I just bought a unibody mid 2012 15 inch 2.6 GHz i7 in 2020. Is the laptop still worth it?

[azpMD104LL/A]

I bought it for 380 bucks including tax & shipping off eBay. Its got 1500 battery cycles. I plan to put in an SSD & 16GB of Ram. I don't plan to put in a new battery.


Would this laptop still be worth it today? and how long will it last?


I plan to use it for heavy graphic design work, and some light video editing.

 

[profcutter]

I guess it’s worth whatever you are willing to pay. It’s your machine. With an SSD it should run a bit faster, but once you get used to the retina screen it’s hard to go back. That battery is in its last legs, and when it goes, your machine will slow to a crawl. I’d look into replacement, which isn’t a difficult process, so when the time comes you’re ready.

 

[Analias]

I bought it for 380 bucks including tax & shipping off eBay. Its got 1500 battery cycles. I plan to put in an SSD & 16GB of Ram. I don't plan to put in a new battery.


Would this laptop still be worth it today? and how long will it last?


I plan to use it for heavy graphic design work, and some light video editing.

I have one of these. I have 12gb ram and 2 x 240gb ssd's in a raid 0 (optical bay). Even though you have 1500 cycles the capacity still seems quite good. You didn't mention what country you are in, so it's hard to ascertain if it's an OK deal.

 

[Jack Neill]

I have a 13" MBP i5 2.5 with 16GB and 2TB SSD and just put a new battery in it. Still works great on Catalina, although Catalina itself isn't that great... Great machine, only thing I would like to upgrade is to AC wifi.

 

[calliex]

I have the same machine which I bought new in 2012. It by far the best laptop I have owned. My only problem is the battery. It goes to about 50% and then the machine shuts down. I would like to get a new battery for it. I have looked online extensively, and found money wise some good deals. But most of the reviews show most of them have poor performance over a short time. I plan on getting a 16 in MBP pro or a MBA when the stores reopen. During this virus epidemic working from home is putting a hard strain on it.

 

[CooperBox]

I've said it before and maybe worth repeating, this mid 2012 MBPro9,1 is arguably one of the best Mac laptops ever!
As a collector, since the Powerbooks G3's/G4's I've probably used and worked on most laptops up to 2012, and that mid 2012 model was and still is truly excellent. I use one daily with a 500Gb SSD and 8Gb RAM now running High Sierra, and it does everything I ask of it.
I have to disagree with the above comment, "Once you get used to the retina screen it’s hard to go back." I have a 2014 Retina 15" MBPro (purchased new on a whim) and rarely use it, much preferring the earlier model - which I hasten to add is totally upgradeable - and a joy to work on!
I reckon that if the OP paid $380 with shipping, that was a gift if in good condition and fully functional. Here in Europe they can easily fetch 500 euros ($US540), and often a fair bit more. Installing an SSD takes just minutes, and RAM memory can just as easily be upgraded to 16Gb.
The OP also asks, "How long will it last?" If used with care I can easily see these outliving even the new 16"MBPro, which imho even if I was gifted one today, I'd sell it as soon as it came close to warranty expiration as they are virtually non-repairable in the economical sense.

 

[aevan]

Still a nice computer.

 

[vince22]

I bought it for 380 bucks including tax & shipping off eBay. Its got 1500 battery cycles. I plan to put in an SSD & 16GB of Ram. I don't plan to put in a new battery.


Would this laptop still be worth it today? and how long will it last?


I plan to use it for heavy graphic design work, and some light video editing.

for video editing I would put 2 1TB SSD's in there, replace dvd drive with data doubler caddy, maxed it out 16gb ram.
i have one of this 2012 13" unibody running RAID0 writing/reading pretty impressive for 8 yrs old machine.

 

[ocnitsa]

I bought it for 380 bucks including tax & shipping off eBay. Its got 1500 battery cycles. I plan to put in an SSD & 16GB of Ram. I don't plan to put in a new battery.


Would this laptop still be worth it today? and how long will it last?


I plan to use it for heavy graphic design work, and some light video editing.

I have one that I bought new in 2012 (i7). With 16 GB of ram and ssd it’s still good. I, however, did not do heavy graphic design work. I replaced the logic board once, after a temperature sensor started malfunctioning and caused cpu throttling (around 2018). I replaced the battery once (used kite string to cut through the glue...see YouTube) (also around 2018). It has some dead pixels that I ignore. I love my 2012 MBP. When Apple stops allowing the newest OS, there are often hacks you can use to install it anyway.

I recently bought a new 16 inch i9 MBP. It has a very similar size/weight. It’s faster with stuff like converting video and operating with multiple tabs. But it’s not that diff experience-wise with the 2012, to be honest...the things I notice tend to be lots of little improvements that all add up to a feeling of difference. It's loaded with 32 GB of ram, so I'm hoping it lasts me a good 5 years (more is just gravy). I'm keeping my old 2012 as spare machine to use when I forget my new lappie at home.

How long it will last you is hard to say...First, you need to test your work load on it and see what your experience is. Then, it's a matter of whether or not you need the latest OS updates (currently, it's supported, but I doubt that will last with the next iteration of OS...meaning you'd have to use Catalina, unless I'm wrong and they do continue to support it.) It will also be a matter of the randomness of component failure and ease and cost of repair. I don't know if I'd buy one new for 380 (unless I needed to repair something on another), but if the screen and logic board are good, those components are probably worth a little more than 380 dollars if they were parted out and sold. By that standard, it's not a bad price. If you can get a year or two out of it, it'll definitely be good.

 

[azpMD104LL/A]

I have a 13" MBP i5 2.5 with 16GB and 2TB SSD and just put a new battery in it. Still works great on Catalina, although Catalina itself isn't that great... Great machine, only thing I would like to upgrade is to AC wifi.

I'm constantly checking https://subtle.design/products/80211ac to see if the product is in stock and available. But I've never seen it in stock since October of last year.

then again, the product is being sold for 149? if im not mistaken. And i'm just not too sure if I want to spend another 150 bucks on top of the 380 I spent to buy the laptop.

Solid advice tho! Thank you for your kind input.

 

[AustinIllini]

SSD and maxed out RAM and you'll have a few years for sure.

I think you can get a new battery, too on ifixit. May be worth looking into.

 

[amgff84]

I bought it for 380 bucks including tax & shipping off eBay. Its got 1500 battery cycles. I plan to put in an SSD & 16GB of Ram. I don't plan to put in a new battery.


Would this laptop still be worth it today? and how long will it last?


I plan to use it for heavy graphic design work, and some light video editing.

Yes. Totally worth it if the SSD and 16gb of RAM already came in it, imho. However, this is a highly sought after MacBook to those who are looking for something that checks 3 top boxes;

1. Upgradable
2. Affordable
3. Supported

If I could find one on excellent condition around that price, I'd take it (assuming I was in the market for another machine).

 

[throAU]

It's a roll of the dice.

If it works it will be a nice machine.

That vintage of machine in 15" though have the AMD GPU problem - its highly likely the GPU on board will fail due to manufacturing defect and the extended service program for it is over.

My 2011 (basically same machine except for CPU - the GPUs are the same) died due to this problem in 2015.

 

[amgff84]

I've said it before and maybe worth repeating, this mid 2012 MBPro9,1 is arguably one of the best Mac laptops ever!
As a collector, since the Powerbooks G3's/G4's I've probably used and worked on most laptops up to 2012, and that mid 2012 model was and still is truly excellent. I use one daily with a 500Gb SSD and 8Gb RAM now running High Sierra, and it does everything I ask of it.
I have to disagree with the above comment, "Once you get used to the retina screen it’s hard to go back." I have a 2014 Retina 15" MBPro (purchased new on a whim) and rarely use it, much preferring the earlier model - which I hasten to add is totally upgradeable - and a joy to work on!
I reckon that if the OP paid $380 with shipping, that was a gift if in good condition and fully functional. Here in Europe they can easily fetch 500 euros ($US540), and often a fair bit more. Installing an SSD takes just minutes, and RAM memory can just as easily be upgraded to 16Gb.
The OP also asks, "How long will it last?" If used with care I can easily see these outliving even the new 16"MBPro, which imho even if I was gifted one today, I'd sell it as soon as it came close to warranty expiration as they are virtually non-repairable in the economical sense.

I still use my late 2008 MacBook unibody almost daily for typical tasks. I don't often need to use laptops, but when I do I have my trusty MacBook. It has an SSD and 8gb RAM with the faithful 9400m graphics that is just good enough. It hasn't a scratch or ding and is truly a remarkable machine. I picked it up off of a Canadian seller and had it shipped to the states for one flat rate of $50. Now upgrades don't seem terrible at that price point.

 

[azpMD104LL/A]

It's a roll of the dice.

If it works it will be a nice machine.

That vintage of machine in 15" though have the AMD GPU problem - its highly likely the GPU on board will fail due to manufacturing defect and the extended service program for it is over.

My 2011 (basically same machine except for CPU - the GPUs are the same) died due to this problem in 2015.

If im not mistaken this model has the Nvidia 650M graphics?

I know the late 2012 retina's had the GPU issue with the same 650M graphics. But the Unibody did not have such an issue. Or atleast not a wide spread issue anyway.

Correct me if im wrong.

Thank you for your kind inputs!

 

[amgff84]

It's a roll of the dice.

If it works it will be a nice machine.

That vintage of machine in 15" though have the AMD GPU problem - its highly likely the GPU on board will fail due to manufacturing defect and the extended service program for it is over.

My 2011 (basically same machine except for CPU - the GPUs are the same) died due to this problem in 2015.

Please don’t quote me on this but I think they had an NVIDIA 600 or 700 series GPU. I believe they were better. All of apples 2011 machines with the AMD HD 6000 series cards failed and will continue to fail. They were even failing outside of Macs in other computers in all form factors. Too bad too, they performed decently for what they were.
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If im not mistaken this model has the Nvidia 650M graphics?

I know the late 2012 retina's had the GPU issue with the same 650M graphics. But the Unibody did not have such an issue. Or atleast not a wide spread issue anyway.

Correct me if im wrong.

Thank you for your kind inputs!

I think your right

 

[throAU]

Ahh i stand corrected - there was a unibody with nvidia.

surprising. They did a spec change that late in its life. They did an early/late 2011 both with AMD, thought the 2012 was the same.


In that case, go for it, probably the best machine you can get that is actually expandable!

 

[azpMD104LL/A]

anybody here able to comment on the reliability of Dosdude1's patcher? to be used & abused heavily on this laptop for a daily basis.

Im thinking of the inevitable when I'll have to use his patcher once apple stops supporting the unibody 2012's.

Thank you for your kind inputs and for participating in this thread!

 

[amgff84]

The latest version of the patcher is solid (as of 10.15.3). You will need an SSD because it will require APFS. I had it running on my 2008 and I think everything was working except the feature that automatically switches from the light to dark theme.

 

[Macbookprodude]

has anyone tried to get 32GB to work in the non-retina 2012 ? Intel’s site for this core i7 CPU states 32GB ?

 

[profcutter]

Someone on here did try it, if you search the forums. I believe the problem was that apple’s EFI didn’t know how to address the RAM and it never worked right.

 

[motm95]

I've got a mid-2012 13" MBP with the i5 and 16GB RAM with the Intel 4000 graphics and it's still a fine machine for most ordinary tasks. A 1TB SSD really helped.

 

[entropi]

That battery is in its last legs, and when it goes, your machine will slow to a crawl.

Why?

 

[profcutter]

It’s a protective measure. The machine runs at half speed so it doesn’t draw more juice than just the charger can deliver. If it draws too much current, and there’s no battery to supply it, your machine will just power itself off - “poof!”. Same reason they throttled the iPhones with sick batteries.

 

[amgff84]

I've got a mid-2012 13" MBP with the i5 and 16GB RAM with the Intel 4000 graphics and it's still a fine machine for most ordinary tasks. A 1TB SSD really helped.

My Lenovo Hackintosh is an i5, 16gb of RAM, with intel 4600 and 480gb SSD. Equivalent to your machine and better than my mac mini because anything HD4000 and up is required for Mojave and Cat. These older i5's are really aging well, but I have noticed that in the past couple years, Intel has been stepping (CPU pun) it up.