Planned Obsolescence on my mid-2012 Macbook Pro and Advice for a new Machine

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Planned Obsolescence on my mid-2012 Macbook Pro and Advice for a new Machine

Since "upgrading" to Catalina I've had many annoying little things that add up to an unusable machine. I have a list if anyone is interested. It worked great before on El Capitan. I have a 2.6 GHz Quad-core i7 with 16 GB of ram. I know it's old. 8 years is ancient for a computer. The problem is it worked great before Catalina, I like having real ports, the specs of newer computers aren't much better, and brand new Macs are way too expensive.

My question is, what should I get to make it worth while replacing my Macbook? Is it worth it to get a machine that's a little newer with almost identical specs?

I'm plugged into two usb devices, and I don't want a bunch of dongles, so I need a machine that has real ports
I don't want a machine that Apple will render useless in just a few years

Thanks.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 4, 2021 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

babowa

Level 9

78,574 points

Jan 4, 2021 9:38 PM in response to BarryBallinger

Don't know if it has to be a laptop; I replaced my 2012 MBP with a refurbished 2017 iMac which originally had Sierra (10.12) on it. Being an Apple refurb, they had Mojave installed when I picked it up and I got them to reinstall the original OS. I picked this because an older OS allows me to keep some older apps like Final Cut and Aperture running.

I would check Apple's refurb store to see if there is anything a bit older that appeals to you. They come with a regular warranty and you can buy Applecare.

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Answer 2

Jan 4, 2021 9:20 PM in response to BarryBallinger

About the only things that really go wrong on that model (assuming the non-Retina model) is the hard drive and hard drive SATA Cable. Of course the battery wears out too. The original default 4GB of RAM is not much these days so replacing one of the original Apple 2GB sticks with a single 4GB or 8GB module will give you a total of 6GB or 10GB of memory. Upgrading the hard drive to an SSD will greatly improve performance. A new hard drive SATA Cable may be necessary when using an SSD especially on the 13" model.

This assumes you don't have some sort of third party software issue affecting performance or stability.

If you want a new Mac, then make sure to get one with four USB-C ports and be sure you never need to use more than three USB-C devices at one time, otherwise you will need adapters, dongles, docks, or hubs. This is the world of Mac today. Otherwise you will need to look to non-Apple computers.

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Planned Obsolescence on my mid-2012 Macbook Pro and Advice for a new Machine

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