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Anyone else using a 2012 Macbook Pro / longevity questions

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alexh9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2019
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I'm wondering if anyone else is using a mid-2012 Macbook Pro? I'm generally happy with mine since it's upgraded with 8GB ram and a 512GB SSD. I like how I can upgrade these specs even further down the line if I want.

But I'm wondering if there is a lifespan for these? I mean upgrading to 16GB ram, replacing the battery, and even putting in a larger SSD if need be would help extend it's life. But are there other factors that could make this version unusable? I'm currently running Sierra, and it's generally fine. I'm curious how much more life I can get out of this, granted there are no hardware failures.
 
For most people I'd suggest that "end" of a Mac's usable life comes from one of two factors:

  • It has a hardware failure and the cost to repair is not justifiable, or is not possible at all (i.e. lack of parts availability)
  • It can't run newer OS/Apps that the user wishes to use - either it literally won't run them, or is too slow to run them effectively.

I used a Late 2011 MBP17 as my daily work horse (and that horse worked hard) until last year. In the last 12 months of regular use it went through three fans (it only has 2 - one, a brand-new part, only lasted 12 months!). It still works, and I bought extra fans last time I needed one, so I have spares if one fails again - but I can't rely on it for my business. It works fine (mostly) to run iTunes for the house, but that's about it.

Your machine can be upgraded more, as you're aware, and it can even run Mojave if you wish. Usually macOS releases skip a few versions between hardware requirement increases, so there's a reasonable chance at least the next major macOS release would run on it too, if you wanted to upgrade.
 
That particular model was still being sold by Apple until 2016. I guess it depends on when you purchased yours. Generally, I would expect at getting at least 5 years out of any Mac. Your MacBook Pro will still be supported by Apple until at least thru 2020.
 
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My kids are still using my old 2012 rMBP laptop. Its a fine machine and for basic tasks its more then up to snuff
 
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alexh9 said:
I'm wondering if anyone else is using a mid-2012 Macbook Pro? I'm generally happy with mine since it's upgraded with 8GB ram and a 512GB SSD. I like how I can upgrade these specs even further down the line if I want.

But I'm wondering if there is a lifespan for these? I mean upgrading to 16GB ram, replacing the battery, and even putting in a larger SSD if need be would help extend it's life. But are there other factors that could make this version unusable? I'm currently running Sierra, and it's generally fine. I'm curious how much more life I can get out of this, granted there are no hardware failures.
Click to expand...
Mine is a 2012 15" retina. I use it every day 8 plus hour a day. Only problem sometimes when it gets down to 30% it just shuts off. I just plug in the charger and it is fine. Battery still lasts 6 plus hours. Has all the ports i need built in

I want to buy a new one but all the negative posts on this forum has got me intimidated, I have been a Mac user since 1986 have had many Macs and never had to have one repaired and never had apple care. I keep the machine backed up and may wait till it dies
 
I’m still using my 2011 13”. I’ve maxed the RAM, replaced the battery and upgraded to a larger hard drive. I’m toying between going SSD, or biting the bullet and getting a newer machine.
 
OP wrote:
"But I'm wondering if there is a lifespan for these?"

I'd reckon that so long as it keeps working, and runs well enough to suit you, that it remains "within its lifespan".

If you take care of it, it may STILL be up-and-running when many of the 2016/17/18 MBPs have been retired due to failed internals... ;)
 
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Mine is still going strong, and it upgraded to Mojave without any issues. A nice new cover a nice new drive and we are good to go... And the keyboard feels and works great.
 
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alexh9 said:
I'm wondering if anyone else is using a mid-2012 Macbook Pro? I'm generally happy with mine since it's upgraded with 8GB ram and a 512GB SSD. I like how I can upgrade these specs even further down the line if I want.

But I'm wondering if there is a lifespan for these? I mean upgrading to 16GB ram, replacing the battery, and even putting in a larger SSD if need be would help extend it's life. But are there other factors that could make this version unusable? I'm currently running Sierra, and it's generally fine. I'm curious how much more life I can get out of this, granted there are no hardware failures.
Click to expand...

I had a mid-2012 MBP (pre-retina -- the one with the DVD drive!) that I bought in 2012 and used daily until last week. I upgraded the HDD into a SSD (like you did) 4 years ago.

I started to notice some hardware issues about a month ago, which is why I decided to upgrade to a 2018 MBP. Until then it worked like a charm. Some issues that came up monitor issues (parts of the monitor would change color), worsening battery life, and general slowness.
 
Mine is as maxed out as possible (see my signature below) and on Mojave. It's still my one and only machine for EVERYTHING, office, surfing, presentations, audio and video recording and editing, and everything in between. It only goes to sleep when I do.
 
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My relative now has my 2012 MBP that I used for video editing for 2 years, he said it still works perfect and has no complaints.
 
I recently bout a mid 2012 non_retina MBP 2.3Ghz i7 for $260 CAD with 4GB of RAM and 500GB HDD. Upgraded to 16GB RAM and a 480GB Boot/OS SSD. Today I installed a 1TB SSD replacing the internal DVD with adapter I bought. I am planning on using this system for video editing my old camcorder footage (eg. High8, Digital8, MiniDV, VHS, and even some HDV) and compressing to Mpeg 4. It seems much more convenient to do anywhere being portable rather than the constraint (stuck in one room) of my old iMac 2011. I had started this video archive project years ago and want to finish it. Final Cut Pro X works great on this machine with SD and HD footage, and even new content I shoot on my iPhone. It also has a firewire port so no dongle needed to connect my old cameras. SD reader can read content from my SD Card based camcorder... again no dongle.

I also have a MBA 2018 for just general use, but this MBP 2012 is special because I was able to expand the RAM and storage on it for a fraction of the cost of any other alternatives. Sure the new MBP are faster but I don't really need much more speed for what I intend to use it for.

I have invested $260 CAD for MBP, 16GB RAM and 480GB SSD were already from old dead iMac so $0 investment. Finally a DVD to SSD adapter $12 CAD from Amazon and a 1TB SSD $184 CAD. $456 CAD total which is a pretty inexpensive portable video editing machine.

I also have an older Seagate Thunderbolt GoFlex 2.5" portable device which allows me to plug in any 2.5" HDD for archiving/backing up via thunderbolt on this MBP. If I want to move data to other systems fast, I also have a Samsung T5 500GB USB3 external drive.
 
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Am planning to get one myself. The 2012 15" model doesn't suffer from Radeongate like the 2011 model does it?
 
I'm still using my MBP 15" base (but Hi-Res screen) from 2010, updated with 8GB of RAM and 256 SSD. And now I gonna update for new 16". But to be honest last two years i haven't used it too much. I mean, i'm using it every day but just just like regular user + video conversion. My dedicated graphic is dead and with integrated is really lazy sometimes.
 
I just had to replace the power brick/charging cable - ugh 80 bucks. Pricey but needed. I was seriously debating whether if it was worth dropping 80 dollars on a 7 1/2 year old computer. I was looking at the 2016 MBP but I really don't want to drop 2 to 3k on a laptop that isn't a marked improvement over my current laptop (the 2012 model is used by my kids, I have a newer laptop).
 
I still have my 2012 15" MacBook Pro though it hasn't had much use in recent years. I keep it so my brother and I don't fight over the computer when he visits (one for both of us). 😁 The only thing I've updated is the OS. It is currently running Catalina 10.15.1 with no problem and is just about as fast as my 2018.
 
maflynn said:
I just had to replace the power brick/charging cable - ugh 80 bucks. Pricey but needed. I was seriously debating whether if it was worth dropping 80 dollars on a 7 1/2 year old computer. I was looking at the 2016 MBP but I really don't want to drop 2 to 3k on a laptop that isn't a marked improvement over my current laptop (the 2012 model is used by my kids, I have a newer laptop).
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I went through like 4 of those power bricks over the life of my rMBP. So glad to be done with those non replaceable cables.
 
terraphantm said:
I went through like 4 of those power bricks over the life of my rMBP. So glad to be done with those non replaceable cables.
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I replaced mine about a 6 months ago. Yesterday one of the wire wrap tabs broke off. I had the original one for 7.5 years and the new one only 6 months. Looking to buy the new 16 in MacBook Pro. I will wait about 3 months to see if any odd bugs surface.
 
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maflynn said:
Mine surprisingly has lasted all of these years, I'm not sure why.
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I think it’s thermals. I ran my laptop at full load often enough that the it’d be drawing the full 85w frequently and that cable would get hot. The cable then starts to discolor and eventually breaks down.
 
I'm currently using a 2012 Unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro and it's working great and running Catalina on it isn't as bad as most people have made it out to be. I'm definitely keeping this machine around for another 2-3 years. I love using it.
 
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Are genuine batteries for 2012 still sold?
This may be a bit of $$$ to invest.
3rd party clones are not very good from my experience.
 
junkw said:
Are genuine batteries for 2012 still sold?
This may be a bit of $$$ to invest.
3rd party clones are not very good from my experience.
Click to expand...
iFixit is selling one for $90 (link). It's not a genuine Apple battery but I personally trust iFixit and would be fine with using one of their replacement batteries in my machine.
 
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