this would be an issue for at least several years.

 

[Komodo271]

Did your battery suddenly die? I have a non-retina June 2012 MBP 13" and I haven't replaced anything. Battery seems to still be fine and everything else. Maybe a little slow at times with the 4GB ram but not too bad. Thinking about selling it and putting the money towards the new MBP with touchbar.

My battery last about 2 to 3 hours depending on what I do. I decided to change it.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Hello,

I just spent about 250$ to change the battery in my MacBook Pro mid-2012 Retina display and I'm wondering how much years my laptop will last. I'm using this laptop since 2012 and I handle it with care everyday. Is someone knows if MacBook Pro usually last several years?

Thanks

Although MAC's have a good reputation there is no supporting evidence that they last any longer than any other premium device, it's all a bit of a gamble, I hope you stay lucky, but the trouble may be after parting with $250 your more than likely to repair again, should another component fail.

If you live in the US your likely to get a reasonable price now if you sell it, elsewhere its likely it was not worth the repair in the first instance other than for a secondary device or a hand me down.

 

[Superspeed500]

I have a 2010 MBP 15 inch. Never changed batery. Only things that I have changed is the hard drive and charger. I use my Mac for school and I have no problems with batery capacity. The machine is getting slower, but it does what I need it to do.

I would say that the lifetime you get from your Mac depends on how you use it and where you use it. Proper regular maintance also helps.

 

[SLSWE]

I usually use them for 4 years. I traded my 2012 rMBP for the new MBP, got $800 for it as a trade in so I'm quite satisfied.

 

[leman]

Are you asking us to tell the future? Nobody knows how long your laptop is going to last and nobody can guess for sure. My estimate is that therein higher than 50% probability that it will suffer a hardware failure within the next two years.

 

[Surrat]

The biggest problem on the retina macbook pros is the battery. Its glued into the top case. As far as I know, there are no 3rd party suppliers for top cases, or any rebuilding the top case to replace the battery. I think as long as apple offers the replacement top cases, say, 7 years, there is no reason to think the retina mbp can't last that long if you take care of it and dont have any parts fail due to bad luck.

Once apple stops offering top cases for any retina macbook pro, that might be the end of the line for that computer.

The last macbook pro that had a removable battery was the non-retina 2012 edition 13". Apple sold that one due to demand up to 2016.

 

[AVBeatMan]

I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro and was considering upgrading but in reality I no there's no need to. My previous MacBook Pro lasted around 5 years and this is the timeframe I have in mind. As for the battery, I think you were just unlucky.

 

[leman]

Once apple stops offering top cases for any retina macbook pro, that might be the end of the line for that computer.

Is that very different from the previous models though? At some point there are no official parts. Sure, you can buy counterfeit non-certified batteries, but that is connected with substantial risks as well.

 

[andreyush]

Do you game on it ?

 

[KieranDotW]

I'm still rocking a mid-2012 non-retina MBP. I upgraded to 8GB RAM and an SSD last summer, still works fine for what I do (graphic design, word processing). None of the new Mac models are tempting enough to upgrade right now. I'm hoping to get another year or two out of it. Still the original battery though, not sure how much longer that will last

Honestly if the mac offerings don't improve I might switch to the surface as much as I hate to admit it

 

[Count Blah]

My wife is still using a 2008 15" MBP(8 gigs of RAM and SSD) every day. I lost count on battery replacements.

She wants something more portable, that's the only reason we'll upgrade this year.

I'm on a 2012 15" cMBP(16Gigs of RAM and SSD), and I'm going to keep this one for a long while.

 

[jerryk]

If you have a 13" they sold that model through fall 2016, so parts should not be an issue for awhile. But apple does drop support for models after 6 year or so.

 

[Komodo271]

Do you game on it ?

No, I don't play. I'm using my MBP for listening to music, Facebook, Excel and email. That's all. I'm not rough on my laptop. But thanks for all the replies. It's still doing great and with what I read today, I know I have few years left for my MBP.

 

[AVBeatMan]

No, I don't play. I'm using my MBP for listening to music, Facebook, Excel and email. That's all. I'm not rough on my laptop. But thanks for all the replies. It's still doing great and with what I read today, I know I have few years left for my MBP.

For what it's worth I was in Apple yesterday and enquired about upgrading my 2013 MacBook Pro. I use mine same as you do. The Apple guy said that even the basic MacBook would be sufficient for what we need. When you do decide to upgrade you (and me) might be better looking at the basic macs.

 

[Komodo271]

I'm still rocking a mid-2012 non-retina MBP. I upgraded to 8GB RAM and an SSD last summer, still works fine for what I do (graphic design, word processing). None of the new Mac models are tempting enough to upgrade right now. I'm hoping to get another year or two out of it. Still the original battery though, not sure how much longer that will last

Honestly if the mac offerings don't improve I might switch to the surface as much as I hate to admit it

Interesting... I have to say... I love MBP because of the OS X (now MacOS). So, good luck if someday you switch. As I am writing and thinking about it, I don't think I will be switching soon.

And I think Apple realize that the popularity is decreasing. Some says that is because of Steve Jobs but I think they're right but Apple has a pretty good teams behind each hardware they release. It looks like something stops them to improve hardwares a lot and drops down the price.

Sorry for my english. It's not my native language.

Thanks for your replie.

 

[iKnowMr.Jobs]

I used a MacBook Air that was equally as old ad the OP's Pro until last month and it was a great machine. It may have slowed down just a bit, but not enough to be a hinderance. The only reason I upgraded was because I couldn't fit everything I needed into its paltry 128gb SSD, and I really wanted a Retina Display (less eye strain). I still use the Air as a Windows Machine and it's fine. Say what you will about Apple, but their hardware is built to last.

 

[Trey M]

Hello,

I just spent about 250$ to change the battery in my MacBook Pro mid-2012 Retina display and I'm wondering how much years my laptop will last. I'm using this laptop since 2012 and I handle it with care everyday. Is someone knows if MacBook Pro usually last several years?

Thanks

I think you could get 3, possibly 3+ years more out of your machine. I also have a 2012 rMBP. As someone else said, the processor is still comparable to several midrange models sold today. With a shift of focus into more mobile processors, the CPU industry has stagnated a bit and the innovation isn't what it used to be. With that being said, if you were smart and pulled the trigger on 16GB RAM back then, you still have what amounts to be a perfectly suitable, modern computer in 2017. I also upgraded to a 512GB SSD upgrade from Transcend to help out on my storage space, which anyone with a 2012 model can do.

While computers are certainly prone to failure at some point, if you've treated your machine well I really don't see any reason why it won't last till around the 2020 timeframe. After that much time, I'd say anything could happen. However until that point, I think you can expect your computer to perform similarly to how it performs today. The battery is the only exception but as you said in your post, you've already addressed that issue.