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Starting with the weekend category and styling, the MacBook Pro hasn’t aged terribly well. It has thick bezels at the front, but the styling is helped somewhat by the cool glowing apple logo in the rear and scores a 6 out of 10.
I've always had older macs. In 2012 I was still using a 2004 G5 at home and a 2005 12" iBook G4 on the road. Then I moved to a 2007 MacBook in 2016, which was just replaced two weeks ago by the same model 2012 MacBook pro you restored in this video. Even though people consider it to be old and slow, it feels very fast to me. It'll be even faster when I add an SSD and max out the RAM. It has a 3/4" crack in the glass that I didn't notice until the day after I bought it. But I was thrilled to find out from one of your videos that the glass is easily replaced for $12, so I'll do that when I upgrade the rest. When I'm done fixing it up, I expect it to be my main machine until it will no longer run up to date browsers. Perhaps in 2028 I'll pick up a cheap used 2020 16" MBP for the next leg of my computing life. Electronic gadgets are detrimental to the environment, so it's important not to waste them by replacing them when they still function well enough to fulfill their need. The longer a computer can be used, the later it will be recycled or sent to landfill. Few of us truly need the latest and greatest devices every two years. Eight years might be stretching it, but the longer, the better.
YES. Buy it for life. I was using an iBook G4 from 2008 to the fall of 2010 when i bought a brand new 15 inch Macbook Pro for school.. this laptop is still by my side and i traded my iBook to a guy in 2011 for an iPod Photo that i still use today!
Bro 😂 there is something called live your life. Come on!! You never want to experience a brand new laptop feeling? Nothing comes close to it. I mean it’s your life and your choice anyways but the smell of a new laptop haha it’s amazing. Try it at least once in your life
@@mova_2020 So just plunk down a few thou on the latest and greatest? I might consider that if I had the money, but I don't, so I won't. FWIW, us 2012 MBP owners just had a scare, when an apple security update killed webgl and lots of software and websites stopped working. But thankfully, a subsequent update fixed it and it's back to normal. A year and a half after getting this book that turns 10 this year, it's still going strong. Even if I get an M1 book, I'll find a use for this one at least until it's no longer receiving security updates. Hell, I recently saw a video about a project to spruce up Leopard in order to keep powerpc macs relevant -- there must be something for which I can use my old G5, which still feels fast to me! Be careful not to inhale too much of that new laptop smell -- it'll go right to your head!
I was boutta say that was more or less just a complicated motherboard swap 😭 ig he technically kept the keyboard WiFi fan and speakers but that’s basically it lmao Fuck I just realized he says this at the end of the video
I bought a mint condition 2012 MBP 15" and upgraded the RAM to 16Gb and installed a 500Gb SSD. Same 2.9Ghz i7 processor as this. Cost me 500 bucks in total. Cinebench score is 1228. That's better than the Quad Core 2020 MBA's score which is about 950.
I still love using my mid-2012 unibody 15" macbook pro! I did mostly what you did ( ie. increased to the max ram it could take and put in a 1tb ssd & 2 tb wd blue hard drive ) and couldn't be more happier. I can see myself using this forever, LOL.
@@alexyuan7271 Yeah, that's one of the reasons I haven't bought a newer Macbook, lol. Thankfully I'm still able to use the latest MacOS High Sierra. Eventually I'll have to bite the bullet and upgrade to a new model once the laptop isn't able to use to newest OS. Hopefully it'll be a couple more years from now.
I upgraded the wifi to an AC card - in addition to the other upgrades in this video. Just updated the OS to Ventura with Opencore Legacy Patcher. This machine on Ventura got a speed boost. It is very competent. As a graphics oriented driver (video production and more elaborate games) it isn't a great machine. But when used for common office uses (word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, email, etc.) it's incredible. Stage Manager makes this machine a beast as switching between apps keeps the screen clean and organized. The beauty with this machine over the later Retina is you have much greater control over components and you get to keep your storage new. Soldered on storage and RAM will eventually render newer machines vulnerable and soon landfill matter, while these unibodies can be extended further into the future with fresh and new components. That's the biggest advantage of these older and upgradable Macs. I bet my 2012 MBP will live a lot longer than my 2016 MBP.
A friend of mine was literally throwing out his 2012 unibody a couple years ago because it “didn’t work”, I took a look at it and it was just slow from year and years of use and updates, took it off his hands for $100, bough a 128gb ssd and 8gb ram kit for ~$50 and did a clean install of macOS. The thing felt just as snappy as my 2015 retina and I used it for a couple months just as my couch computer. I had no reason to be using it over my 2015 but something about it just felt so cool, that such an old computer can still feel like new. Ended up selling it for quite a bit more than I paid it for. But any new laptop you could get for the price I sold it for would have some bargain bin cpu, 4gb ram, and definitely not an ssd, not to mention it wouldn’t have MacBook’s legendary build quality or keyboard/trackpad feel.
They've been sold out for months, unfortunately. The 2012 already has Bluetooth 4.0 so unless you're running ridiculously high wifi speeds then the upgraded wifi card isn't really needed.
YES! I was waiting for this! Glad to see Luke regarding his viewer's comments!! Edit: When luke says "The best MacBook in the world" it reminds me of Jeremy Clarkson saying "The fastest car in the world" in his Toyota Yaris...
@@isaiahsdead I've had mixed experience with aftermarket fans, but applications such as smcfancontrol (by eidac, I believe) can reduce temps by 10-20 degrees celsius. Your laptop would sound like a jet engine, though, and I'm sure Apple didn't consider that a "Pro" feature.
Still using my mid 2012 as my main! Kinda bummed we aren't getting the update but there are ways around that. Upgraded to two SSD's and 8gm ram and a new battery but Didn't cost too much. Thinking I might get a new Macbook pro in the next couple years but for now, this tank has gotten me through my first bachelors and is getting me through my second running nursing virtual clinical software like a breeze.
just revived a 2012 Macbook pro that had the "question mark file". 3 years ago I thought the computer was toast. Glad I found your youtube page and glad I never got rid of the unit. With a new SSD and 16GB of RAM the machine is as good as new. thanks.
It's amazing how good you can make these MBPs when you replace literally everything but the logic board and fan. 😁 I say you should name it The Phoenix.
Thanks to you, I bought my first MacBook on March, a stock, almost new 2012 Corei5, upgraded it to 256SSD and 10GB of RAM and I can't be happier! My MacOS xperience so far has been AMAZING , thanks a lot
I have one of these MacBook Pros and have done the SSD/RAM upgrades as well as refresh the thermal paste on my logic board. It is still a great laptop to use when surfing the Internet and viewing RU-vid videos. Great to see you make a video on this laptop to show others what they can do to their aging MacBooks 👌
I was rockin a 2009 white Macbook until about a year and a half ago. It served me well for years (I used it regularly and even recorded music on it...even a full band with 16 mics). Eventually I got sick of being stuck in the past so I went on ebay and found a 2012 Macbook Pro Retina with an i7 and upgraded RAM and SSD. Now this is my normal laptop for every day use. It is plenty powerful for every day use, watching videos, etc.
this one should go to museum be a collection, and I no doubt your comments, I got three macbooks, 2011 macbook air 11.6" with 4Gb ram (only 64Gb SSD)runs high sierra, 2015 macbook pro 13" with 8Gb ram runs Mojave and 2017 macbook pro 13" with 8Gb ram runs Catalina , they are all working well and no any issues , except 2011 one slept in my closet for collection, I love them all.
Bought a Unibody 15" 2012 couple of weeks ago for good price. Put an SSD in it, 16GB RAM, and a 1680 x 1050 screen off an old 2011 with failed mainboard. It's working beautifully. I actually bought it for the kids to use at the school where I work, but I'm using it a lot myself as well. My main machine is a base M1 Air, but I prefer the 15" screen of the 2012. And the Unibody Macs are just so cool!
Did the same with an old 2009 13" MBP my sister dropped a couple years back. Instead of fixing it, she bought a 2014 13" MBP (really 2012) in near new condition with the box. It was so clean you'd swear it was brand new minus the plastic wrapping. The old 2009 sat in my drawer for months, listed on Craigslist for parts. I was about to trash it, when out of curiosity I looked up at how much the parts cost to get it running. New display assembly, new battery, new trackpad, new keyboard, new RAM, data doubler, all came out to ~$130 so I ordered the parts. I already had a spare 500GB SSD and 1TB HDD. Put it all together, created a fusion drive out of the SSD and HDD, installed Catalina on it via DosDude1 patch. Brought it back to life and gave it to my other sister. Its a great little machine for web browsing, social media, watching netflix, youtube, etc.. Now if only the Mac Pro 6,1 would drop in price significantly, I would totally do the same to a quad core and upgrade it to an 8 or 12 core. In the meantime, still got my 2013 15" MBP running strong, but getting ready to upgrade to a 16" MBP.
I have the same macbook, I just changed the hard drive to a SSD and thing is super quick! (boots up in 25/30 sec; wakes up in 5 seconds). A very good performer
Have 2011 17 inch macbook pro. I put in a 16gb of ram 256gb ssd, i disabled gpu and installed macos catalina, it runs really great, even for photo editing!
Actually right now I'm working on a 2006 MacBook 1,1 White Unibody, I bought it last week because my main iMac was damaged and I have no money right now, so I bought that first MacBook for $70 and it's working fine for all the things I need which are producing music with Logic Pro 9 running Snow Leopard, and it might not be my main workstation for my whole life but I'm happy with it and that cheap MacBook saved my life :)
i have a mid 2012 MBP 13 inch that is in A1 perfect condition. It has no scratches or scuff marks , the screen is absolutely perfect. I upgraded the mem to 16GB and installed a 500Gb SSD disk and run Windows 11 in VMware. I wouldnt take anything for it. Its my secondary machine. My main MBP is a 2020 13 in. I love them both.
I upgraded the ram and battery in my 2008 unibody and gave it to my step daughter recently and it works perfectly. Might go back and upgrade to an SSD.
Thank you so much for this video! I thought my old mid-2012 MacBook Pro was dead, but it turned out just to be a faulty HDD connector cable. I replaced the cable myself for about $14 and (after seeing this video) decided to do some upgrades. I installed 16gb ram, a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO HD, and a new battery. In total I spend about $270. My laptop is running great! I am so, so happy.
I just got one like this for under 40 bucks with 96 battery cycles. in excellent condition with the box, cleaning cloth and stickers unopened. imma bump this bad boy up and have it as a solid little photoshop unit hooked up to a external monitor.
Did exactly the same with a 15" Macbook Pro. 1TB Samsung SSD, 2 x 8G RAM (everything else was in very good shape). Clean install of Catalina. Cinebench was 1200-1400 from memory, power on to password request in 10-15 seconds. Excellent all around machine as you say for a reasonable budget. As there are plenty f machines to consider, I pick machines that will support Catalina (2011/2012, check the model) without a patch or hack, which may be beneficial for future updates.
I recently bought a mid2012 MacBook Pro for under CAD $350. It has 8 GB Ram and a 500 GB Hdd. Took a while to do the set up, but it is working pretty good. I already had in mind for swap the 500 GB HDD for at least the same size ssd, and I will put 16 GB Ram into it. I am a dolt when it comes to hardware so I hope I don't wreck it in the process. It is running Catalina but I think I will back that up before swapping the drivess... just in case.
my 15 inch mid 2010 macbook pro is probably one of the better 'investments' ive made in technology. Im on my second battery, 3rd magsafe and i just upgraded the ram to 8 gigs in march ... when i suddenly found myself using it a lot more than i usually do. oh and ive replaced one fan. I love every dent every scratch and even the melted bits on my 'g' and 'command' keys from careless smoking over the years. Its been a reliable bit of kit!
I put 16 gigs of RAM, 1 TB SSD, and new battery from OWC into my Mid 2012 15 inch MBP. It runs better than the better I bought it new! Even if I get a new MBP I would totally keep this around as a beater computer.
I was given a 15" mid-2012 MacBook Pro by a friend who upgraded to a MacBook Air recently. It laid around for a over a year unused until the other day I was thinking about buying a new laptop to replace my DELL XPS 13" Intel Core i5-5200U Dual-core which I bought new in 2013. It has 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. It's been a reliable machine for me, and although I've been using a Windows 8 and 10 laptop for over a decade, I wondered if switching over to a MacBook Pro would be a better choice. I got on RU-vid to check it out and stumbled on your channel. I found out that an old mid-2012 MacBook Pro could be easily upgraded to 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD drive for about $150. What the heck, for that price I went for it. Then I installed MacOS 13.1 (Ventura) on the machine using the Open Core Legacy Patcher. I've been using my "new" Mac for a couple of weeks now and loving it. Thanks for showing how an old uni-body MacBook Pro can have an extended life at very little cost.
I have this exact model, bought new when it came out & It's still my daily laptop today. Overtime I did the SSD and ram upgrades myself but my screen has lost its color accuracy and the battery barely lasts. Now I have confidence that I may squeeze more life out of it so Thank you for this video!
I had the i5 2011 model 13 inch pro, it served me well, Used it for 9 years and i finally changed laptop in 2020 for a gaming one, i maxed it out with 16 gb of ram, new thermal paste, new battery and a 512 gb SSD (didnt need more, i use mostly cloud for documents and stuff) i gave it to my dad which he still uses to this day. This unibody design was buit to last, havent used a modern mac yet so i cant talk about the new ones but some apple products last!! (My mom is still rocking my partner's old iphone 6s and shes super happy with it)
I have one of these MBPs connected to an OWC Thunderbolt 2 doc, it will drive a 4k screen and adds USB 3... Insert Monty Python quote "I'm not dead yet!"
i'm still using my early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (2.7 GHz i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, 512 MB Intel HD Graphics 3000) on a daily basis, albeit for menial tasks like listening to music or browsing the web, but it still looks fantastic and is one of my best-kept devices (along with my 2010 unibody white MacBook, in the original box)
Thank you!!! Plan on updating my 2012 non Rentina MacBook Pro 13 inch with more RAM and an SSD. And receiving my new 2020 13 inch MacBook Pro tomorrow.
Just did this exact same project this past April as a “quarantine project” then flipped it and bought another 13” MacBook 2012 upgraded it max and restored it to new and I’m keeping it this time to keep wear off my new 16”
I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro and it is mint condition, It boots in under 15 seconds with zero lag during any task I throw at it Great machine. purchased in this condition for $325.
I still have my 2012 Macbook Pro and it runs like a champ although its not the i7 one. I remember having to replace my screen when it fell off of a table, worst day of my life but also a really good experience.
This MacBook and it's 15-inch brother are STILL the ultimate laptop for live music applications. The dual internal-SSD setup makes playing software synths and sound libraries a breeze, plus they're super durable and reliable. It will be a sad day when they get "vintaged" by Apple. Oh, and for a name? Call it 'Return of the Mac'...
Luke’s next project: upgrading the 2012 unibody MacBook Pro to Big Sur. Its not officially supported by Apple but it can be done with patchers that modify the Big Sur installer to allow it to install where its not natively possible. You can still run the latest operating system even though Apple dropped support for it. It will still be the best unibody MacBook Pro in existence.
I'm watching this video on a mid 2012 MacBook that I bought new. It's on its' second keyboard, third battery, second charger, third HD and I just replaced the thermal paste. It still getting the job done and once it is no longer supported by the current OSX version it'll get passed down to one of the kids.
hi i have a mid 2012 MacBook pro with i5 2.5 GHz, 4 GB 1600 Mhz DDR3, which is now old and slow. Can it be upgraded and if so what all can be changed to make it run faster
You never use ESD protection. That was the first thing they taught me at Apple repair school. We had to watch this video from the 80s. Or have you got something on your ankle??? 😂
I love my 2012. MacBook Pro and I have upgraded to an SSD as well as to 16 GB of ram and I can confirm kick ass and is still perfectly usable including for many games today.
So this is 2022 and my late 2011 1278 i7 with 2 ssd's and 16gb of ram still goes strong. Yes the resolution is 1280x800 (still better image than most modern laptops...), yes the gpu is kind of crap (still works fine with programs i use, among them also Photoshop...), yes its pretty heavy.... but its much durable than any modern macbook, screen doesnt fail, keyboard and touchpad dont fail, GPU dont fail, usb ports dont fail, RAM dont fail (and if it did, its up to 3 minutes repair), can run monterey (but catalina is the safest choice so far)
I've got that exact model MacBook Pro with an interesting story. I bought it in 2016 for £600 refurbished, a few years of light use later it stopped charging and eventually died completely with no power at all. A few months ago due to bordem in lockdown I decided to try do a Louis Rossman on it, I found that one of the ppbus rails was dead and soldered a bench power supply onto the rail. Then I poured water on the logic board, pumped some power through it and found a capacitor was getting very hot (it was shorting that rail to ground) so I got my iron out and took it off. The system still works fine today even without that capacitor (which is for CPU power management) and is really a very nice machine to use day to day and soon I'll be taking it to college. Edit: I put an SSD in it, 8GB of RAM and moved the HDD to the disk drive slot with one of them adaptors Luke used in this video. With the 5400RPM HDD it was useless.
It would be the BEST/ Ultimate Unibody MBP if it had an anti glare display and maybe FHD resolution. Starting with the Retina models Apple went anti repair and anti upgradabilty. Ok you could still replace the SSD but that only lasted for another couple years.
Brilliant video, Luke! Should have mentioned that the upgrade was worth it due to all the ports that can still be utilised and are not present on the newer MacBook Pros. I sort of did the same last year to my late-2012 MacBook Pro by upgrading its HDD to an SDD and maxing RAM to 16GB. Now it runs with lighting speed!
Great video, Luke! I still use my mid-2012 MBP daily, after max upgrades. External displays, keyboard, and original bluetooth trackpad make it a perfect desktop for my needs. I use this machine specifically for the optical drive - I love watching DVDs.
Now that I have a 2012 13" in my own collection, I watched this video again. And of all Luke's restoration vids, it kinda falls short for me. Mainly because of the use of all that ifixit new junk. Why not do this project again, but this time - in 2023 - doing it with parts purchased used? That way, it will excite folks who do just that, or like me, who bought a whole pile of old parts and frankenbooked 'em together to create a machine costing them... $35 before sticking a cheap ssd in it. This video is impractical and little more than an ifixit ad. Let's do the low-cost version now....
I just bought a MacBook Pro 2012 13” off eBay in 9/10 condition. It is base model (i5) with only 4 gigs of RAM and a 500 gib spinning 5400rpm HD. I’m putting in (2) 8GB modules for 16 GB. Replacing the old HD with a 1 TB Other World Computing SSD. I can’t believe it’s July 2022 and the laptop looks brand New! Update: I have LogicX, Final Cut Pro, tons of other programs running flawlessly. I also used Bootcamp and put a 300 gig Windows 10 partition. Also have a 27” Apple Cinema Display connected. Awesome under $500 setup!
im still using my 2011 17inch 2.4 i7 until now, i maxed out with 512ssd/Data doubler bracket with WD Blck 1tb 7200rpm and 16gb ram. Still rocks in performance, serves me well but too bad it can only upgraded until HighSierra. But still im a proud owner 😊
I am watching this video on my mid 2012 Macbook Pro after replacing the speakers on both sides. 16Gb 1600 RAM and 512Gb Samsung SSD. It is now running 12.6.1 Monterey (Open Core Patched) and runs very well after also repasting the CPU heatsink with some MX-4. It will still work for some time, who knows? Maybe a couple of years more.
