Jun 22, 2016 06:08 PM
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I was using a Macbook AIr 128GB at home and Macbook Pro for work.
Absolutely love the battery life on my Air and it was ultra light; But ran out of space and was getting difficult to manage with an external drive.
Was looking for upgrading to MacPro Retina 512 GB - Was going to cost me Rs.102K on Amazon; It was definitely over my budget.
After careful reviews, I got this old Macbook Pro 2012(non retina) for 52k - Saved 50K - Thanks to Amazon for the deal.
I thought I will be disappointed with the screen - Pleasantly surprised! - This screen is excellent even though its non retina. Now here is what I did, like most people seem to be doing - Magic of upgrading.
Got 16GB RAM(8X2) for 9K - This is to replace the inbuilt 4GB RAM(2X2)
Got 256GB SSD for 7K - This is to replace inbuilt 500GB Hard disk
Got a Hard disk Caddy for 1.5K - This to replace inbuilt Optical Disc drive with the 500GB Hard disk
End result is a super Mac! - I now have a personal MacBook with 750GB disc space and phenomenal performance coming from upgraded 256SSD and 16RAM - All this for 70K - Cant be beaten - Saving of 32K compared to Macbook Retina 500GB - Of course Retina is the best screen and great battery, but I would rather keep my 32K and buy something else
(28-Sep)Answers to some questions that came in the last few days.
Upgrading this Mac is not very difficult; I did it myself, looking at some Youtube videos; It requires some screw drivers which are usually not available with us.(I ordered it onAmazon for Rs. 200); If you are not confident I suggest you take it to any local service centre; Its really 10-15min work - Better safe than sorry!
The optical disc drive you remove out can be connected and used through external case; you get this case for appx Rs.700-1000; but I did not go for it
The SSD and RAM are really cheap in US; you could save almost another 7-9k, if you have someone to source them for you.
By the way today(28-Sep) this Macbook is part of deals. Price is under Rs.50000. Its a steal.go for it guys. its a good machine!
(2-Oct) - Updating based on some more questions that came in - I don't recommend doing the replacements yourselves; but if you absolutely want to, you will need 2 screwdrivers for doing this activity yourselves; One for external screws and replacement of HD with SSD Stanley 6 Pc Bi-Material Handle Precision Screwdriver Set 66-052 and the other for replacing DVD drive with the HD Jackly 31 in 1 Toolkit Multifunction Universal Magnetic Screwdriver Toolkit For LAPTOPS and MOBILES - I did not find any set that has both; hope this helps!
By the way - When you replace HD with SSD, you need to copy the Mac OS onto SSD(either from HD or through a bootable USB drive) and make SSD as start up disc(default) - Only then, you will see the drastic improvement on start up speed. Please browse youtube and all details are available
