[SOLVED] Recommended upgrade for mid 2012

[darshan.raju99]

Hi all,

I am a computer science student who just got his first internship, but I am still rocking a 13" Macbook Pro mid-2012.
Specs:
-2.5 Ghz i5
-4GB 1600MHz DDR3
-500GB Hard Disk
-
What system upgrades would you guys recommend, or if I should buy a new laptop? (Preferably Unix based) My work primarily consists of full-stack web dev, and I will not use the laptop for gaming.

Budget:
-$300 if upgrading specs
-$800 if its best to buy a new system

Thanks for your help everyone

 

[popatim]

Crucial Mx500 in any size you wish. 500Gb is about $65

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7co5-qJhuM

 

[velocityg4]

I'd say max it out at 16GB RAM.
https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/macbook-pro-(13-inch-and-15-inch,-mid-2012)/CT3373650

Then get whatever size SSD you need. Which should be at least double whatever storage space you currently use. So you have room to grow. While maintaining at least 20% to 25% free storage space on the SSD. The Crucial MX500 (as recommended above) and Samsung 860 Evo are excellent drives.

If you don't want to deal with reinstall and migration. Use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone your boot drive to the SSD. You'll want an enclosure to stick your current drive into for this.
https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-USB3-0-External-Enclosure-Supported/dp/B01M08LCXW/

That is if you want to keep rocking the MacBook Pro. As it is an internship. You probably want to keep costs as low as possible. So, it may be a good idea to keep using the MacBook Pro.

If you do want a new laptop. The Acer Swift 3 is a good choice. Then install whatever flavor of Linux you want or BSD I suppose.

• Better battery life
• Faster
• Sharper screen
• Thinner
• Lighter
• USB Type C
• Not upgradeable
• No macOS

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...nx_h3zaa_003_swift_3_core_i7_8550u.html/specs

 

[firelighter487]

I have the exact same machine. put 16GB of ram and an ssd in it, and it will still run super smoothly.