Testing the BEST upgrades for used MacBooks!

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Today we're putting some of the top MacBook upgrades to the test: when people buy older retina MacBook Pros, they often wonder if an SSD upgrade or new thermal paste is a good idea. Well, today we'll answer those questions! With the help of iFixit, we're going to give a 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro a huge upgrade :)
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[@vitorviana_ES]

Don't forget to disconnect the battery before follow this steps. This is very important to avoid any kind of electrical issues on MacBook.

[@MR.BONES007]

That kind of happened to my MacBook I unplugged the battery to clean the fan and when I plugged the battery back in I heard a pop I started to panic and when I pressed the power button I heard the boot chime but the screen was black so I left the MacBook on my shelf for 3-4 months before picking it up and pressing the power button and it turned on. Lol

[@vitorviana_ES]

@@MR.BONES007 hopeless situation!!! kkkkk

[@sihamhamda47]

And also you must press the power button for several seconds after disconnecting the battery to ensure all power is gone in the motherboard (because motherboard has many capacitors that can hold a fraction of electricity for several minutes after disconnected from power source)

[@vitorviana_ES]

@@sihamhamda47 Yes. Correctly!!

[@user-jt6xh2ln9z]

also cleaning the fans...

[@neilquinn]

There's something super satisfying about upgrading old machines like this

[@walpoleandworcester]

Reminds me of when I upgraded my company PC with a new NVME SSD. I also used a similar enclosure and besides having to reinstall Windows 10, the process wasn’t too bad. Very straightforward! It had a very slow HDD before! Made all the difference!

[@Amosan435]

👇

[@Denastus]

If you upgrade your company PC, the IT department will know that you did it. We are able to see hardware changes in real time.

[@bobbob-gi1yp]

The 2 tb upgrade is still very nice to have from the stock 200-500gb, and for the thermal paste its definitely based on the design of the cooler that Apple uses

[@Sirmellowman]

if you think about it, its really impressive the thermal paste they were using that long ago is holding up against the modern stuff. there has been some real advances in thermal paste in that time. It almost makes me think that someone may have already put something fresh in there. if not thats really impressive.

[@panzer3279]

His testing methodology is flawed. He did not set a constant fan curve. Also, the tests should have been done with the same laptop, once before repasting and other after that.

[@poloziki9990]

I used to work as a Macbook technician (I used to fix them). And the biggest difference after repasting macbooks the biggest difference is in acoustic performance. And you completely omitted this aspect!

[@LeoGarciaMusic]

I repasted my 13" Macbook Pro and it made a huge difference. Before that the fan was spinning at full speed all the time and I noticed a bad performance (audio CPU demanding applications). After repasting everything went incredibly smoother, performs a lot better and the fan now is always quiet. Be aware of fake branded thermal paste flooding the market, though.

[@Patricia-kk8tr]

Take note that Luke installed Monterey before swapping out SSD for the non proprietary one. There are a lot of threads in Apple community about SSD crashing after upgrading to Monterey. According to one poster, Monterey Installer contains an EFI Boot ROM that verifies if an Apple Original Drive is the Destination Drive which the Western Digital Drive is NOT. The EFI Boot ROM must Flash the Computer and NOT the Drive itself. Without the Flashing of Computer process taking place - the Installation may fail or abort or in your case Crash the System.

[@JC-zw4bw]

1. So we must update the original SSD to Monterey first ? 2. then install Monterey on the second drive 3. then install the second drive into the computer.

[@JustinThibodeaux-v3n]

​@@JC-zw4bwin most cases, if you still have the original apple ssd installed or on hand, you would want to update to Monterey first before upgrading to a third party ssd. As mentioned, if the base system isn't already updated, when you try to update to Monterey via third party ssd, the install will proceed as normal but then will give you an error stating the ssd is not compatible. With this model you can update to big sur via third party ssd without issue but the base system has to be updated to go further. Or as mentioned use OpenCore

[@josephregallis3394]

I upgraded my 2013 laptop from a 500GB HDD to a 500GB SSD and upgraded my wife's older laptop's 256GB HDD to 256GB SSD with amazing results! I love getting large performance gains from small upgrades! I would not think of upgrading paste for the CPU. I'm thinking about going with a MacBook 16" Pro next time because of the efficiency and quiet fan. My laptop can make a lot of noise with it's i7 when it gets hot!

[@michaelolz]

I swear, the layout of the inside of a MacBook Pro is suitable for framing. It's just pretty.

[@cgi2173]

Just completed my 1tb SSD upgrade on my 15 inch mid 2014 Macbook Pro. Got a 1tb Samsung 970 Evo Plus. Double the read/write speed of the Apple SSD. 😃

[@Freep-m2l]

I bought a macbook this exact model and did the ssd upgrade. I was shocked and in disbelief how cheaply it was engineered and designed! The thing that gave it away cheaply was the fragile, extremely short screws. Plus the rubber and plastic around the screen was melting off due to heat.

[@commanderkeen7448]

Don't forget the battery. I just replaced the battery in my 2014 MacBook Pro and it made a world of difference. Mine was shot anyway. Luckily Apple had the part in stock so I got the OEM battery. iFixit sells a battery replacement kit too.

[@nicholasbriolabriola_f20]

You can get the battery direclty from apple?

[@nikotakai8796]

I saw many bas reviews for the iFixit battery though ...

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Battery install is fiddly, personally in the UK since you can pay Apple £199 to replace the battery it's the better option. That way, as they replace the entire topcase you also get a brand new keyboard and trackpad into the bargain, super nice if the haptic magnets on the trackpad are starting to weaken. Probably for the best too because getting that adhesive off from under the batteries is a ballache.

[@cgi2173]

@@garydiamondguitarist I just replaced the battery in my 15 inch MBP. Pain in the arse, but I wanted to do it myself. 😃

[@justanormaluser1535]

I did the same tests on a 2015 MacBook Air. I unscrewed the fan and cleaned its inside. Then I replaced the thermal paste with a really good quality one. That made the MacBook 5% better in benchmarks. I also installed software to control the fan speed. Why? Because Apple intentionally keeps the fan very low as not to disturb you. But this drastically sacrifices performance. Most of the time even with a higher speed you still won’t hear the fan. That gave it another 5%. In the end the score increased by about 10%. But my machine was also very dirty on the inside. Still, I think everyone should do this on their computers from time to time. Even if there is no speed increase, a cooler chip is a chip that lasts longer.

[@emilsecker7881]

Holy crap, a whole 5% 😂😂😂

[@justanormaluser1535]

@@emilsecker7881 That's not a small improvement? what did you except when you're not changing any component at all?

[@emilsecker7881]

@@justanormaluser1535 it really is lol

[@ted356]

I like how you can really tune the old Macbook Pro, playing with things like the fan speed, etc. Really, it's all a matter of how much you want to draw down the battery to get it to run better. If you run it from AC all the time, you can really tweak things up. I am sure Apple engineers did a lot of tinkering and making decisions on how fast and hot to run these things, as a trade off for battery life. Fortunately, we the tools available, we can setup the system to be the best for what we want to do.

[@smithyoftherust]

Honestly, one really shouldn't expect a performance boost from repaste, but I treat it as a maintenance item. In theory, yes, OEM paste should last a while, but you also have no idea what the previous owner did to it, if the paste really is still good, etc. Doing it is cheap insurance on your end; it's now a known quantity that you know is good. Throw it on the yearly maintenance schedule and enjoy your newly refurbished kit.

[@zizlog_sound]

I repasted my mid 2014 MBP after 8.5 yrs and the OEM thermal paste was bone dry. And even in 2023 it’s still a decent machine w/ 16GB of RAM and a quad core CPU.

[@ted356]

Appreciate the effort! Very helpful to those of us with that era of Macbook Pro. I haven't upgraded my SSD yet, but it's on the list. One of the most recommended NVMe SSDs for the Macbook Pro is the SK Hynix P31 Gold. According to what I've read, it offers excellent performance and outstanding power management. If you want to run on battery for as long as possible, it's a good candidate.

[@ash.mystic]

Wouldn’t it be better to test the same MacBook before and after, rather than compare it to a different MacBook? Even if they are the same model and specs, there might be slight variations in performance, especially if they are older and well-used.

[@artilleryisbetter]

bump

[@jadamsnz]

I did something similar in that I upgraded my mid 2015 15" using a kit from OWC which included a 1TB SSD and external case. Unlike the iFixit kit the OWC didn't require an adaptor for the SSD as the one supplied was specifically made for the Mac. Installation was fine and the new SSD worked fine. What wasn't was that the old SSD didn't work in the external case. It turned out that there were a number of suppliers of the original Mac SSD and the Samsung version I had wasn't compatible. Symptoms were that it formatted as APFS fine but eventually started failing with file copying until it would no longer mount. OWC were happy to take back the case and give a refund but shipping would have cost more than that refund. The approach in this video looks good but I suspect that the old SSD won't fit in the external enclosure because of the proprietary Apple connector and adding an appropriate adopter would then make it too long for the enclosure (unless the case can take 110mm SSDs).

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Interoperability of SSDs can be an issue on the machines themselves too, not just when put in an enclosure with an adapter. For example, G series Apple SSDs (as found in the 2015 rMBPs) when placed into 2014 rMBPs which shipped with F series often work fine with macOS but then have problems completing a Boot Camp install. I can't help but wonder if it's something to do with EFI problems causing the Windows install to fail.

[@bmwman1029]

The thing that drives me more insane than anything is the anti reflective coating coming off these. I thought nothing of it when I bought my perfect example and it STILL happened to me. I had to buy a whole new screen and sell my old one cause I even tried using the Listerine method and some of the coating still wouldn't come off. Highly recommend a screen protector for anyone interested in these.

[@Chreative427]

Wait, you used Listerine to protect the coating or to strip the coating?

[@bmwman1029]

@@Chreative427 strip the coating

[@rrrichiexl]

Got it fixed under the recall option, and that screen is still ok, but that the recall has expired now.

[@nintendokings]

I used baby wipes and got the ugly coating off in like 10min. Well worth it, it’s very pretty now and cost nothing. It’s just a tad more reflective

[@daroldmorris4962]

@@nintendokings Learned something new, used baby wipes and worked very well. Thanks for this awesome tip!!!

[@Mvendrel]

I have a 2015 maxed out MacBook Pro 15” I bought almost new 5 years ago. I paid more than $300 then ;-) It is perhaps the best laptop I’ve ever owed for my needs as I need Windows and MacOS. I upgraded with OWC 2TB SSD and split that 50/50 with Windows 10 and Mac OS using BootCamp. It works flawlessly although best to use mouse when in Windows. When I don’t need windows I have a used 2020 MacBook Pro 13” M1 maxed out highest stock with 16GB ram, etc. I know new it’s not the best value but I got it mint used at extremely good price about a year ago (~$900).

[@odie7764]

The thermal paste is a good shout, I'd never thought of that. Just bought my daughter a used macbook air.

[@beam2779]

Watching your videos helped me pick out the right mac. I super happy with my Mac Studio. I got the low model and Logics and all my plugins work phenomenal. Kudos to you and your videos. Subbed

[@advaithmenon1002]

Hey Luke! One thing to always keep in mind is to disconnect the battery before doing any other work inside the machine. Aside from that, I found that you can't update the system firmware with 3rd party SSDs. Apple being apple, only lets you update the firmware with an Apple SSD in the Mac. This probably wouldn't be a problem if you're already on the latest version of Monterey. I'm stuck on Big Sur on my 2015 13", and I can't update to Monterey just because I can't update the firmware. So, keep the original SSD with you, just incase.

[@2egenjerry]

I’m pretty sure Big Sur was the last update for the 2015s that’s what I had

[@cgi2173]

@@2egenjerry 2015's can go up to Monterey. I have the mid 2014 MBP. It only goes up to Big Sur. 😃

Next time upgrade the AirPort as well, extra content and great improvements; such as unlocking with apple watch/faster wifi-bt etc.

[@logaandm]

My experience with Thermal Grizzly is different than with your thermal paste. Temperatures were lower all around with less fan noise. Also, I've been using Thermal Grizzly for years and it stays good for at least three years while the Apple stock paste dries out. So, Thermal Grizzly, at least, is an upgrade in thermal paste quality. However, overall speed remained similar between the stock paste and Thermal Grizzley. This is because MacOS will run the CPU at the limits and then becomes more power limited rather than temperature limited. Since thermal paste is pretty cheap, as even a small tube is good for many applications, I think the lower temperatures and less fan noise are worth the small amount of work to change the thermal paste for these older MacBooks. My son changed to Thermal Grizzly and cleaned his fans on a gaming laptop. Again no notable speed difference, but the temperature went down over 25 degC and his fan noise went way down. New MacBooks where the logic board has to be removed to change the thermal paste the calculus might be different but if you have to remove the logic board for some reason (like changing the battery) then I think it's always a good idea to change the paste to something like Thermal Grizzly. No I don't work for Thermal Grizzly. I just really like it.

[@JDFloyd]

For my executive day job, I still use a 2015 15" MBP, maxed out - 16gb & 2tb. I did the same upgrade about 3-years ago. This use-case does not require any post-production processing, only MS Office desktop & web applications. I was able to get a second matching MBP as a backup. I do not see a need to upgrade my office MBP until it dies. I would have upgraded my desk to a 13" M1 MBA, but due to the lack of native dual-monitor (external) support, it is not a viable option. Should the rumored 15" M-series MBA come with native dual-monitor support, then that might be worth a change. For my photography work, I use a maxed out 16" M1 Max MBP.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

From my point of view you made a wise choice, because I bought both a 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 15" (2.8GHz/1TB Apple SSD) and a 2020 MacBook Air M1 to run for a couple of weeks, alternating every day to see which one came out on top. The Retina did. Performance on the M1 Air was that little bit better and it was certainly more portable, but *ugh* Apple still aren't getting the keyboards right even after going back to scissor switch mechanisms. For someone who types tens of thousands of words a day, that just wasn't right, and I agree, two external displays is better than one especially for audio production/video editing. Sold the M1 Air for a modest profit in the end too 😎

[@JDFloyd]

@@garydiamondguitarist - similar issues for me. I also have an M1 13" MBA, which I use as my travel laptop (I am a consultant, so on a flight weekly) that perfectly fits the airline tables, and in my Tumi bag.

[@riccardoplatone]

Last year I switched to Mac but I still have my old Windows PC laying around as a backup for data transfer and other stuff even though it was running very slow. I had an HDD inside of it and it failed, but since it was still functioning I tried to swap it for an SSD and it just blew my mind: not only it's esponentially faster but it's also the quietest it has ever been, and it took me 20 euros and 10 minutes to do the upgrade without having opened a PC in my entire life.

[@eggy1711]

Good video, you may want to try a better Thermal Paste. A lot of people use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme has better thermal conductivity of 14.2KW which may help you out, a good video to see which works better. also, the new Samsung 990 PRO SSD are out they say best best power efficiency and made it alot better. Maybe a good head-to-head to see does speed thing up. keep the videos coming

[@brunofietze9600]

Would you recommend samsung 990 on these older macbooks ?

[@eggy1711]

@@brunofietze9600 I got one , Samsung advertises lower latency and lower power use but it's PCI Express 4 so the old laptop will never take advantage of all the speed it has. I ended up building a window system with a new Ryzen 7700x just waiting on a video card to finish it. You should be able to get a Samsung PCI Express 3 for a lot cheaper now.

[@alienrefugee51]

6:26. Please... unplug your Mac's internal battery before doing any work inside of it. This is basic stuff and will help you avoid a disaster. And you need to clean both the CPU die and heatsink with 91% or greater Isopropyl alcohol, before re-applying the thermal paste.

[@davidg5898]

I did these same upgrades (+ new battery) to mine a few years ago and there is a slight benefit to repasting, but only on lighter loads or very quick heavy loads. The system will idle at lower temps and boost for longer. But for long duration heavy loads, my results are the same as yours: it's effectively a wash.

[@alejandrorey359]

Yeah the thermal paste upgrade definitely won't show much improvement if you can't tweak the fan curves as well. Heat dissipation from the cpu die to the heat sink might be more efficient, but if the fans can't dissipate that heat from the heat sink fast enough then what's the point.

[@SavageRacerX]

The stock fan curve from Apple is not good for the CPU temps. I would try using Macs Fan Control app to keep temps around 60-70C to see if performance is better with the new thermal paste. Thanks for the Intel Power Gadget, now I can monitor CPU details better :)

[@rrrichiexl]

Yep, same I here, customized the curve to start cooling sooner, makes a bit more sound, but a lot more comfy on the lap.

[@zoltanvarga1967]

Great show Luke, and thank you so much for making this video, by the way I did ask Luke to make a video about the paste/upgrade on the 15inch retina. Thanks again and happy holidays Luke! ❤️👍🏼

[@iblackfeathers]

two reasons to go with an earlier os are: 1. software compatibility 2. privacy concerns with telemetry and apple id requirements. example: quicktime 7 is needed for some work even in 2022. it is supported up to Mojave. 32 bit apps run better in certain situations.

[@emilsecker7881]

2 isn’t that bad. Mojave isn’t supported anymore

[@BilisNegra]

So how much you think you'd need to go back not to have those "privacy concerns with telemetry"? Sure enough not a couple of versions (nor 3, nor 4...). You'd have to go with an old-ass version then? I'll say... bullshit.

[@davidwilliams4845]

So, you got an upgrade kit that didn't work in your MacBook without an adapter, with an external case that doesn't work with the removed SSD?

[@aceacejo6114]

Windows system can also do the same process you are saying. Windows systems can be cloned and can be run on an external drive, you can use minipartition tool to do the cloning process. It is useful for storage upgrade.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

True, but what amazes me about macOS is that you can often run it from a USB drive or migrate from one Mac to another. I dropped the SSD from my 2014 MBA into a 2015 rMBP to test and although the first boot took longer, everything worked. Driver support was all there for the WiFi, Bluetooth etc. Considering Apple have a reputation for making things like that difficult, that did amaze me.

[@Jonnyd05]

Macbook pro 15 2015 dedicated graphics are still one of the most popular ones having a changeable ssd really does help its a shame macbooks were all soldered from that point there really is no need for it

[@ToddJohnson-b5d]

While yes, you CAN just clone your drive with Disk Utility, it's actually more advisable - since some folk who are watching this are going to be upgrading a drive that they've been actually USING on their MacBook for ages and just want a bigger drive - to do a fresh install on the new SSD, and use Migration Assistant to move your personal effects and settings. There's a reason for this; because you leave behind a lot of the root and system level crap, caches, etc, when you use Migration Assistant and choose just Applications and the User. Your fresh drive will run MacOS better, verified, with a fresh install, not just a clone of a long-used boot drive.

[@RbAgsts718]

It’s a brand new computer. The kit looks really useful. On the M2 you can use the thermal for over heating.

[@doge8676]

When I changed the thermal paste on two of these the fans stopped blowing constantly to once in while.

[@dirkonnokia944]

Hey Luke, an other cool video! I just love video's and information on upgrading old MacBooks because they are very usuable for 90% of users that never do any demanding tasks on any computer. It is cool having a computer with 2 TB storage. When I my current machine gets damaged I simply buy an other one and swap better parts.

[@sethie_shots]

Killer resource video for me. I’m finally upgrading my dual 2012 mbp 15’s. I’m actually between a 2019 & 2015. Leaning newer. Cheers!

[@TwoTooStupidGuys]

On this "old" machines you can also use a hand full of thermal pads to let the MacBook dissipate heat through the bottom cover (at the CPU itself and where the fan fins are). Combined with Macs Fan Control (custom fan curve) you can always improve temps by at least 10° to 15° and gain up to 20% performance (in the most used benchmarks).

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Please tell me there's links for this, it's totally a mod I would do to mine. Even with new thermal paste the 2.8GHz QC i7 in mine throttles to 80% under sustained Cinebench test (and same applies when rendering out in FCPX too). Might make the logic board last longer too since it's running in dGPU mode most of the time.

[@artilleryisbetter]

sauce?

[@TwoTooStupidGuys]

@@garydiamondguitarist Just go through Luke Miani's videos and look for the video where he mods the MacBook Air M1 (or M2?) with a thermal pad. Open up your MacBook and look where the CPU is, remove a square of the black shielding on the inside of the bottom cover and apply a 1,5mm or 2,0mm thermal pad where the CPU is and where the fan fins are. In combination with a custom fan curve your Mac will be a lot cooler and more quiet. Long story short: Make sure your CPU and the heat pipes are connected to the bottom cover through a thermal pad.

[@adriantraczyk]

Thanks a lot, upgraded my MacBook Pro 13 late a1502 to 1TB nvme, I’m very excited

[@zhunhuang2258]

hi,luke,thank you!Merry Christmas to you!

[@redkurn]

coming from a bench technician, oem uses the cheapest garbage paste that will last long enough for you to buy another machine. you completely missed how long the stock machine stayed at a higher temp than the repaste. i just did this today and the paste was as dry as clay. noctua nt-h1 to save the day.

[@loonator1995]

The problem of almost any notebook is not the thermal paste but the heatsink and the thermal exhaust power. Thats why it scored better in the first run. When the heatsink is still cold or rather not as hot the better thermal conductivity makes a difference. On sustained tasks that does not matter at all because the heatsink is the bottleneck.

[@oof56000]

one upgrade you could have tried with the 15 inch pro is thermal pads on the heatsink much like the mods done on the m1 mba's and it gives some performance

[@stefanvasilev9318]

So, just to be sure - connect the new SSD, erase it, clone it, and then just put it in the MacBook and it starts up normally, exactly as would the old one?

[@brbhave2p00p4]

Don't forget to clean your internals from dust, especially the fans

[@mayorplayz]

I just got a MacBook Pro 2022 16 GB ram, fuck upgrades, fuck buying an old one and upgrading it, I love my laptop as is and I plan on using this puppy for then next 7 years non stop.

[@emilsecker7881]

The 13 inch M2?

[@cgi2173]

Fricking good for you. They are killer machines. A lot of us cannot afford them. That's why we upgrade the ones we already have. Another thing....the only way you can upgrade your 2022 M1 or M2 MBP/Air is by selecting higher specs before buying.

[@mayorplayz]

@@emilsecker7881 yessir

[@mayorplayz]

@@cgi2173 I know haha, that's why I just went for the 16 GB ram model, 256 GB will suffice for me cuz my old 128 GB 2017 MacBook Air had like 50 gbs left after 5 years of usage

[@emilsecker7881]

@@mayorplayz nice. Enjoy it

[@fjdkfdfjdf33]

When you pulled out that second macbook pro, I got some Julia Child vibes like when she takes out the finished meal from the oven.

[@prntm926]

I dont use desktop thermal paste on a laptop, instead use something like honeywell ptm7950. Solid under 40c, liquid above that temp. Linus tech tips did review on it, basically performs like liquid metal without the risk of liquid metal.

[@signofthehammer2640]

Testing the UNIQUE upgrade you mean

[@garydiamondguitarist]

I still think Apple should do with this era of MacBook what they did with the iPhone and reuse the chassis/some of the components. Ever heard of the iPhone SE range? How about 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 15" and 13" chassis with M1 Max and M2 chipsets in them? I'd take the crappier 720p FaceTime HD camera and less bassy speakers for the smaller but nicer feeling trackpad and that wonderful Retina keyboard, personally... you could call it the MacBook Pro SE or MacBook Pro Classic. I know for a fact Apple are still making these things because I had my top spec 2.8GHz QC i7/1TB Apple SSD/16GB RAM model recased for a battery replacement recently and the manufacture date of the top case is May 2022.

[@ColinsCity]

I have thought the same thing, for the classic i would love the 17" screen with optical drive and the 11,000mah battery which i think would last a really long time especially if it's running apple silicon

[@MXCN_El1011]

7:35 Apple: get bent idiot, pay me thats why

[@TJK152]

The 2015s do not support macOS Ventura so using Opencore Legacy Patcher will let you patch macOS Ventura on them.

[@somaday2595]

Ohhh, I wish I had read you comment regarding Opencore Legacy Patcher. I had read and watched videos about the need to install firmware for the Mac to recognize the NVMe interface, but not mentioned a patcher.. My long path => I picked up several Macbook Pro mid 2015s that had the original SSDs removed. Not being an Apple person since several disasters on the original Macintosh decades ago, I thought a 500 or 1000GB SATA or NVMe SSD M.2 would be a reasonable upgrade, but not so fast. An adapter to accept the NVMe was installed along with an SSD on a short list of recommended SSDs, (some popular SSDs not on the list were found later to not work). But an NVMe driver was needed. Soooo, installed an Apple 128GB ACHI (?) SSD, downloaded OS X 10.3, upgraded to OS 12.6.8 (Monterey), and Restored to Crucial P1 1TB NVMe, (on the recommended list), using a NVMe reader/ copier; NVMe installed into Macbook Pro using the M.2 adapter. And so it goes.

[@kennnnnnnnnnneh3687]

@@somaday2595bro make a video abt it

[@RbAgsts718]

The M2 Mack was on sale for $999.00 for like two days on Amazon but only in space grey. Everything else was $1049.00.

[@itsonepixel]

"mack"

[@MrPnew1]

@@itsonepixel yeah that's a truck 😀

[@garydiamondguitarist]

The Space Grey M1 Air is the most ubiquitous modern MacBook ever at this point, since we're on the subject of finish colour.

[@itsonepixel]

@@MrPnew1 Imagine buying a truck for $999 with an m2 chip in the dashboard

[@kenjifox4264]

So where can we get the same OEM paste Apple uses? And, the paste is made to last a long time, but it doesn’t last forever. So at what point should the cpu be reposted regardless ?

[@SimisearOfficial]

Just curious, especially with unsupported Macs like stuff from 2008, would you consider making a video about installing Linux on them and comparing a lightweight Linux Distro like Mint/Lubuntu/Linux Lite versus MacOS?

[@garydiamondguitarist]

I'd love to see Luke do a video like that, and I bet he knows his way around a couple of the more popular distros. The way I look at it, legacy Macs are useful up to a point - it's the ones that lack Metal support (general rule of thumb is pre-2012 MacBooks) and can't be OCLP'd well that suffer so you'd be better off with a decent Linux to make use of the older and still somewhat capable hardware.

I have one of these with a bad hard drive bus. The bus to the CD bay is faulty as well. Got it for free. First installed Linux on a thumb drive so it boots from it as if it were the regular hard drive. However, I’m not pleased with how many of the newer distros are making it a PITA to do some basic things like enable restricted drivers for instance. I’m going to have to research to figure out what distros give the user basic privileges that what I believe should be standard. Like sudo, I mean really? If I wanna break my system, I should have that freedom. There was an arch based distro I saw that seemed promising.

I have the KDE version of Ubuntu Studio running on a 2008 dual core Mac mini with maxed out RAM and an SSD and it runs SLICK, very snappy window animations with hot corners set up so they are the same as my macs. There are things that drive me nuts about finder/preview so I use it for batch processing large JP2 files with xnconvert. I LOVE nomacs and wish that it was available for the mac os. I’m really impressed with how well the newest KDE runs on that ancient machine. I got a Magic Trackpad recently to see if it would help me resolve my issues with preview but left it at my other office. Going to try and use it to pinch and zoom in and out on images. Ok I’ll shut up now. 🤣🤣🤣

[@SimisearOfficial]

@ That sucks, I hope you’re able to find a distro that gives good user access and is lightweight

I replied to one of the other comments accidentally last night saying that I’m really impressed with how well KDE works on older macs. I have a mac mini from 2008, dual core, maxed out on ram and it handles window animations like hot corners (set up like my macs), which is native in KDE. I had to dig to find the settings. Even while performing sizeable processor tasks like converting large images, everything runs pretty snappy!

[@pattskatoey3139]

You didn’t cover battery drain Luke. In my 13” 2015 I must say I haven’t really noticed it running faster after the upgrade.

[@movdqa]

That is a cool kit from iFixit but I chose another approach. I set up a home NAS a few years ago and it allows me to use MacBooks with small SSDs. It also makes old Macs with HDDs viable, as long as they have a lot of RAM. I still have a 2015 MacBook Pro as a backup but I am planning on selling it soon as my primary is a 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16 32/1 and it's just a fabulous system. I would consider keeping the 2015 if I could upgrade it to 32 GB of RAM.

[@paidgigs]

Your the best! Thanks

[@runningslowman]

Great video and timely since I just purchased two 2015 MBP 15" and I love em! They both have a 1TB stock drive but I could benefit from a 4TB (2TB will not buy me enough space). I'm wondering if there is enough room to add a 4tb SSD rather than a 2TB. I haven't heard anyone talk about adding a 4TB SSD and am thinking the 4TB SSDs may be double sided and will not fit. I guess it is possible that the machine will not address 4TB. Any idea?

[@bobgrimes8618]

I took your video on the 2012 13" Macbook Pro and added 16 gigs of ram and a 512 meg SSD.

[@emilsecker7881]

Time to upgrade that thing. macOS Catalina is no longer supported

[@jierenzheng7670]

Pity that the new MBPs can't be upgraded the same way, despite being faster and all, but the longevity of the system is in question, or need changes, sometimes all we need is more RAM or storage, no need to create more ewaste by buying an entire new system if the old was working fine.

[@HisLifeInVideos]

Hey Luke! Could you turn around the viewfinder? It’s distracting when you look not into the camera ☺️ Loved the video!

[@LellePrinter82]

Great video. Many years ago I saved a faulty 15inch macbook pro. I didn't start because the previous owner had spilled something and the liquid went inside on one of the sides (not on the keyboard) and damaged the motherboard. But overall it looks like it's in great condition. Thinking of maybe replacing the motherboard someday when I have the time and money. The screen looks intact, but i'm unsure about the battery though. I disconnected it as soon as I got the macbook.

[@Basic-Reviews]

Plus that’d give you a fresh TBW fresh start.

[@joerodriguez9645]

I've seen everywhere that the max on these is 1tb, I should be able to throw 2tb in my mid 2015 15in right?

[@jmz8086]

Haircut. Get one. - edit- but you do great work, thanks for the video. Keep it up.

[@lorencing]

Thanks for the video! How does the Crucial 2TB drive hold up today? Asking because I am also thinking of doing just that, well still deciding if 1 or 2TB drive.

[@boian-inavov]

It’s a shame really, that the new machines can’t be upgraded at all. As someone that has available a ‘17 & a ‘19 MacBook Pros, apart from throwing them in the trash, there’s not a lot that I can do to them. With ports & MagSafe coming back, upgradability should hopefully be next in Apple’s list 🤞

[@shahnawazshahin3781]

Perhaps by then Linux will be mature enough to run on these to add a bit more life. Not to everyone’s taste I guess.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Lol for a second there I thought you meant you had a 19-Inch MacBook Pro 😀 I was gonna say, when did they ever go bigger than 17"

[@Radi0he4d1]

My 2012 air with 4 gigs of ram chokes on Monterey. Had to install high Sierra and it works great!

[@zizlog_sound]

Or install a Linux distro and it will be flying.

[@Errcyco]

I love watching this kinda stuff. I'll never open my M1 unless the battery gets desperate so it is neat so see someone who's done it so much it's like easy. Unified memory is awesome.. but it's really solidified "class" lol.. if you can't afford it when you buy it.. you're stuck with base. With that said ive never had a slowdown on my MacBook in two years of note that I can even remember. It always works and works well. I guess I wish the last notch of lowest brightness was a tiny bit dimmer but whatever.. small beans.

[@angelahornung8488]

Some thoughts: Same resulting temperature could be the result that the upgraded system can clock itself at stock a bit longer then the stock system? -> I'd also be curious what the heat transfer rate of your paste is, I tend to lean towards Grizzly Kryonaught extreme for its high conductivity rate which did return higher performance rates on my 2015 retina MacBook Pro. I'd have plugged in both machines as they can throttle themselves a bit while on battery. Fun side tangent, I used to have an 2015 MacBook Pro i7 (Intel Graphics sadly) and to reduce how quickly the system would hit max temperature from loading PHPStorm I bridged the gap between the heatsink at the fins and the metal bottom chassis with some high conductivity thermal pads. While the retinas have a lot of great things about them, personally I think the issues with overheating and intel MacBooks is just too much to justify. Super happy the platform has switched.

[@CulinarySpy]

Great video thanks Luke! My problem is for business I need to retain 32-bit application capability so I've stuck with Mojave OS 10.14 and can't run 10.14 using an adapter with a modern SSD. Catalina is no problem, but won't run 32-bit software. Wish I had a 1 or 2TB SSD that didn't require an adapter for my late 2013 Pro

[@fredr.]

Agreed with Luke on the re-past: Skip it. Since I did mine, all I hear is the fan 🤦

[@zizlog_sound]

You must have done s/th wrong. I did a repaste on my 2014 MBP and it runs cooler. Old thermal paste was bone dry.

[@linzkirk]

Nice Vid. I loved this model, still upgradeable and had very small amount of stock faults. But I disagree about the point at 2:25, maybe not so much on a 2015 15" Retina. But on a A1278, the most common of old MacBook Pros they do run high Sierra much better than Mojave. But I guess that is getting to be obsolete now. But on a iMac even 2019 with a rotary drive they will suffer with Monterey onwards. They should of shipped with an SSD. and most Users are not capable of a SSD upgrade in a modern iMac.. Dare you to do a battery replacement on the 15" retina though

[@joerodriguez9645]

Just did a battery swap and speaker swap on a mid 2015 15in. Fuck that battery was on there.

[@linzkirk]

@@joerodriguez9645 They always are, Why did apple do that. the MB Air of that year isn't glued in super easy.

[@Cristian-em5wc]

Nice job, but you forgot 2 most important tweaks: undervolting and tweaking fan speeds. And maybe dbrand skins, but that’s extra 😅

[@gregorycollins3096]

I’d like to see a video on how you prepare a Mac for resale. Also tips for listing and pricing on eBay. Thanks.

[@tomwynn921]

Aside from the upgrades mentioned, what other experimental component replacements or upgrades could one attempt on the Retina MBPs? Is there an aftermarket battery that may have more amp hours, or more modern speakers with better bass response?

[@garydiamondguitarist]

The only speaker replacements I ever saw were just cheaper versions of the Apple OEMs - kinda same deal as replacement batteries, you can fit them and they work, but what you save in cost as compared to the original Apple parts you lose in quality (I did a single speaker replacement in a 2014 rMBP 13" once and I could tell the difference, one was noticeably more piercing, that was the cheap replacement).

@@garydiamondguitarist You can upgrade your wifi card to have new features such as unlocking with apple watch. Ofc if you are talking about early retina models, if it is 2015, no improvement can be done wifi wise

[@darrencritchley5425]

Love these kind of videos!

[@skyisthelimit9951]

The two most important components I want to know about are, Where to get the reliable Battery and the connector that makes it compatible with M.2 SDD to your Macbook Pro? Anyone pasting a link to those two will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[@trexitooo]

5:28 *laughs in linux*

[@G4ming_OG]

Can you do a battery replacement on one of this without taking everything apart plz

[@squanchy474]

They had not finalized or at least popularized the M.2 standard when Apple started using those stick drives, I think that’s why …

[@jawadulkarim9498]

I’m confused why you didn’t test the machine before and after instead of getting two different machines, but overall helpful

[@zizlog_sound]

Exactly. The 2nd, although identical machine, might have been cleaner inside and the thermal paste in better condition skewing the results.

[@gamingbros2533]

The ssd port is not prepriatery ist just sata m.2 so don't hate on 2015

[@trollpotatoe]

this is making me kinda curious about owning a retina macbook and learn how to get my hands dirty on a mac, given how approachable this generation of macs are😮

[@Zazquatch1]

What if the fans are not working at all.? I have only changed my battery to a new one and upgrded the RAM to faster ones, but still the same amount of GB's. My 2010 Macbook Pro turns itself restarts as it starts to do just a bit of work as I am hooking it up to my TV to do some keynote. It seems to work just fine if I want to play a DVD on it though. What could be the problem..?

[@williameverets2736]

My 2015 MacBook Pro late 2015 5.4 I installed a Fledging ssd Feather M13 2tb 2280 and put new past nest the battery, Thank You for your help with Video Ps to much past o'well.

[@rf3471]

I just inherited an old MacBook and the max is 16 GB for Ram.So I wonder if I change out the hard drive and added the Ram.Would it be worth it to keep?If anyone has an answer, let me know.Thanks

[@TAPS147]

Which year macbook/ specs and what do you hope to do with it? The macbook in the video has max 16gb of ram but it is not (easily) user upgradable. The SSD can be easily replaced in all macbooks until 2015. If it’s a free macbook, I would say yes it’s probably worth it

[@finder7063]

I still use my 2014 13” MacBook Pro daily.

[@dcchapma1013]

Dang!!! No Duck Tape!!! hmmm this must be too good to be true… jk. Lol. Thanks for the upload. This will help for sure on my mac.

[@davidkazebeer728]

Maybe it's because I'm hungry, but when I saw MACOS I thought TACOS. Mmmm, I love me some MACOS with sour cream and guacamole!

[@SophiaCypria]

Did you remember to disconnect the battery before applying the Paste Mate 😀

[@Psyymann]

Just got a MBP 2015 15 inch and I love it so far. It's a great laptop for being so old. A windows laptop of this era certainly isn't holding up as great. I downloaded Endurance and Istat menus to limit boost and make a custom fan curve so it lasts longer and runs cooler. Edit: 2915 to 2015 😜

[@roscoecoltrane6867]

An MBP 2915! Back to the future!

[@emilsecker7881]

What a questionable decision. Doesn’t support Ventura

[@garydiamondguitarist]

@@emilsecker7881 Has someone yet to hear about the miracle of Open Core Legacy Patcher? I had this exact same model of Retina MacBook Pro 15" dual-booting macOS Ventura and Windows prior to sale about a week ago. Ran it as well as Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina etc.

[@emilsecker7881]

@@garydiamondguitarist I know about it. I just don’t have a machine old enough to use it on

[@garydiamondguitarist]

​@@emilsecker7881 Technically it does support Ventura, that's what I'm saying, so it's not a "questionable decision" as you put it. In my opinion (and I'm not alone here) the 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 15" models are still among the best machines Apple ever made. I actually picked mine over the 2020 M1 Air for lots of reasons, primarily the keyboard still feels better on the older machine. Oh and I suppose the UI is better on pre-11 versions of macOS. Personal preference counts for a lot.

[@clicks59]

Great video, as always. Thanks

[@stevensanchez7740]

Bro this video is gold thank you💪🏽