#BEST GRAPHICS CARD FOR MACBOOK PRO 2012 HOW TO#
#BEST GRAPHICS CARD FOR MACBOOK PRO 2012 INSTALL#
#BEST GRAPHICS CARD FOR MACBOOK PRO 2012 UPGRADE#

#BEST GRAPHICS CARD FOR MACBOOK PRO 2012 UPGRADE#

If the upgrade doesn’t help, or even hurts, there are ways to go back.

(But upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 is free.) On important distinction: While all MacOS upgrades are free, upgrading from Windows 8 or earlier to 10 or 11 typically costs $139. MacOS alerts you to eligible operating system updates. (I’ve seen it running smoothly on those systems, provided they have an SSD upgrade.)

MacOS Catalina, which is two versions old, supports systems all the way back to 2012.

#BEST GRAPHICS CARD FOR MACBOOK PRO 2012 HOW TO#

Microsoft specifies minimum hardware requirements for upgrades to Windows 10 and Windows 11 (And Lifewire describes how to look up your PC’s specs on various versions of Windows.)Īpple has a handy guide that describes the highest version of the OS it recommends for each model. If patching doesn’t help, it may be time to try an upgrading to an entirely new operating system.

#BEST GRAPHICS CARD FOR MACBOOK PRO 2012 INSTALL#

Use Windows update to download and install patches for your current OS. You can find instructions for downloading and installing updates on both the Microsoft (Windows 10 and 11) and Apple sites. “I would say that the oldest version of an OS you should run is the oldest supported version,” says Swanson. Microsoft provides updates back to Windows 8.1. Apple, for instance, currently provides updates for the latest three versions, back to Catalina. What’s not controversial is patching the operating system you already have. Since the topic is controversial, a bit involved, and sometimes hard to undo, I saved it as a final step to consider taking. “The further you upgrade from the OS that was shipped with the hardware the less likely it becomes that your hardware is included in QA testing, which is why older systems eventually become slow,” he says. Daryn Swanson, a technology consultant, was skeptical. Newer operating systems may also utilize the hardware more efficiently, but that’s contentious. Sticking with old software leaves you exposed. Bulging hard driveĪll operating systems contain some bugs, including existing or newly discovered security vulnerabilities. ) But before you make that investment, check for some software problems with simple fixes. (Just don’t go with the very cheapest drives: A colleague who purchased five refurbished MacBooks from Flipmacs encountered problems with several of the very low-cost drives the company uses, though Bratskeir says that problems could lie in a faulty cable. “It’s the one that makes me happiest, ’cause the customer is gonna see me as a magician,” says Patel. Įven if your spinning disk is healthy, upgrading to a solid-state drive storage device (SSD) may be worthwhile for the considerable speed bump. Weigh these costs against the value of the system you are trying to repair by checking for similar refurbished models on sites like Back Market. Best Buy’s Geek Squad charges a flat fee of $84.95 for physical repair work. Tech House, for instance, charges $139 (plus tax) for the operation. If you’re not up for performing the surgery yourself, you can always go to a repair shop. A 500-gigabyte laptop solid state hard drive (which is faster and more durable than a spinning disk hard drive) runs about $70. But swapping in a hard drive or RAM (that is, computer memory) can be easy and inexpensive. Replacing a motherboard is complex and pricey. If your system has faulty hardware, you have some decisions to make. MacOS Hardware Check has a simple interface that runs when you press a key combination on system start.

Best graphics card for macbook pro 2012