

But if your MacBook starts to show its age, it’s probably not that speedy anymore.įortunately, for an older MacBook Pro (prior to 2013 models), there is a quick way to increase its performance - upgrading the internal hard drive to SSD (Solid State Drive). I bought mine on eBay.We all want our Mac computer to run fast. The part number for the board is BCM94360CS or similarly, BCM94360CSAX. In late 2012/early 2013, Apple added 802.11ac capability to the Airport/Bluetooth board which is a simple drop-in replacement for the 2012 802.11a/b/g/n board. With my mesh network anchored with an Asus RT-AX92U (#ad), I was only able to get 200 Mbps with the Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (#ad).

Speedtest with Macbook Pro (Retina 2012) BCM94360CS Wi-Fi adapter, the same speed I get with the Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Over the years, I’ve upgraded the SSD from 256GB to 1TB, replaced the keyboard after a coffee spill, realigned the lid after dropping the computer, replaced the battery and today (and hopefully last), I changed the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter to a Broadcom BCM94360CS so I could get 802.11ac speeds. My 2012 Macbook Pro Retina Geekbench 5 (MC): 2588 score is only marginally lower than the 2020 Apple MacBook Air “Core i7” 1.2 Geekbench 5 (MC): 2944.īecause I use a Windows Boot Camp partition, I am hoping that Apple will release one more 16″ Macbook Pro with a Comet Lake i9-10980HK before the switch to Apple Silicon Arm Macs. Currently, I have three partitions on the SSD with Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20241, macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H2) and ( the unsupported) macOS Big Sur 11.0 developer beta 10 (20A5395g). Though it is showing its age, it’s still adequately snappy. I bought the computer new in 2012, with the 2.3 GHz Core i7 (i7-3615QM) and 8 GB of RAM. The Apple Macbook Pro is generally thought of as not too upgradeable but since my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) is past its 8th birthday, I’ve had to do a few mods and repairs to keep it going. The Broadcom BCM94360CS Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter with 802.11ac is at the lower left, next to the fan MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) System Board.
