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MacBook Pro Mid 2012 Not Fully Upgradable

R

RichGiles

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 4, 2013
17
0
According to an apple care advisor and his supervisor, the hdd from the mid 2012 version is no longer user upgradable, does this basically mean if you have a product from education store with 3 year cover, you can't tough an ssd upgrade....

Which properly sucks...

I really wanted an ssd upgrade for this machine. But I'm not jeopardising the cover
 
cMBP

The AppleCare tech and supervisor said that they no longer have documentation that shows its user upgradable and in the new manuals there is no 'how to' for removing the hdd, in past models this has been what tells them if the hdd was user upgradable, the RAM still is apparently but basically no ssd!
 
Whoever told you that is an idiot. Aside from some of the physical hardware itself, the layout of the 2012 cMBP is pretty much identical to that of the 2011.
 
They got a second opinion from a supervisor,

Apparently past models had a guide in the manual on how to change/remove/upgrade hdd, apparently the mid 2012 model doesn't because they have changed their policy on this... I'd love for someone to without doubt prove this wrong but it's not looking promising so far.
 
RichGiles said:
They got a second opinion from a supervisor,

Apparently past models had a guide in the manual on how to change/remove/upgrade hdd, apparently the mid 2012 model doesn't because they have changed their policy on this... I'd love for someone to without doubt prove this wrong but it's not looking promising so far.
Click to expand...

Are you saying it isn't possible to do at all or that it isn't possible to do without voiding the warranty (or something to that effect)? And what's all this about there being instructions in a manual? Whether there are instructions or not doesn't affect its feasibility.

I can assure you that just last week I replaced the HDD in my mid-2012 13" cMBP with an SSD and didn't damage it at all and it now works better that ever.
 
Oh no, you can do it as nothing is locked down, but it voids AppleCare apparently as its no longer a user upgradable part...

He said that in the past the easy way to tell what was upgradable was by the fact the manual gave instructions on how to change that particular part but on the mid 2012 cMBP it's not there.

I find it all a bit annoying and I hate getting mis information different staff in the same company, I've had that a lot recently.
 
I chatted with someone on the US Apple Online Store and he/she told me that if you take your RAM or HDD/SSD that you want to install in your machine to an Apple Store and they do it for you, that wont void the warranty, but if any harm was done to the machine by those components that you wanted to install, that will void the warranty.

He/she told me that if you even upgrade the RAM that will void the warranty.

So I guess it's a new policy, and the guides provided by Apple are just to show you how it's done.
 
It's what I feared, ps they said that about the RAM to me, they said "strictly speaking, if you but RAM that later damages the machine as a result of the after market RAM or upgrade, it is a void warranty, why are apple being like this and how can they get away with being like that.
 
One thing you can do is to keep Apple's RAM in a safe place, and if something goes wrong in your MBP, just plug in the original RAM again then give it to Apple for repairing.

I don't even how a RAM from a big company like Crucial can damage the machine in any way! Is this possible, anyone? Correct me if I'm wrong please.

They could use this as a silly excuse if they don't know what's the problem with your machine.

Anyway this is easy and doable for the RAM, but for the HDD? I don't know. I think they will know if you upgrade it even if you put back the old HDD.
 
kh3khalid said:
One thing you can do is to keep Apple's RAM in a safe place, and if something goes wrong in your MBP, just plug in the original RAM again then give it to Apple for repairing.

I don't even how a RAM from a big company like Crucial can damage the machine in any way! Is this possible, anyone? Correct me if I'm wrong please.

They could use this as a silly excuse if they don't know what's the problem with your machine.

Anyway this is easy and doable for the RAM, but for the HDD? I don't know. I think they will know if you upgrade it even if you put back the old HDD.
Click to expand...


Possible, yes.
Probably, no.

Its all DDR3 SO-DIMMS. Only way it ruins something is if the user ruins something in the process of removal of the memory and install of the replacement memory.
 
RichGiles said:
It's what I feared, ps they said that about the RAM to me, they said "strictly speaking, if you but RAM that later damages the machine as a result of the after market RAM or upgrade, it is a void warranty, why are apple being like this and how can they get away with being like that.
Click to expand...

That makes sense to me. I don't see the problem here. What do you mean by "how can they get away with being like that"? Like what? If I'm trying to replace the RAM in my machine and I screw something up, it's certainly my fault and not Apple's or anyone else's.
 
r2shyyou said:
That makes sense to me. I don't see the problem here. What do you mean by "how can they get away with being like that"? Like what? If I'm trying to replace the RAM in my machine and I screw something up, it's certainly my fault and not Apple's or anyone else's.
Click to expand...

My comment was in relation to going from supporting user upgradable RAM and HDD, in up to 2011 models and then not supporting on the last mid 2012 model without making it clear, they didn't sound like they had a clue their end, there was no info outright saying it wasn't covered but they used the fact it wasn't documented in the manual to make the decision it seemed. Fair enough if dodgy parts brake the machine but to say they won't support people changing their own hdd is a joke. Careful or not...
 
RichGiles said:
According to an apple care advisor and his supervisor, the hdd from the mid 2012 version is no longer user upgradable, does this basically mean if you have a product from education store with 3 year cover, you can't tough an ssd upgrade....

Which properly sucks...

I really wanted an ssd upgrade for this machine. But I'm not jeopardising the cover
Click to expand...

They should look at page 4 of the following documents for the mid 2012 MacBook Pro. In the section "Learning More, Service, and Support" the first sentence reads, "Your MacBook Pro does not have any user-serviceable parts, except the hard drive and memory."

13 inch: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/macbook_pro-13-inch-mid-2012-important_product_info.pdf

15 inch: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/macbook_pro-15-inch-mid-2012-important_product_info.pdf
 
You are not going to void your warranty by carefully and correctly changing the RAM or HDD to something that is compatible with your machine. And by compatible, I mean in terms of runs at the same voltage, draws the same power, stuff like that. So just buy your stuff from a known brand, like Crucial, Kingston, Samsung, etc.

The only way you are going to void your warranty is if you do it in an unsafe environment (static charged, in the rain, etc.), if you're not at all careful (i.e. drop tools on the exposed innards, etc.) or if you ignore the instructions (ie. don't unclip the RAM or HDD and break a clip or SATA cable).

ie, if you're not a stupid clumsy oaf, you'll be fine.

And keep the old components in a safe place, in a static bag. For example, pack the old bits in the packaging that comes with the new stuff. If you ever have a problem, and Apple decides they don't like your upgrades, just switch them back to show them it still needs fixing, even in its original configuration.
 
I just upgraded my 2012 cmbp from 750 hd to 512 SSD yesturday, I used a sata to usb3 cable to tranfer the data 300gb took 1 hour . Only thing that was kind of hard to do was switch out the ram, the bottom ram is kind of tricky to get in perfect.
 
r2shyyou said:
That makes sense to me. I don't see the problem here. What do you mean by "how can they get away with being like that"? Like what? If I'm trying to replace the RAM in my machine and I screw something up, it's certainly my fault and not Apple's or anyone else's.
Click to expand...

People seem to think they are obligated better service than other computer manufacturers because they paid the Apple tax.

Apple uses the same components as any other PC manufacturer, it would make sense for them to follow the same repair, warranty and maintenance practices. That extra $1K you paid for your Mac doesn't change that. It's simply more money in Apple's pockets at your wallet's expense. Not happy with that? Buy something else, simple.
 
Who cares if it is or isn't sanctioned by Apple? It's easy to do yourself and just as easy to put the original drive back in if you ever need to take it in for service, if you're that paranoid about it.

Not that this really means anything but I know people who have replaced the main HD with an SSD and the optical drive with a second HD, and have used Apple Care. The Apple employees knew full well what was done and didn't care. Only a real jerk would care if a customer did that. You know damn well that any Apple store employee that owns their own MBP is doing the same thing.
 
swerve147 said:
People seem to think they are obligated better service than other computer manufacturers because they paid the Apple tax.

Apple uses the same components as any other PC manufacturer, it would make sense for them to follow the same repair, warranty and maintenance practices. That extra $1K you paid for your Mac doesn't change that. It's simply more money in Apple's pockets at your wallet's expense. Not happy with that? Buy something else, simple.
Click to expand...

If that is meant to be aimed at me then it fell short of the mark because you totally missed my point, I dont think because I paid more that I deserve more.

But I think if something is stated to be user upgradable and always has been, then I should damn well be able to upgrade, also for the price... I could have got a machine that was more upgradable but the point is that parts I'm talking about upgrading should be upgradable, on the whole a lot of the posts to this thread have been both useful and constructive but then I guess there will always be a few....

Also to the comment earlier, I'm well aware that if I damage it myself that I'm at fault, it's the same pretty much everywhere and is blatantly obvious in the manual. So comments like that don't really help.

----------
mslide said:
Who cares if it is or isn't sanctioned by Apple? It's easy to do yourself and just as easy to put the original drive back in if you ever need to take it in for service, if you're that paranoid about it.

Not that this really means anything but I know people who have replaced the main HD with an SSD and the optical drive with a second HD, and have used Apple Care. The Apple employees knew full well what was done and didn't care. Only a real jerk would care if a customer did that. You know damn well that any Apple store employee that owns their own MBP is doing the same thing.
Click to expand...

If I seem a little paranoid, I am, it's in my nature and not something I can help sadly, apparently the final answer I got earlier was its not going to void the warranty to do either unless the part causes damage to the machine and can be proved that it caused it.

Aside from that they said to get an authorised repairer to do it if I'm still not sure.

So that's that.
 
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