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unkinkedash

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 21, 2018
14
0
Hello everybody, I have a macbook pro mid 2012 and since 2014 (when I bought it) I never cleaned it up. So now it is heating up pretty good even with light workloads. Than I'm taking it to be cleaned up and the guy said that they replace the thermal paste over the processor also, and I would like to know if the cleaning and the paste replacement is safe and if is going to help the heating problem. Also, I would like to know if I should buy a very good quality thermal paste for hem to apply, because I don't think the their paste is that good, might be a regular one probably. Thanks a lot!
 
Changing the thermal paste on that model is pretty easy. Just follow video tutorials on YouTube.
Considering its a 2012 model that you own since 2014 and probably never had the stock thermal paste replaced, it will make a huge difference.
Any decent paste will do the job, you don't need the best of the best, because the difference in temps is minimal and the cost is higher.

Use Arctic MX-2 or MX-4, they are both cheap and very good quality. If you want something better get Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, its more expensive, but one of the best.
 
I usually replace the paste on my Macs after the first year, or immediately upon arrival. Since you're way out of warranty it's definitely a must with the heat issues you're having. The models you have are definitely easy to replace as you don't need to take out the logic board to remove the heatsink like the touchbar models.
 
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I just replaced the thermal paste on my 2012 MBA and it made a pretty huge difference. I've cleaned the fan before so that was already in good shape. Before the thermal paste if I did something like open imgur.com with a lot of gifs playing I would start to hear the fans spin up within a minute and the laptop would get hot to the touch. Now there is a very slow buildup over 10 minutes where it starts to get warm and the fans come on slowly instead of all at once. It was also very easy to replace.
 
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Go for it
I did it on a 2011 13" MBP not to long ago, heat was much better then before, and I am the type which opens Macs every 3 month to dust it off. So new paste will do a lot.
 
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Hello guys,

unkinkedash I suggest you to change the thermal pastes in your equipment minimum once a year. As other guys in this forum said there are many tutorials in youtube about this process.Personally I use K5 PRO for many years and this is great tutorial that I recommend to you.
 
suggest you to change the thermal pastes in your equipment minimum once a year.
There's absolutely no need to change the thermal paste annually. Heck, my 2012 laptop never had its paste changed at all and its going fine, as is my 2015 iMac.

I would suggest changing it, only if clearing out the dust and the fans failed to improve temps.
 
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