Mid 2012 macbook pro upgrade query

[argurpreet321]

Hey guys
I have a mid 2012 macbook pro without the Retina display. Currently has 4 gb of RAM.2+2. Its been running slow for some time now. I have the following upgrades in mind:
Upgrade the ram To 8 gb:4+4.
Upgrade the HDD to SSD.
The best way I found after reading online is to buy an SSD and make it a bootable clone using carbon copy. After booting from it to check, then install it inside.
I talked to a couple of apple service centers here in India. Their procedure is that i make a time machine backup, then provide them with an SSD. They will install it and finally provide me with a copy of the OS on it. Then i restore from my time machine backup.
I have few queries regarding this:
1) If i follow their process, do I lose out on anything? My applications, my itunes folder which I use for syncing my other devices,my documents etc. Will everything be in its proper place after this, like it was before? Do I have to download or install my programs again? Does time machine leave out anything while backing up?
2) Also I am running OS El Capitan now. If while getting a new OS on the SSd,i prefer to have the latest OSX, does it create a problem if the time machine backup is done on el capitan?
3)For the RAM, does it make sense to buy a 8 Gb stick and get 8+2? I know it’s generally preferred to get the same amount in both slots. I am getting Kingston, Corsair and Transcend here. Crucial is not very popular here. Which of these is recommended for macs?
4) Also i have read at various places about people removing the optical drive and replacing it with the original HDD. What is the general concensus here about that? Does it create some problems down the line due to bus speeds being different or something? I am perfectly ready to use the HDD externally. Is it worth the trouble?

Sorry for the long rant guys. My problem is that I cannot bypass the service team as I am not very confident about doing the installation myself. So please guide me regarding my queries. I appreciate all the help. Thanks

 

[Frieg]

You really do not have to worry, the replacement of the hdd is really easy, there is not much you could do wrong so there is no reason to pay somebody doing it for you.

best way I guess would be to upgrade your OS X to the newest version now and THEN do a new time machine backup which you will use to get everything on your new ssd. which is also very easy. you can't use parts of your time machine backup and mix that up with a newer OS X version when restoring, if it's not the same system I think you can't restore specific folder contents afterwards either. so just update right before the backup

and go for the 16gb ram + 500gb ssd route

 

[Fishrrman]

"The best way I found after reading online is to buy an SSD and make it a bootable clone using carbon copy. After booting from it to check, then install it inside."

Yes, this IS "the best way".
Disregard what the service center people are telling you.
Your way is better.

You can do this yourself.
The actual "drive swap" takes only about 15 minutes, provided you have the right tools:
- Phillips #00 driver
- Torx T-6 driver
The most time-consuming part is removing all the screws, then replacing them.
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.

For the CarbonCopyCloner process, I'd suggest a simple and cheap USB3/SATA adapter/dongle.
After the swap is done, you can use this to connect the old drive to the computer, too.

I would NOT remove the optical drive.
Just leave it there.

Regarding RAM -- I would buy ONE 8gb DIMM, and replace the "topmost" DIMM while the back is open during the drive swap.
This will give you 10gb of installed RAM, and although some will jump in and claim that "having two dis-similar RAM DIMMs slows the computer down!", the slight speed difference will be un-noticeable.

Final thought:
I'd skip High Sierra.
Install 10.13 "Low" Sierra instead...

 

[argurpreet321]

Hi guys
Thanks for the quick replies.
If i do want to go with the time machine backup route and not the cloning process as the service people are not confident about it do I lose anything? Does the time machine backup cover everything and put everything back in its place?
Also if i am not wrong while downloading the OS, there is an option to choose the current last OS on the system without updating to the latest as per the key combination pressed.
Also what problems are faced if we replace the optical drive with the older HDD? Just asking for my own knowledge.
Guys please keep chiming in with your valuable suggestions. I feel that I gain a lot listening to all the opinions. Thanks

 

[Frieg]

Time maschine has the same effect as carbon copy in the end, only difference is that you have to enter your icloud password after the first boot and some automatic config steps. To restore from am tm backup you have to boot os x from a e.g. usb drive. You can esily make yourself a os x installation stick, boot into the setup from that and select restore from time machine backup, simple as that.
I have a bootable os x install partition (few gb) on my time machine external hdd, so i have everything always at hand to make a complete restore from scratch if something went really wrong.

 

[hallux]

When I installed my SSD I installed it, installed the OS and then used Migration Assistant to copy the data from the old drive through a USB adapter. The only thing that I had to re-do was my Microsoft Office license registration but the apps themselves had come over just fine.

 

[argurpreet321]

"The best way I found after reading online is to buy an SSD and make it a bootable clone using carbon copy. After booting from it to check, then install it inside."

Yes, this IS "the best way".
Disregard what the service center people are telling you.
Your way is better.

You can do this yourself.
The actual "drive swap" takes only about 15 minutes, provided you have the right tools:
- Phillips #00 driver
- Torx T-6 driver
The most time-consuming part is removing all the screws, then replacing them.
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.

For the CarbonCopyCloner process, I'd suggest a simple and cheap USB3/SATA adapter/dongle.
After the swap is done, you can use this to connect the old drive to the computer, too.

I would NOT remove the optical drive.
Just leave it there.

Regarding RAM -- I would buy ONE 8gb DIMM, and replace the "topmost" DIMM while the back is open during the drive swap.
This will give you 10gb of installed RAM, and although some will jump in and claim that "having two dis-similar RAM DIMMs slows the computer down!", the slight speed difference will be un-noticeable.

Final thought:
I'd skip High Sierra.
Install 10.13 "Low" Sierra instead...

Hi
Did you mean normal Sierra? High Sierra is 10.13, right?
Also how do I get Sierra? High Sierra is available as a download in the app store. How to get the previous version?

 

[Frieg]

why Sierra? high Sierra runs perfectly on my late 2011 i5 13'' MacBook Pro

 

[argurpreet321]

why Sierra? high Sierra runs perfectly on my late 2011 i5 13'' MacBook Pro

Don’t know, someone suggested above in a post. Thats why i asked.

 

[Kingcr]

This will give you 10gb of installed RAM, and although some will jump in and claim that "having two dis-similar RAM DIMMs slows the computer down!", the slight speed difference will be un-noticeable.

If the machine runs in single channel mode as a result of mismatched sticks, the impact on graphics performance is significant.

See here. Scroll down to the “memory scaling” section and look at the single vs dual channel gaming performance. This is for an i5-3210m - same as the base mid-2012 MBP. With Mojave relying on metal acceleration, I wouldn’t want to compromise graphics performance especially on older chips.

For computational performance, using mismatched sticks is much less of an issue.