Should I upgrade my 2012 MacBook Pro or am I able to salvage?

pirhan wrote:

[...]

I am running into issues that my web browsers are no longer supported (main issue) and I am having troubles now getting my daily dose of brain rot social media doom scrolling. Sometimes the wireless goes too and the keyboard isn’t the best. But, it has multiple ports, including the original USB which I use for external hard drives and my mouse as well as a slot for my camera card. It has a DVD drive. I also have versions of software before it became subscription based (Lightroom).

Is there anything I can do to prolong my laptop? If so, which organ do I sell to make this happen?

Yes. You can upgrade the OS to Catalina and switch to a browser that is still supported, namely Firefox from Mozilla. They still support that old obsolete OS with that browser.

Of course, Catalina will break many very old apps that run just fine under Mojave, so there's that.

If not, what new-ish laptop would suit my needs?

I, myself, retired a 2012 MBP and replace it with a MacBook Air M2 a few years ago. I thought I would miss the whistles and bells but I do not. The MBA has only two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, but I bought a small, inexpensive multi-port dock and actually rarely need to use it.

[...]

An added fun bonus, I have a 2008 iBook. It unfortunately is too out of date, but has anyone here tried partitioning the drive and running Linux?

Some users here in the Community will recommend Linux Mint. I can confirm that will run on your 2012 MBP. I imagine it might also run on your 2008 Mac.

So - can I do anything with my current MacBook Pro? If not, what new-ish model would have as many ports as possible without the AI integration?

Retire the old workhorse and move on. Fourteen years (!) is a great run for any computer.

Loading it with Linux is not a bad idea.

Apart from the Apple desktop models, only the newest MacBook Pros will come close to having as many ports as the old MBP. None will have the CD/DVD drive, but you can buy an external. All will have Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, and any USB-A devices you have can be connected by way of a USB-A to USB-C plug adapter or cable or with a dock.

All of the Apple MacBooks will have the AI integration as newer macOS versions emerge. As you say, though, you can turn off some features and ignore others.

You can keep flogging yourself with the old hardware if you like, but Apple's new toys really are a joy to use, imho.

Though I will say, I am thoroughly satiated by the Apple kool-aid and don't have to struggle with the compatibility of other-branded peripherals.

It's time to replace your beloved 2012 MBPro. By your own admission it has developed hardware problems and the software is woefully out of date.

You can use all your existing USB devices with a new Mac. To the extent your USB devices have USB-A cables you would only need to get USB-C cables or inexpensive USB-A to USB-C plug adapters. And although Mac laptops no longer have built-in CD/DVD drives there are external, portable USB CD/DVD drives that work quite well.

Current MacBookPro models have 3 USB/Thunderbolt ports as well as a built-in SDXC card reader and an HDMI port.

Your old software (you mentioned Lightroom) will not run on modern Macs so you would need to take out a subscription to continue using your LR Catalog(s). Look into the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan, which includes Lightroom, Lightroom Classic & Photoshop for $19.99/month).

Last year I replaced my 2012 MBPro with a new M4 Pro MacBook Pro. It's the nicest laptop I have ever owned. The current models are all M5's now. For your uses I suggest an MBPro (any model) not an MBAir.

Regarding AI, Apple AI runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M-series Macs) not Intel Macs. All current Macs have AI built in but you can disable it in System Settings. (Actually, it's built into macOS not the machine itself.) I disabled it in my new MBPro as soon as I got it and it has remained disabled.

At this point it is inadvisable to buy an older, Intel-based Mac. While certain 2019 & 2020 Intel Macs can run macOS Tahoe, most cannot, and Intel support officially ends when macOS 27 is released later this year.

Continued...

An added fun bonus, I have a 2008 iBook. It unfortunately is too out of date, but has anyone here tried partitioning the drive and running Linux?

I did a test install of Linux onto an old 2009 Aluminum MacBook about six years ago. Laptop had just 2GB of memory.....actually it was less since the Intel integrated GPU needs to use some of that memory. I was able to have two web browser tabs open without any issue (no other apps were open). This would be a bare minimum of memory for any general Linux usage. 4GB of memory would be an ideal minimum for Linux usage. Unfortunately Macs are very picky about the memory they use, so I do not recommend trying to install any used memory upgrades.....new memory from OWC (only place left to buy compatible Mac memory), but will be very expensive now.

If you need the built-in iSight camera, then make sure Linux is able to utilize the camera while booting to the Linux Mint installer's "Live Mode". I know years ago I had to pull the iSight camera firmware from OSX 10.6 system/installer DVD so Linux could utilize the built-in iSight camera on a 2006 MacBook. I don't know whether the same pertains to a 2008 model (never install Linux to a 2006 Core Duo MacBook model which only had a 32bit CPU). Core 2 Duo Macs are fine.

FYI, some years ago I was able to install Debian stable on an old laptop with 32bit CPU with just 2GB of memory. I only installed the base system with no GUI and made sure not to install any "Recommended" packages as I manually installed the GUI parts....basically it was LXDE without any automatic niceties such as automatically mounting external drives, etc. When I booted to the Desktop, the system was only using 70MB of memory. I was able to have a number of browser tabs open. Could be an option for you if your 2008 MacBook only has 2GB of memory so you gain 400MB of memory by removing the fancy extras that go with most Desktop Environments.

So - can I do anything with my current MacBook Pro? If not, what new-ish model would have as many ports as possible without the AI integration? 

Others have mentioned using Catalina and Firefox, but that will not be a long term solution because Firefox will stop supporting Catalina at some point. For now it will be fine if you don't require any 32bit software.

Is your copy of Lightroom a 64bit app? If not, then upgrading from Mojave to Catalina is not an option if you wish to keep using your old copy of Lightroom. And you have to consider the risk of an OS upgrade to Catalina failing for any reason which could cause you to lose your old Lightroom app if you need to start fresh again.

pirhan wrote:

Lightroom 5 runs fast enough for my needs, I'm okay having this as a dedicated camera laptop. I believe anything newer than Mojave will require me to upgrade from Lightroom 5 which then has Adobe's grubby hands into my wallet once a month.

I don't believe that you would be able to do a "clean install" of Lightroom 5 on a new Mac. If I am not mistaken, while Lightroom 6.14 uses 64-bit code for the main program, the installation and activation code is 32-bit, and won't run on Catalina and later.

On top of that, Apple has announced plans to phase out Rosetta 2 in macOS 28, so even if you could get by the activation issue, and the program had not broken due to other macOS changes, it wouldn't run under macOS 28 and later (when they came out).

Because my husband asks me several times a month when I'm going to get a new laptop (his treat), is there such a laptop with ports and no AI integration?

Get a Windows laptop, and you're going to be looking at Windows 11, and Microsoft's AI integration.

There is Linux, but there aren't nearly as many commercial applications for Linux as there are for Windows or for macOS.

As for ports, current (M5-family) MacBook Pros have a pretty decent selection of ports:

• Three multi-purpose USB-C ports that support USB 3 (up to 10 Gbps), USB4 (up to 40 Gbps), DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, and charging. The ports adapt to any compatible device that you plug into them.
• A HDMI port.
• A MagSafe 3 charging port. (You can charge over USB-C or over MagSafe 3.)
• A SDXC card slot.
• A headphone jack.

pirhan wrote:

I am hoping to get some advice. I am currently using a MacBook Pro mid 2012, OS 10.14.6 (Mojave) with upgraded 500GB SSD, and 16GB of memory. 

Sometimes the wireless goes too and the keyboard isn’t the best.

Sounds like you may be having some hardware issues. It may be time to retire this laptop.

I also have versions of software before it became subscription based (Lightroom).

FYI, for most older no longer supported Adobe apps can no longer be installed because Adobe turned off the product activation & licensing servers. As long as you have a working Lightroom installation, then it will continue to work. However, if anything happens to that OS, then you will likely no longer be able to use Lightroom.

I don't know if Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper cloning of the boot drive will retain product & license activations. AFAIK, Time Machine with Catalina no longer restores any applications....not sure about Mojave.

Is there anything I can do to prolong my laptop? If so, which organ do I sell to make this happen?

If not, what new-ish laptop would suit my needs? I am not interested in integrated AI. Yes, I know I can turn it off, but I don’t trust it to stay off. (My phone turns settings on/off all the time and it drives me nuts; Samsung phones are now at the bottom of my recommendation list.) 

Stay away from any USB-C Intel Mac as they have so many issues....both well known & some only known by repair techs such as myself.

You also must be very careful buying any used Macs because many of them are not properly prepared for sale and are still being controlled by the previous owner.

FYI, so far I have not had macOS enable AI on my Tahoe system with any of the update patches so far. I do know what you mean though since I have had Apple enable/disable things without consent. I've also experienced this with some third party apps/developers.

I also worry that my husband has a brand new Air and it is very tedious to work on. We both have Android phones and neither of them will connect. I have Android File Transfer on my MacBook and it works fine but we can’t figure out how to make that work with his Air and it constantly gives errors. While I understand he has it set up for how he works, it really irritates me if I have to use it all and I don’t know if it’s due to his setup or that there’s a 14 year gap between the Air and my MacBook Pro and I’m just antiquated. 

It could be a bit of both. I stopped upgrading macOS on my main laptop at 13.x Ventura because I didn't like the later changes, but I am being forced to upgrade the OS shortly to either 15.x Sequoia or macOS 27 Golden Gate because apps I require for work have informed me they are no longer supported so the clock is ticking.

FYI, you should have your own macOS user account on that laptop if you want to use your husband's laptop. That way, you can configure any personal settings for your own user account to your taste.

Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

Maybe you can use a Linux system to work with your Android devices and transfer any documents from the Linux system to your newer Macs assuming there are no good native macOS apps.

My advice, FWIW, do not spend any time, effort, money on an old obsolete/vintage computer. It will be much more simple and beneficial to upgrade to newer technology that is supported and secure.

If you’re mostly interested in social media “doom scrolling”, you can install Linux onto that MacBook Pro 2012.

The MacBook Pro mid-2012 not-Retina models can support internal storage hardware upgrades.

As for the MacBook Air, you’ll want to check with whoever supports the Android File Transfer app.

In no particular order…

Build a bootable installer for macOS: Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Linux has gotten much easier, and support for what are older computers tends to be good.

You can use a bootable CD or DVD to test how well Linux works.

All current and all recent Mac models include hardware support for Apple Intelligence.

Any Mac you find in the Apple Refurb store will also have Apple Intelligence support, too.

Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into macOS and increasingly into apps, well past the browser.

Apple Intelligence does have an “off” switch, though we’re all swimming in ML and LLMs regardless.

Europe is dragging most gear worldwide to a consistent plug, USB-C, though details and power delivery wattages can vary. This change reduces (but doesn’t eliminate) the myriad cable and charger possibilities.

This wiring change just as your 1950s sewing machine uses a different (ungrounded) plug than is commonly used now (grounded), and a whole lot of gear then was single-insulated. Worked with a fair amount of older non-polarized and ungrounded and single-insulated gear from the olden days, cautiously, and it has its issues, too. Times — and standards — change. Less visibly, the standards for the wiring inside the wall has changed several times since the 1950s such as the neutral being required in more places such as switches, too. Which means certain current replacement electrical parts will require rework in older buildings.

Most complex apps are going subscription, just because one-time purchases and “perpetual “ licenses are much less tenable for ongoing development and support costs. I long ago moved away from Adobe to third-party apps, though. This as Adobe has some strong competitors in recent years. For some apps such as the Apple Creator Studio subscription suite, the vendor (Apple, here) does have perpetual licenses for specific apps too.

"Is there anything I can do to prolong my laptop? If so, which organ do I sell to make this happen?: [...]So - can I do anything with my current MacBook Pro? If not, what new-ish model would have as many ports as possible without the AI integration?"

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Prolonging a Mac and AI:

A. Virtual Machines:

macOS27 is not going to support any Intel-based Mac. I use my 2018 MPB for compatibility and troubleshooting purposes. Having a one-time purchase-type license of Virtual Machine Software (VMWare Fusion) on it, I am able to use up to Windows 10. But... Windows 10 is no longer supported. So, I use it to run older software and such.

B. macOS27 and AI:

Speaking with Apple Support on the phone the other day, I was informed that macOS27 is what is now AI sufficient. macOS 26.6.1 is made to get things to be working as they should until its release.

C. Android File Transfer on MacBook Air:

All I can think of is out-of-date software, meaning that your device is prone to bugs, and recent updates making it more secure. System Integrity Protection: SIP is a protocol that can get in the way (but, can't dig much deeper into that).