How to Upgrade a Mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro - Part 1 of this "Special" Upgrade!

[@myfashionkillz]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! My MacBook sat in my backpack unused because it was so slow. The Mac Guys quoted me $350 to speed it up a few years ago. I said it wasn't worth it. Thanks to your video I did it myself for less than $100. Already had the tools. I upgraded to a 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM. I may install macOS Monterey and swap out the battery in the future.

[@FamilyGeekery]

This comment is 100% why I started this channel. Glad to help you get some more life out of your MacBook. I read so many commenters say “trash this old junk”. They don’t understand that not everybody can afford to, or even wants to trash a good laptop. Glad to help. Thanks for watching and for the nice comment!

[@myfashionkillz]

​@@FamilyGeekery you're welcome! Idk how this video came up in my algorithm but I'm glad it did. Keep making videos! And you're so right. I work remotely. My iMac is my daily driver. My MacBook is for working out of the office. It's hard to justify the price of a new one when I'm only going to use it for a week or so every other month. There's nothing wrong with it beyond a few scratches and dents from dropping it in college 😅. We trash so much stuff. At least I can feel a tiny bit better about not trashing this too.

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

I now have this macbook for about 2 weeks now, the battery is its original one, , but it has 93 percent life left, which is nuts of such an old battery! It has no dents or scratches, i installed an ssd in it, 16gb of ram, i removed the optical drive and i installed a second hard drive, but i made the bracket myself! It is a good machine for basic tasks, i run monterey on it, which runs like a dream!

[@mrmartywaring]

I found this recently. I followed your instructions, upgraded the SSD to 1TB, the RAM to 16GB, swapped out the battery & it's working really good. I originally upgraded the OS to Ventura via OCLP, but it lagged. Catalina works well on it

[@khal-elplays161]

1TB SSD for this macbook? A1278?

[@TaqueriaElAmanecer]

Same here already boguth ssd 1tb and 16gb memory tomorrow arived memoris from amazon XD

[@mrechbreger]

I don't feel any lagging with Sonoma on my MBP mid 2012, however I disabled certain animations too which I don't need. Also 1TB and 16gb RAM

[@DrB187]

I remember doing this upgrade... one thing that has started to annoy me is the lack of sharpness of the screen! To your knowledge is there any way to upgrade the screen on the mid 2012's?

[@mikepxg6406]

Good job. Running Ventura on mine 500GB Samsung EVO SSD and 8GB Ram. I have 16GB in my 2012 15 inch.and 2 X 500GB EVO SSD's. Good luck adding second SSD to this Mac.

[@thewavist]

About to do an upgrade on my 2012, do you think it would be capable and powerful to run a DAW? Pro tools to be specific? That’s the only thing I would use it for. Thanks

[@FamilyGeekery]

According to Avid’s website, it requires Catalina and a Core2 processor, which your 2012 covers. As they update, newer versions would likely require newer versions of macOS though.

[@vnnerella4002]

I have updated SSD in mine. Thinking of upgrading my 8GB ram to 16 GB, is to worthy to do the ram update for causal browsing and streaming?

[@uio86a]

If I upgrade like that, it gets super fast, so is it still fast enough?

[@Personalization_IA]

How much did it all cost you

[@Marriu1]

Good job. My MacBook Pro mid 2012 (I think it's the same model - A1278) has a new SSD Samsung Evo and - in place of DVD - the old HDD disk. I also bought 16 GB of RAM and a new battery. I have to say that the best performance has with the latest Catalina. I also changed the thermal paste (I'm thinking of a special thermopad) and I do not recommend updating the system with EFI. There are issues with stable work and the hardware doos not support the newest features. It makes non sense.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Good tips. Thanks for adding those! And thanks for watching!

[@eddief984]

Did you find the thermal paste made a big difference and did you find it difficult to do? I just recently started watching videos on this and ordered some thermal paste

[@GH-dx9lr]

@@eddief984overall you might see better temp numbers, I replaced my thermal grease on my gaming laptop. And am happy with its performance. I’m going to be replacing the ram ssd and thermal pads and grease on my dads late 2012 MacBook Pro

[@laurencejohnson4106]

A useful video.👍👍 Renewing the thermal paste would help.

[@jeroflowortiz8318]

Hi, hey you cut the most crucial part. Well at least for me, after utility disk what we do next?? Thanks for the help!

[@adityaswaroop2881]

My keyboard not working properly sometimes key b is working sometimes it is not working same things happens to numeric keys also pls guide I am using the same model

[@capitancapitan2841]

Is it possible to upgrade motherboard from i5 to i7 on my MacBook Pro mid 2012 a1278?

[@Asharan119]

I have been using that MacBook for the past year and month but suddenly iy stop showing anything on the screen but it powers on but not showing.....what could be the problem It has no physical damage and it has never been dropped

[@johnross8939]

I bought one for my wife. Came with 8 gb RAM in a single slot. So all I have to do is install another 8 gb stick to make it 16 gb. The laptop came with a 128 gb SSD and OS-X Sonoma. I replaced that with a 500 gb PNY SSD and installed Linux Mint Cinnamon on it. Very fast performance and runs better than her previous polycarbonate 2010 13" Macbook with Zorin OS 15.3 on it. Is there a way to upgrade the display to a higher resolution IPS model?

[@xavierdiaz3947]

12:36 how did you install the software to the new hard drive? It looked like you skipped it

[@FamilyGeekery]

If you’re talking about macOS, I usually skip it on camera, but mention that I have some other videos that are step by step on how to install macOS. They are linked in the video description. I also have a playlist on my channel of other helpful tips.

[@blackmangopit]

@@FamilyGeekery couldn't you just use your Time Machine backup to reinstall everything?

[@thurogood]

I followed all your directions step by step but when I turn my MacBook back on, the screen is stuck with a question mark flashing on the screen. Maybe I missed something but I was wondering if you had any insight on how to troubleshoot this problem?

[@fihsakwnorb]

When you turn on the computer you need to hold command and R to get to the recovery screen

[@juanvera4122]

Could you do one for those that are trying to clone but the HD is encrypted from a previous owner. I had bricked mine because of this issue. I would like to know what I should have done. I was able to unbrick it but would be nice to know to learn.

[@kaleidscope927]

I have this same model laptop want to upgrade it to monterey any setbacks I may encounter and do u have a video for that?

[@kjcorder]

I just did this upgrade.. the recovery restart pushed 10.8 5 Mountain lion which has bricked safari and app store spi O i Cosby even get behind the os "upgrade". Luckily i attempted the is upgrade before dwapping drives and accidentally upgraded the corigindl to 10.9 mavericks.. i was able to"restore" this old up now upgraded drive to the new empty ssd then could upgrade to Cataliba. It was a 12 hour battle of trying to connect and research what happened. But it finally worked out. The nice part of the restore is most of my applications were already intact except a handful that weren't compatible on catalina

[@carlosoliveira6089]

Tried this but my mac went to a grey screen with a question mark. Anyone knows how to solve it?

[@irson8981]

Did you use the Catalina patcher for your machine?

[@FamilyGeekery]

I show how to do that in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/joeQZ6Gfq89keMk

[@dried.biscuits]

I have the same exact model macbook pro with the same exact ram, but after i install the 16gb upgrade the laptop powers on but the screen is black. Anyone know why this is happening?

[@FamilyGeekery]

Only thing I can think of is re-seating the ram. Make sure it’s fully seated.

[@TheThreadedVault]

What is the brand name of the ram ?

[@loriannaTn]

I upgraded as youve done but at reboot i get a flashing folder with a question mark inside of it. HELP

[@FamilyGeekery]

The question mark means it can’t find an operating system. What are you trying to boot to? A boot drive, or a new ssd?

[@loriannaTn]

new ssd @@FamilyGeekery

[@FamilyGeekery]

Ok, did you make a boot disk for macOS? Or are you planning on using internet recovery? Either of this methods will get the macOS on your new drive. I have videos on both methods on this channel.

[@loriannaTn]

I just found your cloning old drive to new ssd. Is that what i should do? @@FamilyGeekery

[@loriannaTn]

I did it using the cloning method. Its working great and so much faster. Next Im going to try doing the upgrade to Sonoma. I appreciate your quick response and guidance. @@FamilyGeekery​

[@khal-elplays161]

Good day sir. Is this macbook pro a1278?

[@FamilyGeekery]

Yes it is. The non-retina version.

[@khal-elplays161]

So its upgradable up to 16gb ram? I thought its only up to 8gb ram. 😅

[@FamilyGeekery]

@khal-elplays161 there are many models that Apple said would only go to 8gb. But they do go to 16!

[@khal-elplays161]

Thank you sir for the reply!😊

[@khal-elplays161]

Sir, how about the ssd will it go to 1tb?

[@LordJasonKing]

IM STRUGGLING TO GET A SERIAL NUMBER OFR THE MEMEORY. . IM THE UK AND THAYTLONK DOES NOT DORK ON AMAZON

[@FamilyGeekery]

Just search for the type of ram. 16gb DDR3 1600MHz RAM Make sure they are SODIMMs, not full size. You should be able to find many 2x8gb kits.