I bought my MacBook Pro in 2015 so its running on 3 years. I keep it in excellent shape and the battery life is excellent. I may not upgrade past Hi Sierra since this os runs great on it and besides I need support for 32-bit apps. So anyone else with a 2012 model and how long should it last?
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How long will my MacBook Pro last?
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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It really depends on your needs and on the possibility of needing a major repair at some point.
I have a 2011 MBP and it's still running great! Still, I'm planning to replace it soon for a few reasons:
- I had the logic board replaced for free by Apple because of the GPU issue but I know it might fail again any day now.
- I'm starting to require more performance for my work.
- I like keeping the OS up to date and 10.13 is probably the latest supported for this model.
- My battery is starting to get old.
So for your model I don't think there is any known major issues so it's hard to know what might fail at some point. You don't mind keeping an older OS so that's not a problem either. The battery should last a while and it's not too expensive to replace.
So I think it will really be up to you if you start to need better performance for your usage at some point.
I have a 2011 MBP and it's still running great! Still, I'm planning to replace it soon for a few reasons:
- I had the logic board replaced for free by Apple because of the GPU issue but I know it might fail again any day now.
- I'm starting to require more performance for my work.
- I like keeping the OS up to date and 10.13 is probably the latest supported for this model.
- My battery is starting to get old.
So for your model I don't think there is any known major issues so it's hard to know what might fail at some point. You don't mind keeping an older OS so that's not a problem either. The battery should last a while and it's not too expensive to replace.
So I think it will really be up to you if you start to need better performance for your usage at some point.
We kept a 2007 MBP 17" unit running until last June. It has a new home with a very eager teenage user.
Mind you we didn't do a lot on the 2007 MBP and when I decided to go more portable, meaning moving away from the tower MP, I needed a newer, lighter unit with more speed.
I think you will be good for a few more years though.
Mind you we didn't do a lot on the 2007 MBP and when I decided to go more portable, meaning moving away from the tower MP, I needed a newer, lighter unit with more speed.
I think you will be good for a few more years though.
Yours is a question that gets asked often.
The answer is ... "it depends".
Not only on how it's treated and maintained, but on the particular "mix of components" that went into the design.
I've got a 2010 MacBook Pro that still looks clean (not even any dents) and boots and runs quickly (I put an SSD into it).
On the other hand, folks who bought the 2011 MacBook Pro in the 15" and 17" sizes have experienced a very high failure rate, due to the GPU card that was used. Even with user care, that one seems to have been "destined to fail".
That said, the 2015 design seems to represent "the most mature state" of that particular design cycle (2012/13/14/15). I'd consider 3 more years out of it to be "at or above expectations".
I have a 2015 as well (bought in December 2016). If it does as well as my 2010 did, I'll be very happy...
The answer is ... "it depends".
Not only on how it's treated and maintained, but on the particular "mix of components" that went into the design.
I've got a 2010 MacBook Pro that still looks clean (not even any dents) and boots and runs quickly (I put an SSD into it).
On the other hand, folks who bought the 2011 MacBook Pro in the 15" and 17" sizes have experienced a very high failure rate, due to the GPU card that was used. Even with user care, that one seems to have been "destined to fail".
That said, the 2015 design seems to represent "the most mature state" of that particular design cycle (2012/13/14/15). I'd consider 3 more years out of it to be "at or above expectations".
I have a 2015 as well (bought in December 2016). If it does as well as my 2010 did, I'll be very happy...
One thing to keep in mind - support for 32bit app's will probably go bye bye with a later update to macOS High Sierra - perhaps with 10.13.5. 10.13.4 will include warnings that support is ending. You may need to downgrade to macOS Sierra on your laptop if this is the case, and the 32bit app's you're using don't get updated to 64bit.
I'm still using my 2009 MacBook Pro for University. Only issue I've had was battery related. Definitely upgrading this year though, 9 years for a laptop was beyond my expectation.
I had an old MBP from 2012, finally died on my last month. I upgraded it to an SSD, it was amazing fast. Couldnt turn on, the SSD still works though, so I did not lose any data. Afterall, it's more than worthy to upgrade to SSD and that can prolong your MBP too.
That 2015 will last for quite awhile—-reasonably fast processor, good battery life, force touch trackpad, can drive 4K...
If you don’t need a ton of RAM, take care of the machine and swap the battery, I bet that little guy will go 5 years, easy.
recently my mid2012 15 inch rMBP started running hot with CPU temps reaching 180F so I will be reapplying thermal paste to the CPU heat sink. Once that is done this laptop should give me many more years of trouble free use 
I have no need to buy the newer ones as this one does everything I need.
I have no need to buy the newer ones as this one does everything I need.
recently my mid2012 15 inch rMBP started running hot with CPU temps reaching 180F so I will be reapplying thermal paste to the CPU heat sink. Once that is done this laptop should give me many more years of trouble free use
I have a app that monitors my temperature and mine never runs hot.
My MacBook does everything I need plus the added bonus of a built in DVD drive.
I sure hope my conventional hard drive lasts a long time because at the moment I do not need a SSD.
Perhaps the OP's question could have been worded better, but the way I interpret this is it's a 2012. Certainly the "clues" are there.
All that said, only the battery and the HDD will likely wear out. Replace the HD with an SSD, and keep an eye on the battery. Add more memory as needed. It has years of life left in it, imho.
Everyone needs an SSD it’s the single most important upgrade on any computer. The slow speeds of HDD’s has been the main choking point for general performance for decades, it really makes a computer a pleasure to use rather than a chore in my eyes. I would rather have an ssd than a Retina display and that’s saying something!!
All of my old macs are still in working order. My very first iMac is now at my brothers place and lives its life as a media server. It's wise to decide to stop upgrading the OS for legacy machines as yes, you could lose app support but also for performance reasons it's good to stay back. My old iBook is currently on.... I forget the names.... but that's using an older OS than the max it supports.
I have a 2012 running strong, I have no complaints. I'm thinking of getting a 2018 model, but I'll wait and see what that looks like first.
The problem with the newer MacBooks is they lack standard USB ports so one needs to buy an adaptor just to sync their iPhone!
