MacBook Pro Retina 2012 in 2019?

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Will live preview in SwiftUI and the Xcode 11 works on MacBook Pro Retina 2012 perfectly well? The MacBook Pro 2012 still great in 2019? I'm thinking about buying me one. I have a low budget and I need a MacBook Pro that will work for 3-5 years from now, being me a ”Pro” user.

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I am typing this from a mid-2012 retina MBP which is running Catalina and Xcode 11 just fine. SwiftUI previews take a few seconds to come up, but work great.


My one concern is that you mention wanting it to work 3–5 years from now. While it might still be suitable for general use then (my mom, for example, gets by running the latest version of MS Office on High Sierra on a mid-2010 MBP), it may not support the latest versions of the operating system or Xcode at that time. As you may be aware, mid-2012 is the oldest MacBook Pro that can officially run macOS Catalina, so I would expect support to be dropped in some subsequent release.

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I am typing this from a mid-2012 retina MBP which is running Catalina and Xcode 11 just fine. SwiftUI previews take a few seconds to come up, but work great.


My one concern is that you mention wanting it to work 3–5 years from now. While it might still be suitable for general use then (my mom, for example, gets by running the latest version of MS Office on High Sierra on a mid-2010 MBP), it may not support the latest versions of the operating system or Xcode at that time. As you may be aware, mid-2012 is the oldest MacBook Pro that can officially run macOS Catalina, so I would expect support to be dropped in some subsequent release.

But do you think that in the future it will run macOS 10.16 or .17? The Mac I had before was gone, and I really need a Mac now, but I'm on a low budget, I had made a good investment in it. Luckily, a few days later, my iPhone is gone too, life difficult. Now my studies "spend" a a lot of money.

The mid-2012 is an early third-generation MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge & Intel HD 4000. As Rac Shade pointed out, it is good for Catalina. The next time Apple drops models from macOS compatibility, it will likely affect that entire generation. When you go to replace your current Mac, I would suggest getting into the middle of the fourth generation with Kaby Lake & Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 to assure longevity. With the advent of new 2019 MBP models, something like this from two releases ago should be coming down in price, say, under $1,500. If you cannot afford that, the MacBook Air mid-2013 is still dramatically good (if maxed out with 1.7 GHz Core i7 & 8GB, like mine) and might survive another 1-2 macOS versions with its Haswell & Intel HD Graphics 5000. These are available in the $400-700 range at used Mac retailers.

Get a 2015 13.3" MacBook Pro i5, it will be about the same price and work well.
I have a 2019 MacBook Pro and the SwiftUI previews take sometimes can take 5-8s to come up so I don't think you'll see any change in SwiftUI with the upgrade at all. If your only concern is SwiftUI you should be fine with the 2012 MacBook Pro.
I am using Mid 2015 MBP Retina 15" with Quad-Core i7 and 16GB of memory. Very responsive. I will use it as long as I can.

I did recently upgrade my iMac to 27" with Quad Core i7 and 32GB of memory. That was mainly for additional screen space.

Willie
um, I've just thrown away my old MacBook Pro, but I still remember how slow it is.
Your old macbook may works, but I recommend you to buy a new one.
I never throw away any Mac…

I still use a 1990 PowerMac for some specific Hypercard stacks…
Based on WWDC 2020 and the macOS 11 Big Sur update, it looks like you'll need a Macbook Pro Late 2013 which I read about from another source.

Here's the entire compatability list:

2015 and later MacBook
2013 and later MacBook Air
2013 and later MacBook Pro
2014 and later Mac mini
2014 and later iMac
2017 and later iMac Pro
2013 and later Mac Pro

Big Sur jumps a year to two years ahead for hardware compatibility (depending on the Mac) compared to macOS Catalina.
Thank you all. In December of last year I got a 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro, and it's doing well, I'm even inhaling the Xcode 12 beta now. He will probably endure another two years, which will be more than enough.
"Mid 2015 MBP Retina 15" with Quad-Core i7 and 16GB of memory."

This is the pinnacle of MacBooks to date, as far as my development needs are concerned.
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If your looking to use it up to 5 years don’t go with a 2012. Your trying to use Xcode which you need to be using the latest version to publish to current platforms. The 2012 is already not supported in current or future updates.