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Featured Guide

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

5

Time Required

                          10 - 45 minutes

Sections

3

  • Lower Case
  • 2 steps
  • Battery Connector
  • 2 steps
  • RAM
  • 1 step

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1

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  • BackMacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2012

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Introduction

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case
  • Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
  • Three 13.5 mm (14.1 mm) Phillips screws.
  • Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.
  • When removing these screws, note how they come out at a slight angle. They must be reinstalled the same way.

Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:

Three 13.5 mm (14.1 mm) Phillips screws.

Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.

When removing these screws, note how they come out at a slight angle. They must be reinstalled the same way.

1024

Step 2

  • Using both hands, lift the lower case near the vent to pop it off two clips securing it to the upper case.
  • Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Using both hands, lift the lower case near the vent to pop it off two clips securing it to the upper case.

Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Step 3

              Battery Connector
  • For certain repairs (e.g. hard drive), disconnecting the battery connector is not necessary but is recommended as it prevents any accidental shorting of electronics on the motherboard. If you do not disconnect the battery connector, please be careful as parts of the motherboard might be electrified.
  • Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.
  • It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to “walk” it out of its socket.

For certain repairs (e.g. hard drive), disconnecting the battery connector is not necessary but is recommended as it prevents any accidental shorting of electronics on the motherboard. If you do not disconnect the battery connector, please be careful as parts of the motherboard might be electrified.

Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.

It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to “walk” it out of its socket.

Step 4

  • Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

Step 5

              RAM
  • Release the tabs on each side of the RAM chip by simultaneously pushing each tab away from the RAM module.
  • These tabs lock the chip in place and releasing them will cause the chip to “pop” up.
  • After the RAM chip has popped up, pull it straight out of its socket.
  • Repeat this process if a second RAM chip is installed.

Release the tabs on each side of the RAM chip by simultaneously pushing each tab away from the RAM module.

These tabs lock the chip in place and releasing them will cause the chip to “pop” up.

After the RAM chip has popped up, pull it straight out of its socket.

Repeat this process if a second RAM chip is installed.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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Author

                                      with 5 other contributors 


                    Andrew Optimus Goldheart

Member since: 10/17/2009

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Kerem Akyuz - Oct 17, 2012

Reply

Super clear guide, super easy way to upgrade the RAM.

But the factory default RAM is supposed to be 1600MHz on this (PC3 10600S is 1333MHz) right?

Kari Kainulainen - Dec 17, 2012

Reply

Super easy! Great guide!

Soura - Oct 26, 2013

Reply

This was a very clear and helpful guide. Thanks, Andrew!

One point that I thought would help others trying this for the first time is about the mechanism holding the RAM. As the guide points out, the RAM chips should ‘pop’ up when the clips holding them down are properly extended to the side. And when installing the new chips I found that though the force applied was between light and moderate, relative there wasn’t much force needed to insert them into the board as there was to push them downwards until you here a ‘pop.’ The force needed to be applied at any stage of the whole process was minimum to midway between minimum and moderate.

Ruthie - Mar 23, 2015

Reply

Hey I consulted this iFixit guide, the official guide on the apple website and also the crucial memory selector tool.

  1. Apple said you didn’t have to disconnect the power. So you don’t (if you’re just swapping out the ram).

  2. Crucial confirms that 16 gb works. I ended up getting 16 gb of PNY at BestBuy. They didn’t have any Crucial on the shelves.

  3. The first two times I did this, the connections weren’t perfect. So I had the triple beep motherboard error and then the “nothing happens when i try to power on” error. So if either of these happens, fret not. Just calmly open everything back up and do it again.

So happy I did this. Yosemite was a memory guzzling beast. Now I have garageband and iTunes and iPhoto all blazing and not a hitch.

Cheers.

dawsonchristopher - Oct 3, 2016

Reply

Could I suggest adding a hardware test after installation.

For my MacBook Pro you hold down the D key when restarting.