Logic Board Replacement/Upgrade Possible???

If the Logic Board you are planning to get is for the exact same model series (such as 13" MBPro mid-2012), then it will work. If the Logic Board is from an older pre-2012 model, then it may work if you are willing to modify the case since one of the Logic Board mount points may be in the wrong position. I recently fit a 2010 Logic Board into I believe a 2012 Top Case after removing one mounting stud and transferring the center mounting bracket.

You cannot swap Logic Boards between Retina and non-Retina models since the layout is completely different. It goes without saying that you cannot swap Logic Boards between 13" & 15" models.

Hope this helps you.

I have the same model and if you have the stock 5400 rpm drive in it as well as 8 GB RAM, you can quite easily replace your super slow 5400 rpm spinning drive with an SSD and upgrade the RAM as well. I did and it was quite a difference. As for the processor - no, you cannot. OWC (macsales.com) has great install videos as well as the SSDs and RAM:

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro-13-unibody-mid12/

HansWorldTravels wrote:

So just to be clear, I can or cannot replace the Core i5 2.5 GHz with a Core i7 2.9 GHz if they are both from a mid 2012 13” model? Or are the processor(s) not on the logic board and I’m talking two different parts?

As long as you are replacing the whole Logic Board (mid-2012 Logic Board to a mid-2012 top case & display), then yes since the all the other parts are the same.

HansWorldTravels wrote:

So just to be clear, I can or cannot replace the Core i5 2.5 GHz with a Core i7 2.9 GHz if they are both from a mid 2012 13” model? Or are the processor(s) not on the logic board and I’m talking two different parts?

You mean replace just the processor? Or do you mean the logic board complete with processor? Because they're soldered onto the logic board. It might theoretically be possible to remove a processor and solder on a new processor, but that likely more trouble than it's worth.

The parts you see in that link I posted (install instructions) are the parts that can be replaced. The only time you can really change the processor and can be reasonably sure that it'll work is if the model was originally offered with an option to upgrade to a better one.

Sure it's possible, but I'm not sure about the reliability once everything has been removed and then put back in place. I've seen some complete mid-2012 MacBook Pros selling locally for $250. I've been thinking of getting one for my kid as a beater computer.