If you are here, you are probably looking for an easy, all in one place guide on how to either upgrade your current 2012 MacBook Pro or looking to switch from a PC to a Mac for very little money in comparison to buying a brand new, top of the line model. If you are interested in learning more about why I switched from a PC to a Mac go ahead and read here.
These are the exact materials and steps I took when I switched from my 5 year old HP PC to my new-to-me 2012 MacBook Pro.
Materials Needed:
- MacBook Pro – I used a 2012 macBook Pro
- at least 8GB empty USB Flash Drive version 2.0 or later.
- Brand New Sold State Hard Drive to Install
- 4-10 hours worth of time to dedicate to this
The first thing you want to do with your new-to-you PC is restore the computer back to its original factory settings by wiping its current hard drive. Your computer’s hard drive might already be wiped clean and you can skip this step.
HOW TO WIPTE OUT THE HARD DRIVE TO A 2012 MacBook Pro
Step 2
With a clean hard drive, You will now need to create a bootable Mac Operating System on a USB Install Drive. For my demonstration purposes and what I chose to install is macOS Mojave.
HOW TO CREATE A BOOTABLE MAC OS MOJAVE USB INSTALL DRIVE
Step 3
With a clean Hard Drive and a replacement Mac Operating System ready and waiting on your USB Install Drive for installation after the new hard drive you are ready to install a new physical hard drive. I chose a SSD to speed up my sluggish 2012 HD performance issues. In a future post I will talk to you about what Sold State Drive I decided to purchase.
WHY I CHOSE: KINGSTON A400 SSD 240GB
Step 4
Now that my new hard drive is installed, you need to format it to actually work with your computer.
HOW TO FORMAT YOUR NEW HARD DRIVE
Step 5
Remember that USB Install Drive we created earlier? We are going to use it in the final step which is installing that macOS Mojave system on your basically brand new computer.
INSTALL MACOS MOJAVE ON A BRAND NEW HARD DRIVE
And you are done! I hope these steps were explained thoroughly to you and that you were able to find the help and guidance you needed to upgrade your current MacBook Pro or realized that you are capable of creating a simple upgrade for yourself from a PC to a Mac for not a lot of money.