I Bought Apple's First Retina Macbook Pro From eBay...

Use code SPICYPILLOW for 30% off batteries @ australia.ifixit.com/ Also find Guides, Parts and Tools at iFixit! ifix.gd/PSIVEWRI
Today we're cleaning up and restoring Apple's first 15" retina Macbook Pro from 2012. How well does this cheap laptop from eBay hold up in 2022? Let's find out :) #apple #laptop #ifixit
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Nathan Sivewright
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Macbook Pro 2012 15" Retina A1398 specifications:
Intel i7 3615QM 2.3GHz (4 Core, 8 Thread) CPU
8GB DDR3L SDRAM 1,600MHz
Nvidia Geforce 650M 1GB Graphics
256GB SSD 6Gbps
15.4" Retina Display 2880x1800

[@psivewri]

Use code SPICYPILLOW for 30% off batteries @ australia.ifixit.com/ Also find Guides, Parts and Tools at iFixit! ifix.gd/PSIVEWRI

[@mztahhan]

hi I am a huge fan by the way what camera do you use and what mic and what is your lighting system

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

does the code work for the US as well?

[@lachietg]

@@EvilTurkeySlices no

[@arpro89]

use alcohol to remove batery

[@danatmonst3594]

I was super excited to hear you say they sold batteries AND they have an aussie outlet now! But.. the only battery they sell is for a Dell? Did you have to special order the battery?

[@auraofazure]

This “birb” guy should do a video with the weird guy with the crazy stories in all of those Dankpods videos.

[@NeoBlizzard]

My thoughts, exactly!

[@dhakiun7689]

The bird should do an collab with Frank.

[@PandamoniuGaming]

I was thinking that it had really big DankPods vibes lol, the humour and voice is spot on

[@ericxxonvf]

@@dhakiun7689 birb

[@mayorplayz]

thought about the same thing as he went into the aussie accent 😂

[@insertnamehere6559]

My old laptop was dying so I got a mid-2012 non-retina. I love this thing. I upgraded the ram, replaced the battery and ssd and spent under $200 AUD overall. Really great machine.

[@DemeDemetre]

How much ram right now?

[@insertnamehere6559]

@@DemeDemetre 8

[@jakebrown4673]

Using one for school. It’s fantastic

[@trmus]

I've been using the Unibody model since 2009, first it was a brand new Core2Duo 2009 Model, then a i5 2011, and now a i7 2012 with 16GB of RAM and dual SSD, i do many things in it, like music production and video edition. A real classic. (No SDD Wear, just replace many times you want) and im running macOS Monterey using OCLP :D

[@Jbscddnz]

Those were good machines until mac OS catalina came around

[@josue5019]

Never imagine I’d see Dankpods review an old GPU around here. Loved it.

[@MrLurchsThings]

I remember when these came out. At the time I was running a 17” and upgraded to this. My experience was that the retina screen was awesome, but after a while I got used to it and then got frustrated with the throttled performance.

[@Claro1993]

Love the DankPods style segment at the end.

[@TriStarIII]

2012 that's when I bought the MacBook Pro I'm still using to this day, I opted for the non Retina matt display DVD drive version though, and it's still in great condition and going strong, I only ever upgraded the hard drive and RAM, i bought a 24" iMac last year and I wouldn't consider it any faster or anything tbh, it's quite shocking how little has changed in the last 10 years especially compared to the previous decade 2002-2012

[@GuillermoPaulman]

It's always nice to see old machines in daily use. The Unibody MacBooks were truly great. I use the 2011 one and still no complaints at all. I would be happy with newer version of Bluetooth and a touch ID, but otherwise there's nothing that would make me want to switch at the moment.

[@TriStarIII]

@@GuillermoPaulman wow good on ya! You're absolutely right, those macbooks were made to last so solid, and they cost almost half of what you will pay for the latest macbook.. unfortunately Apple has slowly but steadily turned into a marketing company, no longer focused on the actual product, we haven't even touched on the new OS, there will never be another Snow Leopard I'm afraid :(

[@joeconti2396]

I like how it went almost full dankpods there towards the end with the "test" video.

[@unknownboy0]

0:40 "These laptop cushions are a great way to ship things, especially laptops" - that was a good pun right there

[@exablob75]

The funny bit with the old graphics card really reminds me of DankPods, you guys should do a video together that would be dope

[@alistairlegge7225]

The 2012-2015 MBPs were the best Apple laptops until the M1s. I have a maxed out 15” from 2014 that has been the best laptop I ever owned. Just upgraded 8 years later and loving the new MBP 16”. Excellent keyboards too on those pre 2015s. The new MBP are like an upgraded pre 2015s which is what i wanted.

[@thedeadlygames9716]

Same thing with the airs, 2012-2015 macbook airs were the best intil M1 aswell. Currently have a 2015 13 inch air &I own a M1 aswell as my main laptop.

[@413X-Records]

10:48 why do I get dankpods vibes here 😅

[@joshworthington6485]

This 15 inch MacBook Pro Retina is quite literally my current computer. I purchased it on launch day, June 2012! Apart from the the fact that the battery is garbage, the thing somehow still works fine?! Actually insane. Intend on finally upgrading this year. 10 years for a computer - that's why you go Apple.

[@nicholashoi3155]

Great video to watch while eating on my desk.

[@binku09]

Same...

[@absolutely1337]

What you eating?

[@tacoanime1711]

I hope you had a tasty meal

[@psivewri]

I should be sleeping, but after editing this video I'm kind of hungry too 🤣

[@johnnyboy55]

Eating lunch at the kitchen table (cajun wings)👍🏻

[@vedantagrawal9530]

Was the ending portion of the video a DankPods reference? It sounded like one of his videos. Absolutely hilarious regardless.

[@lincoln5447]

Love these old Macs, damn near bulletproof! I've got a 2013 macbook air that refuses to die after eight years

[@deadchannelleave2225]

@Mr Ellie nah its probably henry

[@ayaanjamil2248]

I'm still using mine

[@Zebra_Paw]

Yep. The graphics are also Metal supported, so be sure to patch that device to Monterey

[@tractorguy1994]

I love these videos, so relaxing to watch, great quality. All of the above, keep it up!

[@HanabiiiUwU]

You and DankPods should collab at some point! You can take a look at some nuggets, or computers... or nugget computers lol

[@santachickens]

Love the talking clock on the desk

[@MACBoricua]

Wow! Love the video and…you beat me!! I actually got the same one, 15” first Retina display MBP….. and it needs a new battery!!! Was about to do a video on it once I get a new one in Spanish! And has some glitches on the display due to delamination…. Thank you, Psivewri!!! You are awesome!

[@kakakiri2601]

i really like your video, for me this is kinda a relaxing video about repairing things

[@HighPeakMapping]

Its always a good day when Nathan uploads, my 2014 MacBook Pro served me well until it kernel panicked and then the screen never worked again...

[@Zebra_Paw]

It's not worth getting a new laptop just because of this! Did you try PRAM reset and all that shit? Did you try an external monitor?

[@HighPeakMapping]

@@Zebra_Paw you don’t have to act like I’m a dunce; the screen had a fault I couldn’t do anything but replace it. The battery was severely degraded and the performance was sluggish. I actually did use it with an external monitor for over a year while I saved for a new laptop

[@Zebra_Paw]

@@HighPeakMapping OK but then display and battery replacement...

[@HighPeakMapping]

@@Zebra_Paw a display replacement would be £300, a battery replacement £100. That’s £400 overall for an ageing laptop that had just been dropped from software support and was slow as all hell, not worth it especially when considering I got the M1 MacBook Air for £600

[@Zebra_Paw]

@@HighPeakMapping But M1 has a huge problem: SSD is soldered, and stores the firmware, meaning that if it dies your whole MacBook is trash. Apple really shits on you and on the environment there. Buying M1 seems like a hella good idea but it has a dark side that makes it a mistake altogether. Hope you didn't throw away your older and much better 2014 MacBook, as you could still sell it to somebody who needs a logic board but has a working display and battery.

[@Augustprincess24]

I been waiting for your new video for so long 😩

[@jakthebomb]

I do these replacements all the time. I don't use the adhesive remover, I just wedge the plastic cards and shimmy it to break up the adhesive strips. I find this much cleaner.

[@StaticVapour590]

My secondary computer is 15" 2011 MBP with all the bells and whistles(customized to order, like 256GB SSD, matte highres screen.. ) and I bought it used about a year ago I think. It's been barely used. Really solid machine with patched Catalina and disabled dedicated GPU, I use it really sparingly

[@lm_dccxl4078]

7:29 looool its true, nice gold seiko clock

[@3mad0s]

The dankpods style voiceover 😂😅

[@ruz54]

your restoration videos are so COOL Pog

[@theconjuror112]

Wonderful! Great restoration! 😃

[@KeyserTheRedBeard]

impressive upload Psivewri. I smashed the thumbs up on your video. Keep on up the terrific work.

[@kabadisha]

I bought one of these at the time. Upgraded to Ventura and still daily driving it for work as an IT consultant.

[@codrvt]

these videos are awesome 😍🔥

[@jasongualdoni4809]

Another great video! Thanks for all your work. :)

[@SimpleXu]

I have this model since 2012 when it released, still using it today. Very solid laptop.

[@TechVidK]

How is it that everytime, the day after I check if Psivewri uploaded, he uploads a new vid.

[@sch-corp]

75% battery health after 10 years is pretty impressive! I recently replaced the battery in a ~2016 XPS 15 that had only 30% health, and probably saw a similar life to this...thankfully Dell didn't stick those batteries in with adhesive at least. (It also had thermal throttling issues which I solved with liquid metal...well worth the risk IMO).

[@xanderramirez1395]

Apple internals are so aesthetically pleasing

[@lachlanbrown8110]

I had one of these. 16Gb, i7, 512gb. I had it on Mojave as well. It was decent and served me well but I ended up getting frustrated with the bad battery life and constant loud fan noise so I sold it and bought a MacBook Air. I used to play games on it but I always thought it underperformed for the price it cost when new.

[@9inchpp]

7:33 Nice Seiko talking clock you have there

[@AusNetFan13]

I have the mid 2012 Retina 15 MBP model. I’ve upgraded the RAM and SSD. Changed out the Airport/Bluetooth module. Installed Ventura. It’s working great. No problems.

[@MrMeowNow]

Excellent laptop for 2012-2015.. Today its still can handle mid tasks in photoshop. I still dally drive 2015 Retina 13" i7 16gb and it handles photoshop and Lightroom ok, the fans go crazy but its ok. Love the port selection! Great video! thank you

[@jvinot60]

Still using my mid 2014 MBP. Got lucky and got a truly mint condition one. Works grerat for everyday tasks, screen has no delamination and my battery is at about 80%. Thanks for another great video!!

[@acumenium8157]

You should probably get a set of screw extracting pliers. I got an Engineer PZ-57 for my MSI laptop because the heatsink screws came stripped and I needed to desperately clean it out. MSI, known for one thing: Overly tight screws. They bite hard into the screw and, provided you have room (you would have here for instance), you turn the pliers as it eats the screw. Of course the screw can't be put back in, but any method of removing a stripped screw is like that. Neat find and repair!

[@suombong52]

He was an absolute machine on the drums!

[@quintinsmits]

My girlfriend bought one of these in 2013, she has been using it daily ever since. I replaced the battery and keyboard once, but it is still a great machine for her needs (browsing & writing).

[@mattcohlmiaii1043]

I still have this model and use it as my main personal computer. A few upgrades here and there, and the magic of OpenCore, has this computer running the latest macOS Monterey and performing better than ever!

[@jusuftheeagle6772]

wow you took so much care I have a late 2013 retina 15 inch looks identical To change the battery I used a rather large screwdriver and just levered the old battery out. This action destroyed it (the old battery). All the sticky stuff left in there I just put the brand new battery in and let the old sticky hold the new battery. Did not clean a single thing just put the case back on etc and it worked. Thanks to latest update to OCLP it's running Ventura.

[@OLISKIPOPO]

bought one new when they came out- served me well and replaced it with an M1 Max when it came out. Did photo editing super well but it did start showing it's age recently. Funny thing I had the exact same screw strip when trying to repaste it a year ago!

[@Nicobreizh]

Really nice video 👍

[@nslouka90]

This is my laptop! I have the maxed out version that costed around $3k at the time, still in great shape 9/10 but I did have to replace the spicy pillow, It currently runs Catalina.

[@Mbabbb399]

Watching this on my old 2012.. One of the best features of this generation is the keyboard, anytime I have any long form writing todo I use this.

[@jonnyspeed8974]

I still have a 2011 non-retina MBP. It is exceptional. The screen is not washed-out, at all. It also has replaceable battery without the gunk.

[@Merjia]

Watching this on my 2015 13 inch MBP that I bought used last year, man. I lucked out something hard getting my one! Pretty much mint condition, and still runs the latest MacOS.

[@ching-chenhuang8119]

This is my previous MacBook, I bought it in 2013 from Apple website, it was refurbished, not a brand new one, so it did save me a lot of money. I kept using it all the way to the end of last year, and got replaced by the latest M1 Pro. To this day I'm still amazed by it's super thin body, not even the latest M1 Pro can compete.

[@scot0811]

Hi , just started watching your videos , and I gotta say they are very calming and relaxing to watch. By the way , I checked out your Instagram and damn you have a badass FTO .

[@emdotrod]

Wished I can see more of the Birb Productions videos, they have so many potential

[@POTATO-jz5bm]

Your DankPods impression is amazing hehe :)

[@KevinBryanRoldan]

The birb productions segment gave off a dankpods vibe

[@SleepyMechanic]

Finally got an ifixit sponsorship! Nice!

[@domenicmitri]

I had a 3210 13" model when I went to school. It was my first and only mac overall thus far. 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD in 2013 was pretty sweet compared to my desktop at the time and frankly in general, minus the fact that the desktop had a dGPU. Ultimately while now I could easily upgrade a non retina, the retina with a automatic SSD at the time was possibly by greatest spec for spec upgrade. I originally got it for iOS dev before almost all general tools could make apps without actually having an Apple machine and realizing that was not the path my life would take. When I first bought it, it was absolutely banging and one of the best PCs I ever owned period. Unfortunately. software got significantly worse over time and Apple DESTROYED my 4s iPhone, basically killing off desire to full send the ecosystem. That + my need for just a Windows or Unix based machine meant I could not justify keeping it around when I could buy a "shitbox + SSD" for cheaper. I wound up thus far with a 3070 90 Watt laptop. I still miss the macbook here and there. It would not have gotten the proper treatment from me OS wise so I hope it brought someone else joy. But man if it was not a solid laptop between all supported MacOS versions, Win7, Win8, and Win10 (also Win10 on a USB 2.0 drive... Yikes.).

[@FourSpartan]

Me watching this on my recently bought 2011 MacBook Pro still love the unibodys

[@rollsroycer123rbx9]

We had a "water damaged" mid 2012 13" with a Core i7 and 8GB of RAM. We tried booting it up recently and it worked kinda, after some time I found out that if I unplug the keyboard it would work perfectly with an external keyboard. I've put in an SSD, now I just need to replace the keyboard and it's a fully working Mac again.

[@KingMooseThe3rd]

I still have my 2015 MBP Retina. It's had a new battery since I bought it but that's all it's really needed. Honestly incredible that it still works perfectly. Only downside is the RAM and SSD is soldered, so it isn't going to last another 7 years. I'm still mad that the Retina Model didn't SAY MACBOOK PRO ON THE BEZEL.

[@herr-a5460]

I own a 2015 MBP too. The SSD is actually upgradable! There were some problems with the macOS Monterey upgrade when using it with a third party SSD though.

[@niZmosis]

I bought this when it came out and just recently upgraded to the M1 Max. The retina is still holding up strong.

[@Reeeepicheep]

Still have the first retina 15” MBP running Ventura and yeah it still works well

[@jayb2705]

I bought a M1 Macbook Pro a while ago, it makes me wonder if that thing will last 10 years. All that power while the fan doesn't even need to turn on, the switch to ARM is a game changer.

[@jlpeng9036]

bro. im literally using this exact same model watching your channel rn...

[@Laluan]

This is just my usual laptop I use every day.. Still works fine

[@Rhzerr]

i've got this laptop, i used a loophole to get the newest MacOS on it and its actually crazy how good it runs

[@Bernoeofficial]

I still use a 2015 Retina. The last one before touch bars and that junk. Have to say thermals were never an issue for me, even with heavier tasks. The machine runs cool and quiet.

[@zachg9065]

I have a 2013 13" Pro, I put a new battery in it and it still works decent for web browsing, Word and Excel.

[@givenchyhomme8694]

11:35 That looks so nice. Even better than the 2021 models.

[@LovelyAlanna]

U still alive, nice

[@vinceventresca6719]

I watched this video, watched the 8-bit guys video, then saw your comment about the seiko clock and had to come back to find it as I didn't notice it the first time. So cool looking, 7:28 for anyone else looking

[@razgill6507]

I just stopped using my 2012 retina 15 a couple of months ago, a decade of non stop use, other then a screen replacement under warranty and a fan replacement a couple of years ago have hade no problems with it always kept my hands warm (: still works like the day i bought it

[@everythingisfunz]

Just got one of these out of e waste that is a fully maxed out model. 2.7ghz i7, 16gb ram, 750gb ssd, and the dual graphics. Only 250 cycles on the battery and it appears to have been replaced in 2021 according to the date code on it. So excited to play around with it some more soon.

[@CaieJay]

i am getting dankpod vibes from the test edit

[@SongsNation_yt]

Loved it

[@KaisuiSTFC]

I still rocking my 2014 15inch upgraded retina macbook pro, still awesome for music production with ableton 11, 16 of ram 750nvidia i7 2.8 and upgraded with 1tb crucial m2 ssd, its a good machine for what i need, sometimes i edit 4k video with davinci resolve and some proxys and still doing great, looking for a new m1 pro but my pocket cant afford it yet, still love my machine a lot.

[@maddmaxx636]

I have the same MacBook Pro. I used Liquid Metal on it. It helped, but not as much as I hoped. It also didn't last. So I replaced it with high-end thermal paste.

[@giotherandomtype]

i actually have a late 2012 retina macbook, it runs great and it’s my main laptop, although the battery was in bad health, and 2 keys fell off and the display was dent but some of it was fixable

[@bobfromsoireegames4309]

Great video, mayyyte. Shrimps on the barbie for you!

[@nathankline4025]

This MacBook Pro seems to be VERY similar to my 2021 14' MacBook Pro.Pretty interesting how there took inspiration from this one + customer feedback and made a great NEW MacBook Pro.

[@watercannonscollaboration2281]

This laptop taught me that you can strip Torx screws… if the previous owner left it so dirty that the screws get corroded. 4:57 you can also try to use pliers to grasp and twist the screw out

[@mimikyoo]

gotta love the peak Aussie

[@turbojobo]

I loved to do this to my old mac laptops, Intel macs where nice to upgrade but since M1 I will never own an intel mac again. Not only are they faster, quiet and battery lasts me a week with my use using it 3-4 hrs a day.

[@drmrmcmister]

2:17 Man are these small MacBook Airs cute!

[@yungfella666]

As someone whos wanted a macbook since this one and just got one last december with the 14 inch m1 pro im glad i waited all these years cause damn them bezels are huge lol

[@GhastUnity]

bought the 15'' 2015 MacBook Pro and used it hard until I've replaced it recently with the 13'' M1 MBP, it was used very heavily, most of the time under the extremely hot and humid conditions. it was a tank. refused to die. retired it because I want something abit lighter and long battery life.

[@tobiaslofi]

Still using my 20212 Retina MacBook Pro for music production, 1080p video editing in Premiere Pro, live streaming with Ecamm Live and web surfing ... the battery lasts only 5-10min but everything else is still great.

[@janfelixvs]

SLI is the future - will always be 😁

[@siamfoxtyson3793]

I still own a mid 2015 Macbook Pro since brand new. Sadly it's had it's last MacOS update this year, and I'm pretty sure next year I can't update any further. But my Macbook stays with me till it quits

[@ecklere5690]

Still using my 2012 15" Retina MacBook Pro and have no issues with it, only the battery also needs a service and doesn’t hold a lot of charge.

[@jackconrad4814]

Recently dusted off my Mid-2015 15” and it’s quite solid under Monterey. I did end up getting the battery replaced for random shutdowns but the actual battery life is incredible with the new OS. With new paste the processor seems to be doing a lot better but I didn’t look too closely into it, it went from ass to slightly less ass at gaming lol.

[@xalataf3365]

I’ve been dailying one of these, a 2.6GHz model with 8GB RAM on Mojave (because Catalina is just horrible). As I came from a late-2011 a1278, aka a furnace, the fan noise and it also being a furnace didn’t really bother me that much, and neither was the new battery I put in (actually far better than my old Pro or even my ‘12 Air)… what did was the occasional kernel panic from sometimes when it switches GPUs. Otherwise, good machine, but I probably wouldn’t recommend you get one. Edit: Oh god! You stripped the exact same screw I did on the heatsink! Yeah, that’s why my unit stayed in storage until I got some screw extractor kit. Absolutely frustrating.

[@photoniccannon2117]

That birb's productions video was absolutely hilarious.

[@unknownboy0]

The Birbs Production video looks quite good actually

[@mattrichardson4351]

Am I feeling a bit of dankpods vibe at the end 🤣🤣

[@paincreatesfame]

My brother still has a 13-inch 2012 macbook, works perfectly fine and he uses it to this day!

[@Scarrus666]

Thinking of getting one of these(the 2014 model with 16Gb Ram) until I can afford the 16 MBP. Will be using it for basic stuff(word processing, browsing, KZbin, etc.) and some coding which I believe it should handle without problem.