Creating the World's First Quad Core Mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Pro

In this video, I perform quite an awesome CPU upgrade on a Mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Pro, upgrading it from its original dual core Core i5-3210M CPU to a very odd quad core Core i7-3615QE CPU. The "QE" series Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs are unique, as they are the only quad core variants that share the same BGA footprint and pinout with the standard dual core "M" series CPUs. The upgrade went without a hitch, and provided a huge increase in performance over the original CPU.
If you'd be interested in having me perform this upgrade on your machine, info about my mail-in services can be found at doslabelectronics.com

[@PCJesus0]

You shoud sell some boards or sell a upgrade service, quite a few people would pay to keep their 2012 pro

[@dosdude1]

I definitely would perform this upgrade for anybody who would want it. Would probably be able to do it for around $200 - $250, plus the return shipping cost. The CPU itself costs around $100.

[@PCJesus0]

@@dosdude1 Awesome!

[@dosdude1]

@NRGY I got this CPU off AliExpress. It's really not likely you'll get ripped off, I buy stuff from places like that all the time and have never had an issue.

[@yomommastupid]

I would love to see my mb pro 2015 13 inch be upgrade with a i7 or i9 i got i3 now...can you solder ram?

[@dosdude1]

@@yomommastupid 13" 2015 MBP can only support dual-core CPUs, the best of which is an i7-5557U. You can solder on up to 16GB of RAM on that model.

[@OdessitOn]

Congratulate me! I got a new i7-3615QE installed on my 2012 MacBook Pro today. Instead of the Intel i5. The emotions of using the laptop are unspeakable.

[@dosdude1]

Awesome!

[@jackgerberuae]

Where did you get the CPU chip from?

[@OdessitOn]

@@jackgerberuae AliExpress

[@cmiksche]

For most tech KZbinrs, BGA soldering is magic, you are a Wizard who understands how to do it... Thank you for your hard work, I used your patchers with all my old Macs and cannot describe how much you helped me using my old hardware.

[@uio86a]

Can I also upgrade the 2009 MacBook Pro 1278 model i5 dual core model to quad core, so can I increase my max RAM from 8GB to 16GB?

[@SalemTechsperts]

Absolutely brilliant. The Mid-2012 13" is, in my opinion, one of the best laptops ever made. Seeing it upgraded even further 11 years after it's initial release is amazing.

[@blankname8553]

The only downside is the terrible screen resolution. I wish he would make a retrofit of a non-crap resolution screen.

[@Alex-yj9xl]

@@blankname8553 tbh I don’t think it’s that bad.

[@R4monLP]

Can we talk about how fast this guy swaps a cpu, the geekbench times are 76 minutes apart.

[@arranmc182]

This is why people like him can charge good amount for his work as he's proper clean, hje should think about starting a copmy that takes old Mac's like this and upgrades them to the Max and sells them on, old Mac's are still amazing computers and make excellent Linux systems better than any PC of the same age I tend to find.

[@ikemkrueger]

@@arranmc182 I second that.

[@andresd270]

Would be really interesting to see how it manages thermals, as the 15” model with 2 fans struggled to stay bellow 95°C when underload

[@markjames1497]

DosDude completed this mod as well as adding the iBoff NVMe board install. The speed that it runs at is amazing!!!!! Before you ask “why would you spend the money for this?”, it has special meaning to me and I am not ready to give up my MacBook Pro. DosDude your a legend!!! Thank you again!!!

[@Lydelll]

This just proves how good the mid 2012 MBP is. I’ve been wanting a cpu upgrade for the longest and I would pay to have it upgraded to a QC i7 to breathe some more life into it. Amazing job and skill set.

[@dosdude1]

Send me an email, I can definitely do it for you!

[@tnoinetwork]

@@dosdude1bro can you please upgrade my 2012 like this?

[@taylorperry7082]

Email kind sir?

[@thegeforce6625]

i did this upgrade to my Thinkpad X230, gave it a pretty big performance jump in multicore scenarios, but it runs alot hotter at low load/idle compared to the origional dual core CPU

[@brookemels]

45W part vs 35W

[@adamanny1234]

Same deal so I just picked out the best dual-core and called it a day. You could also lock the quad core to its base frequency

[@Skeuomorph1c]

I would try to use higher quality thermal paste if you didn't. Unless I was desperate I would try to use liquid metal but otherwise I do not like messing with that stuff, just some good ol' silicone based compound or something.

[@Destructor8031]

time for a heatsink/cooling mod and maybe some liquid metal ;)

[@pingtime]

​@NRGY thinkpad EC is weird when controlling it's thermal system, still happened until T480

[@Ben79k]

Ive watched so many of your rework upgrades over the years and i have no idea why they are so relaxing to watch but they just are. Thank you for the continued entertainment

[@dancjr2]

Your work is amazing, thank you for doing this project and sharing it!

[@BrianJones-wk8cx]

Watching with envy and admiration on my late 2013 13” MacBook Pro. So awesome to see a decade old machine still getting so much love!

[@nicknorthcutt7680]

Wow! Back when I had this computer in 2012, I searched around to see if I could swap out the cpu for a quad core and it was said to be, at the time "impossible" to do. Seeing this done is really cool and quite impressive!

[@myoneblackfriend3151]

I appreciate people like yourself that have the know how to make things better. Keep up the good work. I have been contemplating putting a solid state drive in my 2012 MacBook Pro.

[@robinrai4973]

you're incredible man, we recently got a bga rework station at work with fancy IR camera footprint aligning stuff while you're out here just being an absolute legend doing it by eye

[@ikemkrueger]

Louis Rossmann uses a metal tweezer to make some scratches on the corners to outline the chip position.

[@lacmcasares8755]

I love it. Thanks to you I could upgrade my old 2008 Mac from El capitan to Catalina via your patch

[@jonas-fr]

This is awesome and you make this looks like it's easy! A small caveat though, there isn't any temperature readings so it's hard to replicate what you're doing, even though you're going out of your way to detail every last bit of the process. You may want to put sensors or telling about your tools settings in a future video. Anyway, this is a damn impressive achievement, so congrats!

[@CBZED101]

That feeling when it just works with no firmware mods!

[@LPgmxDan]

How does one do those custom bios?

[@prestonferry]

@@LPgmxDan you flash the BIOS IC…

[@LPgmxDan]

@@prestonferry so basically the same process that you would do if you messed up the bios update for example? And isn't there a system on apple to prevent it? Sep or something like that

[@prestonferry]

@@LPgmxDan you don’t have to go through the system, you can force it… You have to either desolder the BIOS IC and connect through a breadboard/USB or hook jumpers to it… They generally use a program such as flashrom to do it…

[@yukitakahashi5739]

Your work is always so satisfying! Thanks for sharing what you do :)

[@flipkibblez]

I wanted to do something like this earlier this year but I am not experience enough to do bga sadly. Cool that you did it and proved it working though! always nice to see your projects.

[@eileenlucynakurosawa7421]

Excellent work as always, thank you for sharing 😊

[@juanmacias5922]

You made that look too easy! Great job!

[@djentisnotagenre]

Excellent work as ever! Inspirational stuff.

[@Josh.Davidson]

You're going hard! I love it! Keep up the great work.

[@OdessitOn]

Thank you! You have inspired me to make such an upgrade. I ordered the same i7-3615QE processor for my MacBook Pro Mid 2012. Waiting for it from China to be installed on my laptop.

[@jerbear7952]

How did it go

[@OdessitOn]

@@jerbear7952 more powerful computing. It didn't affect the battery performance, just a slightly higher temp. The performance is pleasing, I don't want to change my MacBook for a modern one. I put a fast SSD, RAM 16 Gb 1600MHr, replaced my power chip (I wanted to).

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

Wow what a video, you’re a legend. This is the kinda stuff I aspire to do as I become more and more fluent with all things Apple and computers.

[@Samtheblackrose]

Same, I'm teaching myself now to upgrade now that my mid 2012 is officially "obsolete" to Apple. Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave over the new MacBook I'm sure lol

[@griparian]

Well-Done on researching the compatibility of the CPUs for the 13" Mid-2012 MBP upgrade and for the seamless execution of solder. I'm pretty sure that if Steve Jobs was still alive, he would have given you the thimbs-up for 'Pimping the Unibody'... His vision for the ultimate upgradeable laptop lives on...cheers.

[@definfected]

Very impressive!! Love your work!!

[@marcussunde4737]

Your videos are fantastic. Thanks for contributing.

[@brmarko]

This is unbelieavable, great work! :)

[@chriscalderon1337]

Amazing upgrade, yet again!

[@vaskarrozario2643]

Legendary upgrade, man.💗

[@dro6641]

Awesome work man!

[@chrism869]

this was entertaining to watch, never tought that this would be possible

[@djbelly4968]

I wish I had your knowledge and skillz, best tech KZbinr so far.

[@michaelsilverman341]

You are a beast. Thank you for all your patchwork and tutorials. I would love to know what your background is, I mean I could believe you could be a hobbyist but i'm sure you have school/pro training with all of this

[@boyankiuranov5104]

Amazing stuff dude!

[@elliotwallett5079]

Very cool video , very proud owner of my 2012 13” unibody MBP and would love to have this upgrade someday.

[@IceShotTV]

I want that too on my mac! I waited for this video for so long! Finally its possible!

[@manliogebbia3596]

spettacolare è dire poco complimenti e non solo per questo video ma per tutto il tuo materiale in rete che ci aiuta moltissimo con i mac

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Great job Collin

[@stevesloan6775]

Amazing work!

[@dsfdfssqdfsqfdfqsd4235]

Nice, was waiting for a need to flash a different bios, but apparently no, nice ! GG ! Will definitely wait 10y to upgrade my 1260P to a 1280P or more if possible :))

[@userick4411]

Amazing job, keep going with this videos, and remember ...Have a nice day!

[@starsk13]

Excellent !!! thanks for sharing.

[@paulb4uk]

Superb work well worth doing .

[@clickpond7825]

This is an incredible upgrade, great work as always. Out of curiosity, how much would it cost to have this done?

[@Evie0133]

this is just plain AWESOME, I respect all of your work so much, really well done :D

[@damienlamy60]

We need more of this

[@johnross8939]

Awesome Colin

[@MGB0NE]

Awesome man!

[@skip741x3]

Blown away that you attempted this! way beyond what I'd dare to try! only concernes are the increase in cpu temps after the mod... there is Not as good a hetsink and cooling solution in the 13" case, nor is there the sheer internal space inside the chassis compred to a 15"... thats probably why they limited it to a dual core... interested to hear how the thermals are after this mod

[@nothin1456]

I hear ya. Take into account the 15” inch cools a whole dedicated video card as well. And even if it throttles a bit will still be faster than the dual core.

[@jabbawok944]

Must have been very satisfying to hear it chime with no firmware fiddling!

[@MrKillswitch88]

When it has been done for some Thinkpads from the era then anyone saying "its not possible" is full of crap lol. Nice work as always.

[@W4rH4wkXX]

Your videos never disappoint!!! 💪💪💪💪💯💯💯💯

[@stanb1455]

You do

[@NeverGiveUpYo]

Cool video dude

[@RetroGamerBB]

BGA CPUs are still standarized for their generation. Most laptops have various options for cpus in their product line and share some of the bios data & that will allow for a swap... if you are capable.

[@markdjdeenix6846]

brilliant idea

[@megadamien8230]

Hello, Ces gars sont de vrais magicien!! je les ai sollicité depuis l'étranger pour faire la mise a niveau et ils l'ont faite! Ce commentaire est posté depuis un mid 2012 qui a une seconde jeunesse grâce à vous. Merci pour votre bon travail.

[@alexisdesplanques6865]

salut tu as payé combien pour l upgrade ?

[@eduar2tc904]

How much did it cost you with shipping?

[@megadamien8230]

Bonjour à toi, Avec les frais de ports compris(aller et retour) et la douane (20% sur le retour en France) 325€. Ça me semblait toujours plus interessant que changer de Mac… Je fait actuellement tourner Ventura sans aucun problème ni baisse de performances. Et puis franchement le MBP 2012 est tellement mieux fourni en terme de ports… j’aimais trop ma machine pour en changer.

[@alexisdesplanques6865]

@@megadamien8230 ça va encore le prix il me semble que quelques sociétés font la même chose en france perso j'ai payé mon macbook 2012 en parfait état 50 euros alors si je met 325 euros dans la modif ça restera toujours moin chére qu'une merde chez darty qui va claquer dans deux ans

[@vim2871]

I confirm it works! MacBook Pro Mid 2012, i7- 3612QE (GB5, S-645, M-2560). Bravo bravo bravo dosdude1

[@Fallen608]

Very cool I have a soft spot for 2012 unibody MBPs. Even today those computers are totally usable with OCLP but 2011 and older are noticably janky in the same configuration.

[@thiagooliveira4192]

Really incredible!!! I would like to know if it would also be possible to modify the battery and include an extra battery in place of the DVD drive.

[@Samtheblackrose]

I was wondering the same! Even when you upgrade to a modern SSD it leaves more room by the battery, therefore maybe a newer better and slightly bigger battery could be put there? I don't know which parts could fit it exactly

[@arthurdebacker4797]

I always wondered in 2012 why Apple didn't put at least a quad core into the 13 inch Pro even without a dedicated gpu, super cool to see it can be done somehow

[@blankname8553]

Cost and thermals. Also power users probably didn't want a terrible screen resolution to work with.

[@Doyle69]

If dosdude1 has a new video, im here for it :)

[@manlioyllades]

You rock man!

[@Cybernetic_Systems]

Lovely work as always! Just out of curiosity, would there be any benefit to leaving the edge bonding in place (after using a hobby knife to separate it from the chip) and using it to help locate the new CPU?

[@dantepaperinosky25]

Well done !! God Work !!

[@Thebestgamer021]

😀 great mod dude ❤ watching this on my revised 8600m gt (g84-603-a2) 17 inch macbook pro a1261 with os monterey

[@filipemarques6722]

I’d buy a kit. Sill using a 13 inch 2011, working flawlessly

[@cyronader]

this is awesome. question though, is that stock heat sink capable of removing heat from that quad core? The bigger mid 2012 15 inch with quad cores had dual fans and dual heat pipes. Curious if you plan to design a better heat sink?

[@tonal.states]

Brooo thats awesome, definitely will consider upgrading with you

[@no-vo1em]

Istg it just keeps getting better and better

[@mcmaus321]

This is perfect👍👍👍

[@Himegw]

Awsome as always! Wonder if a 2014 mini could be upgraded to aquad core i7 as well?

[@Dr.videofrankenstein]

God bless you mate 🙏🏻, and thank you

[@amdintelxsniperx]

grab some noctua paste this chip is 45 watt vs 35 . and will turbo down based on temps :) good paste is needed such an awesome upgrade im assuming all the sandy and ivy have the same firmware . obviously modified for there archetecture so that is why this just works :) so cool

[@buraktasdemir7384]

nice job! i will try dual core 3210m 35w to quad core 3612qe 35w upgrade :) i think no microcode issue.

[@pupc0ded]

somehow you always have a crazier project lined up!!

[@dosdude1]

Absolutely!

[@xkorki]

Niceeeee ;) please make more those moves :D

[@marcelopatron4361]

A true MacBook Wizard

[@KSCPMark6742]

While replacing BGAs is fun to watch it's not really useful or practical knowledge for plebes like me. Could you consider doing a video about the feasibility of transplanting an entire recent motherboard from say a 13" Air to for example a 2012 15" MBP. The screen is gorgeous.

[@MRSTU1210]

Amazing subbed

[@ericbauer4559]

Awesome!

[@MuhammadAr-RaufMohdYunus]

Excellent work! Is mid 2009 is working as well?

[@JSnakeRepair]

Wowza! Will definitely be coming to you for this upgrade at least a couple times in the future. 1 of the 2 remaining achilles heels of this spectacular model has been conquered! ...Now...ONLY THE SCREEN REMAINS! (Don't think we can do much for the GPU) Which, in theory shouldn't be that much to ask to at least get to FHD? I will have to look at what screens would fit this spec: 13.3" 16x10 1080p at 60Hz IPS (AHVA, or similar) 30 pin LVDS connector From there it would just be a matter of making it fit in the upper aluminum clamshell would it not?

[@user-ui4fn6fj3p]

The stock screens are actually quite nice due to the fact that you can generally run them 120hz. A higher resolution screen isn't really worth it on such a shite igpu.

[@SalemTechsperts]

@@user-ui4fn6fj3p Hold on, you can run these panels at 120Hz??? Please elaborate!

[@SalemTechsperts]

We are on the same mission! I thought after I swapped in the dual-core i7 logic board I was fully upgraded, and only a screen upgrade was left (which I hit a dead end on). Now I need this quad-core upgrade and to hope a FHD screen eventually becomes available!

[@user-ui4fn6fj3p]

@@SalemTechsperts Depends on if you got lucky or not, some can do 120 or higher, some top out at around 110. Unfortunately it is possible for there to be mild 'distortion' depending on the panel so it's not for everyone. You don't have to do anything special, it's as simple as creating a custom resolution or EDID entry same as you would to run any monitor at a custom refresh rate.

[@khanklatt7261]

@Collin, your password is visible in the screen reflection at about 18 minutes: If it’s a volume you don’t typically boot into and you don’t use the password anywhere probably not a big deal but FYI. Impressive skills, appreciate your videos!

[@dosdude1]

It’s a testing drive LOL. The password is password.

[@khanklatt7261]

@@dosdude1 Ok, just make sure you don’t use it anywhere else then! 😄

[@jozsefizsak]

@@khanklatt7261 Good one!

[@montaguebarnabasltd]

Our hero

[@mishahendriks3020]

I never understand how the smd components around the perimeter of the CPU stay in their place. They also get their load of flux, they do get blasted with heat, how come they stay where they should…?! Cool work, I’d be interested in a upgrade!

[@Gearsandco]

that would be awesome if you can recreate this with the Haswell quad core in the early 2015 13inch MacBook pro model A1502.

[@j.lietka9406]

When you were searching for suitable CPUs, did you have the choice of leaded or lead free solder? Great upgrade! Also, is the TDP higher with the new Quad core?

[@brookemels]

Dosdude1, you beautiful genius!

[@mjenkinson]

Nice work. Saw your "password" in the reflection. LOL.

[@steliosstamatakis844]

That was awsome! Can this also be done to mackbook Air Mid-2012 Dual-core intel Core i7 ?

[@currytigre]

Since the top edge is slightly raised compared to the bottom doesn't that mean the heatsink isn't making optimal contact anymore? Or at least applying uneven pressure depending on how tightly it's screwed down.

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

Awesome.

[@juankrodriguez1506]

This is so cool! Now just need to upgrade the thunderbolt chip to 2 or 3.. Is that possible?

[@mcmaus321]

You are epic!!! 👍👍👍

[@ensatekcozumler]

Wow, that's amazing and may be the only favour Intel has passed this generation. Because considering that there are only 3 or 4 processor microcodes in fimware. In the same generation, this processor may also be attached. Or because the microcode is not attached, it may be running a little hotter than normal. And as the most trick pin template, if you mounted it according to the old processor, that part is congratulations like full magic.

[@naturehomes3951]

Lets go dosdude 👏

[@stanleychen3298]

I wish I knew how to do board level upgrades like this. I would love to upgrade my late 2011 MacBook Pro's i5 with my old early 2011 MacBook Pro's i7. Also I wonder if it's possible to upgrade a 2016 MacBook Pro to a 2017 Kaby Lake. Thanks