MacBook Pro Retina (Late 2012) - VERY SLOW

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Level 1

10 points

MacBook Pro Retina (Late 2012) - VERY SLOW

Hello!

I’ve had this MacBook ever since it came out and I never had any issues with it so I can certainly say that it was one of my best buys ever.

About 2 years ago I had to replace the battery but, unfortunately, the store that took care of it did a very poor job. And ever since the replacement my laptop has never been the same. I also stopped using it as much as I used to and barely used it in the past year.

Fast forward to today, I decided to turn it on so I can check something on my external hard drive. My laptop gets stuck on the loading screen with the apple logo for at least 10 minutes before it eventually lets me enter my password. It feels like I’m typing in slow motion because of how slow it has become. Then I have to wait another 2-4 minutes for it to actually take me to the main screen.

I read a little about it online and its poor and slow performance is due to the hard dive and needs to be replaced?

Could someone give me some input on it? Any recommendations? Is it worth it to pay for it?

I’m planning on buying the latest MacBook but I would like to potentially revive the one I have because it’s got huge sentimental value for me.

Thanks a lot in advance to anyone that helps out 🙂

Here’s some info about my MacBook;

[Edited by Moderator]

iPhone 16

Posted on Apr 2, 2025 11:45 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

66,758 points

Apr 2, 2025 09:06 PM in response to Sofie

With the Retina laptop models, if there is a power issue, then the system can run extremely slow. A bad battery can definitely cause what you have described. If the laptop has not been used for a long time, I'm assuming that it also has not been connected to the power adapter to keep the battery charged. If the battery was allowed to become completely discharged for an extended period of time, then it can permanently damage the battery

You don't mention if this was an official Apple repair perform at an Apple Store, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or an Apple mail-in repair depot, or whether it was performed by a non-authorized repair shop. A non-authorized repair shop most likely installed a third party battery. Unfortunately the quality of third party Lithium batteries is extremely poor even with purchased from a respected vendor such as OWC or iFixIt. Plus there is a much greater chance that the tech may have accidentally damaged the Logic Board or another component while removing the glued in battery.

If you need data from an external drive, then why not connect that external drive to another Mac? It may even be possible to access the data from a Windows PC depending on the format of that external drive. Even if the external drive is using an Apple file system such as HFS+ or APFS, there are paid third party drivers that can be installed on macOS in order to read those file systems.

If you used a non-authorized repair shop, then I suspect the repair shop installed a bad third party battery. Replacing that bad battery with one from OWC would likely resolve the issue assuming the tech did not accidentally damage some other internal component such as the Logic Board. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing. While OWC does sell the battery, they recommend professional installation...and I agree since it is not an easy replacement. Only you can decide if the cost is worth while or worth the risk for sentimental reasons since I'm guessing & hoping that it was just a bad third party battery.

You can try running the Apple Diagnostic to see if it detects any hardware issues. Many times the diagnostics will fail the battery when a third party battery is installed even when the battery is brand new & healthy. A passing diagnostic is meaningless, but if issues are detected, then that is important....especially if anything other than the battery is reported as an issue.

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Answer 2

Sofie Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 2, 2025 11:47 PM in response to HWTech

Thank you very much for your response.

At the time I was living in a smaller city that didn’t have an Apple Store but the store I went to claimed that they supported apple devices. It’s also a very well known name in my country so I trusted it.

The technician that took care of my Mac had a lot of difficulties with it and it took a long while to get it back. We discussed about it before I gave it in and he said he would have to get an official Apple battery for it, it would just be more expensive, which was not a problem for me at all.

Long story short, my MacBook was working fine when I got it back but I noticed the battery wouldn’t last too long. And as time went by, it would last less and less so then I had to always keep it plugged.

I’m assuming he damaged something while trying to replace the old battery, like you said. I will take it to an actual Apple Store as soon as I can and get a an actual diagnosis.

Thanks again for the help! 👍🏼

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MacBook Pro Retina (Late 2012) - VERY SLOW

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