How can I upgrade my MacBook Pro 2012 RAM to 32GB or more?

No, the MacBook Pro 2012 cannot be RAM upgraded beyond 16GB. I had one for many years.

Apple's official stand on the non-Retina models was 8GB maximum, but you could buy compatible modules that would push it up to 16GB. OWC, mentioned above by @K Shaffer, is a go-to site for these sorts of things.

I believe the Retina models had RAM soldered to the logic board so upgrades to those were out.

Is this a Retina model or a non-Retina one?

The RAM in the Retina models is soldered in and cannot be upgraded. The non-Retina models can be upgraded, but have an official limit of 8 GB and an actual limit of 16 GB.

So no, 32 GB or more is not an option.

f you want to buy RAM to speed up a non-Retina Macbook Pro from 2012, you're about to waste money. I have that model still in daily use. It's plenty fast with 8GB RAM because I replaced the under-spec and slow factory mech hard drive with an SATA gGb SSD.

What make that model feel slow itn ehe galciall slow mech hard drive. Your Macbook Pro has a fast SATA 6GB drive bus, but Apple elected to use SATA 3GB drives turning at only 5400 RPM in their entry-level models. How about some data from my upgraded MBP?

Here are app launch times for my two slowest-to-open apps as I first doubled the RAM, then upgraded the slow factory hard drive to an inexpensive SSD:

—Base system as shipped:

4GB RAM and slow SATA 3GBps 5400rpm hard drive: Office 2008 and Photoshop Elements 12 took 15-18 seconds to be ready to use.

—First upgrade, double the RAM:

8GB RAM and slow SATA 3GBps 5400rpm hard drive: Office and Photoshop Elements took 15-18 seconds to be ready to use.

—Second upgrade, inexpensive solid-state drive

8GB RAM and fast SATA 6GBps SSD: Office and Photoshop Elements take under 4 seconds to be ready to use.

So what helped the most? Don't fall for the "speed-up" claims fmade by RAM vendors. All the RAM in the world cannot make a slow hard drive work faster, at least not enough to notice in actual use.

8GB RAMis advisable if you are not already there. With 8GB RAM, mine never shows to be starved for RAM.

I used this SSD "kit" because it includes a very useful transfer drive:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/Y3SSD6E500/

reiner199 (author)

Seems when I ordered (2x8) 16GB guaranteed RAM upgrade for

this from OWC, for my mid-2012 MacBook Pro, 32GB level was

not allowed. The OWC site has available update/upgrade bits &

pieces, incl. fast SSD. And external USB enclosed storage too.

and other replacement of high quality with their guarantees.

My mid-2012 MacBook Pro identifies as model 9.2, June 2012.

Various build model years appear in the OWC that otherwise

are harder to match exact RAM and/or drive parts. Your model

if a 15-inch one, may be Model 9.1 or in the Model10 area.

(A guide within OWC pages shows to use 'About This Mac'

from the Menu bar, to see what it identifies as, to begin.)

And their replacement &/or upgrade parts are highest quality

for specific build model years of Apple products. Other names

sometime comes close, and only good IF you get exact parts.

Given the macOS upgrade to Catalina moves the drive into

an SSD capability without standard partitions; I held off on

that step; mine is still on Mojave 10.14.6. Has same map.

These usually were sold with a few different processor speeds

so mine was the lower 2.5GHz available when new. Yet mine

has a different SSD (3rd pty. 'Blade') that is harder to upgrade.

.With an 'easy to swap' modular plug-in, more difficult to match.

reiner199 wrote:

Can a MacBook Pro 2012 ram be upgraded to 32 or more ram. Who supplies compatible ram? Thanks !!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Depends on the version Mac.

FWIW I would not spend any money on an obsolete/vintage computer that can not run current apps, OS, or security updates.

No, the 2012 model is limited to 16GB of RAM if it's the non-retina model.

The retina model's cannot be upgraded at all.