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WHAT TO UPGRADE ON NEWLY PURCHASED 2012 cMBP

S

servenvolley

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 3, 2017
93
60
South Carolina
I bought this computer for my 12 year old son:

Originally released June 2012
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1280-by-800 resolution
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 4000

He insisted on a DVD player.
He is also taking pilot lessons and uses some piloting software, that so far, seems to work okay on the computer. Otherwise, very light workload.
I was thinking of upping the ram to 8gb and I was wondering if there is anything else I should do to it to keep it up to date.
I'm a writer and publisher by trade and I have found that I love the keyboard on this thing.
For this reason, I am even considering using it myself in the future if I can make it last.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
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servenvolley said:
Thanks (for the link as well) and if you have another second; is this something I can replace myself and do you think 8 ram is enough to go with it?
Click to expand...
8GB is enough. Down the line if he wants to upgrade, he has that option to go to 16gb. Yes, both the hard drive and ram are user replaceable. OWC has easy to follow video demonstrations.
 
The thing about the memory is that you can buy 16GB now that's it - you can't go higher and the memory's not likely to go bad before you stop using the computer. If you buy 8GB now, if you want to upgrade to 16GB, you take out the 8GB and replace it with 8GB and I've never re-used the memory I've taken out in similar situations. You can buy a single 8GB module but you lose some performance that way. If it's working fine now with 4GB, 8GB will obviously work and may improve how things work so it's really a future needs thing.
 
Put an SSD into it first. Cheap and EASY to do. See instructions at ifixit.com and use THE RIGHT TOOLS.
At the same time, get a 2.5" external USB3 enclosure for the old HDD. Use that as a backup drive. The kid will like the extra storage space.

I wouldn't put RAM into it just yet. See how it goes with 4gb first.

Those "classic" unibody MacBook Pro's are workhorses. Built heavier and tougher than the newer ones, might be a consideration for a 12-year-old.
 
Fishrrman said:
Put an SSD into it first. Cheap and EASY to do. See instructions at ifixit.com and use THE RIGHT TOOLS.
At the same time, get a 2.5" external USB3 enclosure for the old HDD. Use that as a backup drive. The kid will like the extra storage space.

I wouldn't put RAM into it just yet. See how it goes with 4gb first.

Those "classic" unibody MacBook Pro's are workhorses. Built heavier and tougher than the newer ones, might be a consideration for a 12-year-old.
Click to expand...

He carries it everywhere. He has no idea its heavy; its just "how a computer is" to him. I think you might be right on it being good for a twelve year old. I'll stick to the 4gb for a while and see. Thanks.
 
I agree, my 2010 still rocks, althoug is slow with its 1066MHz RAM and its core2duo CPU. But the 2012? Dude, if I had the oportunity to buy a new 2012 cMBP, I'd consider it. It has Ivy Bridge CPUs, and a very respectable Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics.

Ok, drop that HDD inmediately, put an SSD in it, and upgrade to 2x 4GB RAM. Or, if you can afford it, 2x 8GB, but I'm on 2x 4GB and so far so good. And there you have, a machine that will fly with Sierra, and even higher with, well, High Sierra.
 
Still rocking my 2010 13" MBP. I swapped the 500gb HDD for a 500gb SSD and upped to 8gb of RAM as well as replaced the battery. I'll get another two years out of it at least with my usage.
 
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