Mid-2012 13" macbook Pro - Performance Upgrade

[cougarville]

Please bear with me and read this, as I am trying to understand my expectations and make choices based upon advice I receive here.

I have 8GB Ram and 500GB internal 5400 RPM Internal Drive. bought it ~3 years ago to serve as a device to write & do a little (MINOR) music/audio production on.

For a time I said many naughty words, experienced incredible frustration, annoyed my darling woman with constant complaining about how the speed of this thing should be better... especially when I try to work things take forever.

I know that I shouldn't expect "the world" from my piddle little laptop for performance, but I do expect more than what I get. Even Mac apps were taking a long time to load. So, I did what any good owner would do. I ensured that I had enough space on the HDD for swap file growth (~150gb +/-), turned off all of those stupid little visual effects, turned off/ all (ALL) of my TSR/boot loading apps.
I have a VGA adaptor plugged into my thunderbolt port which, I've heard, can make matters worse but I'm really not in the mood to be chided for wanting to use my extra 32" display as a second monitor. So, with that plus my 'smart mouse/keyboard' wireless combo and NO apps running, I have ~5gb RAM open. So, to summarize, 150gb space on a POS 5400 internal drive, ~5gb RAM open with nothing open.

Things STILL take too long (in my opinion) to load from scratch.
* Adobe Creative Cloud apps are the worst offenders. ~2 minutes to load app & display item
* MS Office is terrible also, around 90 seconds.
* Tiny-little Apple-made system apps are extremely speedy (no shock) but who cares, right? I want what I want!

I happened to have an extra external USB 3.0 Sandisk Extreme SSD that I plugged in.
SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD - Up to 1050MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2 - External Solid State Drive - SDSSDE61-1T00-G25
(flavor text: I bought it hoping to sneak in a PS5 purchase for my kids for the holidays, as extra game storage but then realized my spinny-disc USB3.0 would do just fine for the purposes I need, and it's 4TB so .. this belongs to daddy now)

Smart people see where this is going.

I plugged in my super-new, special 1TB SSD to my USB3.0 port and am going through the long process of Cloning the drive. Because I did the silly thing and charged forward without really asking anyone who knows more than I do. I'm a former PC guy, used to build machines and play games on them back in the early 2000's... switched to consoles... then developed a hatred for all things microsoft after Zune (don't ask).

I gave all of the previous text, in consideration, knowing that I'm semi-new to NEW tech but kinda, sorta have my head screwed on straight.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is this new external drive going to breath new life into this old machine? If so, where will be the postiives? Negatives?
2. Once the clone finishes, can I just boot from the SSD, then delete the applications from the internal drive? Could I wipe/repartition the internal drive safely, to use as scratch disk for Mac OS, applications & dynamic file storage (frequently written/modified/deleted)
3. What pitfalls do I expect (outside of not plugging the USB in, duh) with this set up?
4. Tell me the honest truth -- Should I give up on my Adobe Creative Cloud on this device, Should I transition completely out of Microsoft Office? Caveat here, provide me alternative solutions that will replace these. I'm an old dog with old habits using what I know. I don't exactly hate Office, it's just what I know... and I'm saving up for an actual hardcore Mac Desktop machine -- wifey is letting me plunk down 8000 bucks next year and I want to minimize ANY purchases until then.
5. Why do my tears taste like chocolate and my happiness like salt?
6. If you've responded to anything I've said with snark, do you regret it?
7. I write an awful lot, and enjoy features of MS Word even if I despise MS, but really don't like the idea of cloud/web-based document creation/editing. I want something that works, that I don't have to spend money on, and provides robust document editing. I switched off of InDesign for book editing because demons screamed at me asking for my soul in exchange for performance. Word was somehow better. Just sluggish for 500,000 word tomes with various headings/formatting. I'll admit I've not even explored some of the crap that shipped on the OS. I use Word because I sneak some writing time during work and can easily go between Word on my office machine (PC/Win) and Mac.
8. And just when I was loving my Garageband/Adobe Audition tandem, I hear Apple wants me to buy Logic X? 200 bucks, huh? probably shouldn't buy that until I have a real computer--- or will this laptop be a good starting point?
9. I know enough not to pretend at graphics design on this machine...much less video editing. hence my pending 8000 budget CY 2021.

Please accept my apologies on the length of this without exception and answer my questions. I would be eternally grateful.
(you'd never know I was an introvert that doesn't talk to people in person... at least I'm not a nasty troll)

 

[Juicy Box]

Still using a HDD as your boot disk?

What OS are you using? If you are using Mojave or Catalina, APFS is horrible on HDDs, and it seemed to have gotten worse with Catalina.

An SSD would make a huge difference. It will feel like a totally different Mac.

But..... Why not just replace the internal HDD with a SSD?

Is this new external drive going to breath new life into this old machine?

Yes.

If so, where will be the postiives?

Not only faster reads and writes, but much more responsive as well. Boots up faster, wakes faster, etc.

You Mac will also run cooler if you get that HDD out of there.

Negatives?

The negatives would be mostly comparing the USB SSD to other methods of using an SSD (TB, NVMe, internal, etc.), and not really negative when compared to using the HDD.

If you use a USB SSD, you lose TRIM support on the MacOS.
The USB SSD would not be as fast as other options, such as TB or internal SSDs.

Once the clone finishes, can I just boot from the SSD, then delete the applications from the internal drive?

When the clone finished, IIRC, you have to restart and hold the "alt/option" key and select the new clone the first time booting it. After that, you can set it as the primary boot drive.

You can do whatever you want with the internal HDD. You can use it as a bootable back up drive, scratch drive, additional storage, etc.

But, I would pull that HDD, and install a SSD in its place.

A 1TB SATA SSD can be purchased for less than $90 in the US, faster than USB, have TRIM support, and it would be a cleaner set up than an external boot drive. You can always put the HDD into an enclosure and use it externally.

Installing the SSD internally is super easy on your MBP.

 

[cougarville]

Thank you for your response, I appreciate it very much.

I was trying to go as low budget as possible on this boost, something to "get me by" until I got my newer machine.
I was thinking about an internal drive, but already had this external one and was trying not to spend any money for now. But regarding internal drives, I've replaced a ton on PCs so the concept doesn't daunt me for Mac. The only thing that gave me pause was because of reading how some have said I'd need a special toolkit to disassemble the laptop, even if it was easy, so I wouldn't do it unless I had no other choice.

I totally get why an internal would be a better option, for sure. But if, as you say, this 'makeshift' solution will be an improvement over my current lazy HDD, this may just be good enough. It is quite comforting that I can use this as I theorized/hoped. What limited knowledge I have of TRIM, is that it'll help prolong the life of the drive, but if this is only a year-long solution, I'm not too worried about the drive failure. I've got a time capsule that holds my drive images in case of failure.

If the timeline of death on this drive is sooner, then perhaps I'll invest in the internal SSD / associated toolkit. It would be "more" ideal to have the internal SSD and my 4TB external for content storage.
(as far as TB, I've got my display connected to an adaptor there and it's TB2, which are surprisingly hard to find SSD for, unlike TB3 which is all the rage)

 

[Juicy Box]

The only thing that gave me pause was because of reading how some have said I'd need a special toolkit to disassemble the laptop, even if it was easy, so I wouldn't do it unless I had no other choice.

It has been a while since I did my Late 2011 MBP, but I don't remember needing any special tools. I am almost positive the 2012 MBP is similar.

Actually, I think all you need is a SATA SSD and a #1 Philips screwdriver. Maybe the screwdriver is a smaller one, but really nothing special tool wise.

Just remove the screws on the bottom, I think they are different lengths depending on the location so place them in a way that you will know where they go back. Once the screws are off, pull the bottom off, and take the HDD bracket off. Swap the drive with the SSD, and put it back together.

Once you get the screws off the bottom, it would only take a few minutes to do the swap.

There are plenty of How-Tos on YouTube and places like iFixit.

I highly recommend just doing the internal swap, as you would get the most out of the SSD and won't have to worry about a drive hanging off of the laptop.

(as far as TB, I've got my display connected to an adaptor there and it's TB2, which are surprisingly hard to find SSD for, unlike TB3 which is all the rage)

You have TB1 ports on your Mac, not TB2.

That said, there are some TB1 and TB2 solutions out there. The cheapest would probably be getting a cheap TB HDD, pulling the HDD and putting a SATA SSD in it. I have done this before. LaCie TB Rugged HDDs are nice for this, as you can swap a SSD in it in less than a minute.

If you are looking for something that doesn't require assembly, someone posted earlier about using a TB2 NVMe drive on their Late 2012 iMac.

It isn't cheap, but it is fast:
Transcend 480GB JetDrive 855 Thunderbolt Nvme PCIe Portable SSD Solid State Drive

I have a Late 2012 iMac, and I am currently using a TB3 NVMe drive as my boot drive, which is the fastest option for the Late 2012 iMac without getting into striping RAIDs.

 

[cougarville]

I highly recommend just doing the internal swap, as you would get the most out of the SSD and won't have to worry about a drive hanging off of the laptop.


You have TB1 ports on your Mac, not TB2.

1) Definitely going to consider it if the external thing becomes a pain. Regarding the replacement, I think that's what I get for just reading things and not participating in a forum like this in the first place. Thanks agian.

2) The ports/adaptors looked the same but I knew I might be wrong on that one (TB1 v TB2) but, at the very least, I knew it wasn't a TB3. Ah well. The only thing I've learned about Macs is that Apple loves money and is always changing crap around. I'm sure there will be something different next year that will make more things obsolete. Maybe USB-C & TB3 will stick around, although I'm fairly certain TB3 is not precisely USB-C from what I've read...

 

[Juicy Box]

Another thing worth mentioning again, using any SSD on your MBP will be a huge improvement over a HDD. Once you see the difference, I am sure that you will be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner.

It will feel like a totally different computer.

So, if you decide to use your existing USB SSD, it will give you a significant performance increase. I just think it would be worth it to invest in a SATA SSD and replace the HDD with a SSD.

Newegg.com has 500GB SATA SSDs for as low as $41 right now.

Here is the iFixit guide for your MBP:

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Replacement

Use this guide to replace a dead hard drive. If your new hard drive seems slow or doesn’t work correctly, try replacing the hard drive cable. The...

www.ifixit.com

I am unsure why they have it as moderate difficulty and why they have the time as so long. Not sure why it would take anyone 45 minutes to do this. I am thinking that they use the same guide for the SATA cable replacement, which shares the same beginning steps, but they did not adjust the difficultly and time for just doing the drive.

although I'm fairly certain TB3 is not precisely USB-C from what I've read...

TB1 and TB2 use the same port design and cables are interchangeable. The difference is speed, 10Gbps and 20Gbps, respectively. Most TB1 and TB2 devices are interchange as well.

TB3 uses the USB-C port design. TB3 ports can use USB-C devices, but USB-C only ports cannot use TB3 devices.

TB3 has speed of up to 40Gbps. USB-C totally depends on what USB specification it is based on. If it is USB3.2 Gen2, then it can do speeds up to 10Gbps, if it is USB3,2 Gen2x2, then speeds up to 20Gbps.

 

[brianmowrey]

I'm a former PC guy, used to build machines and play games on them back in the early 2000's... switched to consoles... then developed a hatred for all things microsoft after Zune (don't ask).

Did you lose your daughter?

I second the advice you have already received. Either external or internal SSD will be a win. On external you're at USB 3.0 speeds and internal, similar SATA III. Your MBP will open with standard tiny screwdrivers. If you're happy with the results, consider switching to 16GB memory later as well.

Just how speedy app opening will become depends on which processor you have in there. I'm on the i7. Catalina boots in 20 seconds. Word opens instantly. I don't have PS but Clip Studio and Blender open all the way in about 5 seconds *edit: that's with a second display at 1080p and hours into my boot. You also might want to work from a clean install, as you could have who knows what other issues that are also partially contributing to your slow apps.

 

[Juicy Box]

I am unsure why they have it as moderate difficulty and why they have the time as so long. Not sure why it would take anyone 45 minutes to do this. I am thinking that they use the same guide for the SATA cable replacement, which shares the same beginning steps, but they did not adjust the difficultly and time for just doing the drive.

It looks like my assumptions were correct, the times are wrong on the HDD replacement guide.

I looked up the SATA cable replacement guide, and it only has the time as 20 minutes, but has less steps than the HDD replacement guide. I think the times were just swapped:

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Cable Replacement

Use this guide to replace a broken hard drive cable. The hard drive cable also contains the sleep LED and the IR sensor.

www.ifixit.com

 

[cougarville]

Just how speedy app opening will become depends on which processor you have in there. I'm on the i7. Catalina boots in 20 seconds. Word opens instantly. I don't have PS but Clip Studio and Blender open all the way in about 5 seconds *edit: that's with a second display at 1080p and hours into my boot. You also might want to work from a clean install, as you could have who knows what other issues that are also partially contributing to your slow apps.

I'm also on the i7 myself. Latest Catalina. I considered doing a clean install but just wanted to do a full-on carbon copy to let that run while I worked and see if the improvement is significant enough.

I've also cleared the PRAM -- forgot to mention that.

A lot of this was precautionary. I will say that I don't do anything on my laptop that would 'muck it up' -- I don't even use it to surf the web or watch videos. I literally only use it for creative pursuits. Heck, I'm even using my work computer to talk on here... haha.

So, as far as the other issues, I'm doubtful I've got anything weirder than old hardware and a slow HDD.
I thought about upgrading the RAM but I was under the impression that I couldn't upgrade from the two 4mb I had based on some sort of maximum based upon the system MB requirements. I would almost prefer to upgrade RAM rather than drop in a new SSD. This device just has to last me a year in this capacity-- then it's going to be stripped out as only a portable writing workstation, with everything except the barest minimums.

 

[cougarville]

It looks like my assumptions were correct, the times are wrong on the HDD replacement guide.

I looked up the SATA cable replacement guide, and it only has the time as 20 minutes, but has less steps than the HDD replacement guide. I think the times were just swapped:

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Cable Replacement

Use this guide to replace a broken hard drive cable. The hard drive cable also contains the sleep LED and the IR sensor.

www.ifixit.com

Wasn't there some sort of thing regarding a 'preemptive' SATA cable replacement because they went bad?

 

[Juicy Box]

Latest Catalina

This is most likely your problem.

It is widely known that Catalina and HDDs do not play well together.

 

[brianmowrey]

Right, APFS (which Catalina forces) on HDD is very slow. I've tried High Sierra on my HDD in APFS vs not, and stuck with not.

16GB works, not just on mine but many 2012 MBP users since they first rolled out.

 

[cougarville]

This is most likely your problem.

It is widely known that Catalina and HDDs do not play well together.

And here I thought simply accepting every little OS upgrade was a good thing to do.. (shakes head) oh well.

Thank you (all) for your help. I will report back once I have some time to toy with my new setup. It's almost finished copying (5 hrs later...)

 

[cougarville]

Right, APFS (which Catalina forces) on HDD is very slow. I've tried High Sierra on my HDD in APFS vs not, and stuck with not.

16GB works, not just on mine but many 2012 MBP users since they first rolled out.

So, can i use any two 8GB DDR3, or is there something special I should look for (size/form factor?)

A-Tech 16GB Kit (2x8GB) RAM for Apple MacBook Pro (Mid 2012), iMac (Late 2012, Early/Late 2013, Late 2014, Mid 2015), Mac Mini (Late 2012) | DDR3 1600MHz PC3-12800 SODIMM 204-Pin Memory Upgrade

A-Tech 16GB Kit (2x8GB) RAM for Apple MacBook Pro (Mid 2012), iMac (Late 2012, Early/Late 2013, Late 2014, Mid 2015), Mac Mini (Late 2012) | DDR3 1600MHz PC3-12800 SODIMM 204-Pin Memory Upgrade

www.amazon.com

 

[justashooter]

I have the i5 2.5Ghz version of this laptop with a Crucial SSD and 16GB ram. I am a heavy user of Photoshop and do some video editing. Your absolute biggest benefit, without question, is to replace the hard drive with an SSD. Not upgrading the ram. And be prepared to replace the SATA cable on a 8 year old computer. A standard 2.5 inch (that's what these models use) Crucial 500gb SSD is less than $65, a replacement SSD cable is around $7.

You have already cloned the drive to the external? Does it boot from the external. If so install an SSD into the MBP, boot from the external SSD, format the internal SSD as APFS and clone back to the internal SSD.

 

[cougarville]

I have the i5 2.5Ghz version of this laptop with a Crucial SSD and 16GB ram. I am a heavy user of Photoshop and do some video editing. Your absolute biggest benefit, without question, is to replace the hard drive with an SSD. Not upgrading the ram. And be prepared to replace the SATA cable on a 8 year old computer. A standard 2.5 inch (that's what these models use) Crucial 500gb SSD is less than $65, a replacement SSD cable is around $7.

You have already cloned the drive to the external? Does it boot from the external. If so install an SSD into the MBP, boot from the external SSD, format the internal SSD as APFS and clone back to the internal SSD.

I have an external drive, SSD, formatted to APFS and cloned from the internal HDD (5400rpm).
I haven't pulled the trigger on a new SSD internal drive just yet, I was just using something I had around the house that I thought might improve my situation.
Feels like, from past experience, that going from 8gb to 16gb ram could only help.

 

[Juicy Box]

Wasn't there some sort of thing regarding a 'preemptive' SATA cable replacement because they went bad?

It isn't uncommon for SATA cable failures on the MBP, and the 13" models tend to have it worse for some reason, IIRC.

But.... It isn't hard, nor does it take a long time to open up your MBP. I personally would just leave the cable alone unless I was having drive issues.

If it was time-consuming and/or difficult to open (such as the thin iMacs), then I would do it while I had the Mac open, but for the Mid 2012 MBP, that can be opened in just a few minutes is minimal difficultly.

In your case, I would just replace what you have to first (HDD for SSD), and worry about the other stuff (RAM, SATA cable) if it becomes an issue.

Of course if you choose to just replace the SATA cable while it is open, there is nothing wrong with that either.

Feels like, from past experience, that going from 8gb to 16gb ram could only help.

I would see how things are with the SSD before spending money on RAM. I am telling you, using a SSD as a boot drive will be a huge difference, much more so on Catalina.

You can always replace the RAM later if you need to.

Use this guide from Apple to determine if you would really benefit from additional RAM or not:

Check if your Mac needs more RAM in Activity Monitor

Use Activity Monitor to see if memory is being used efficiently on your Mac and if you need more memory (RAM).

support.apple.com

 

[justashooter]

I can only repeat what vertical smile said above. If you install a SSD in that computer you will think you bought a new computer, it will be so much faster. Download Blackmagic speed test, you should get well over 400/Mbps read and write speeds. If it is not faster, then replace the SATA cable. I have upgraded 6 of this style MBP to SSD's, a 2009, 2 - 2010, a 2011 and my two 2012's. I have replaced the SATA cable on the 2010 and twice in one of my 2012's. And I would do this before upgrading the ram.

 

[cougarville]

Wow. I just finally rebooted and am operating on my USB SSD. This is a shocking difference.

Under 7 seconds to load even GarageBand. Audition in 5, MS Word 3 seconds. 30 seconds start to finish on a system restart?

That's crazy. Can only imagine internal would be both better & more efficient.

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I think that, ultimately, I will get an internal 1TB SSD AND 16GB RAM, plus the cable just to be done. That should literally buy me a couple more years on this device. Figure I can do the whole kit for under $120 bucks.

 

[brianmowrey]

Wow. I just finally rebooted and am operating on my USB SSD. This is a shocking difference.

Under 7 seconds to load even GarageBand. Audition in 5, MS Word 3 seconds. 30 seconds start to finish on a system restart?

That's crazy. Can only imagine internal would be both better & more efficient.

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I think that, ultimately, I will get an internal 1TB SSD AND 16GB RAM, plus the cable just to be done. That should literally buy me a couple more years on this device. Figure I can do the whole kit for under $120 bucks.

Nice to hear. Yeah, internal will be about the same. It will speed-test at ~500MB/s. You can do speed test on your external rig to gauge the difference. Perhaps more importantly, with internal your Macbook will be properly portable.

1TB SSD is one path. The other path, which probably isn't a perfect fit for you, is a two drive setup, with a smaller SSD for the OS and a big HDD (in a caddy where the optical drive is) to use for media. That's how I run mine. For audio or video editing it would be less ideal.

 

[cougarville]

Any benefit to moving my swap file to the disk drive, is there a dramatic difference in extending the life of the SSD?
All I really care about is lasting ~10-12 months with moderate use.

 

[brianmowrey]

Swap would be much slower, especially if Energy Saver has put the HDD to sleep at the time swap begins. Benefit for SSD lifespan would likely round to zero.