2015 MBP SSD and Big Sur Upgrade

 If you do a search you probably would find lots of pertinent information.

The 13" 2015 MBP is on its last leg on being able to upgrade to the current macOS.  There is no way I can upgrade my 2008 MacPro and 2012 MBP to Big Sur without major major hassles.  They are in Catalina already.

The original 13" 2015 MBP came with 128GB of SSD.  This certainly on the meager side.  I changed the battery a few months ago after it started to bulge.

I gathered 3 items to do the upgrade.

1. The Rongdeson M.2 NVME SSD enclosure

2. SPG SX8200 PRO 512GB

3. Sintech NGFF M.2 adapter card

I didn't bother to backup anything on TimeMachine or otherwise.  Just do it.

Put 2 into 1.  Connect to the MBP, erase the new SSD into APFS and the rest default values.

Upgrade the MBP to Big Sur by downloading and installing on the new SSD

The upgrade will prompt you for anything it needs and it also prompts you to migrate your existing Mac to the new Mac, ie copy the old SSD data to the new SSD.

After the migration, the last step is to turn off the MBP, open the bottom cover, unplug the battery, remove the old SSD.  Remove 2 from 1.  Then slide 2 into 3 completely.  Take 3 with 2 attached and plug 3 into the existing slot, make sure they are inserted all the way.  It's like at an angle, seat it and screw it down.  Plug the battery.  Put the back cover back on and the screws.

Turn on the MBP, answer a few prompts like verify your Apple ID and stuff.  That's it.

this is the swapped out old 128GB SSD, it's not M.2 or NVMe.

Apple notebook butterfly keyboard debacle

This has been pretty much well documented.  From 2016 till 2018, the butterfly keyboard has nothing but trouble.  The latest being a Wall Street journalist did a piece on the keyboard and Apple acknowledged that there is a small number of keyboards that exhibit problems.

I was burned once by an iBook screen many years ago.  After that it took me like maybe a decade or so to buy another laptop from Apple.

Can you imagine people, well I can, or can I imagine myself spending $2,000 or $1,000 to buy a MacBook and ends up having problems with the keyboard all the time?  The keyboard is the major interface between the machine and the user, how can you screw it up?

Nobody ever asked for a new keyboard design.  Apple, come on, do better.  Fix that keyboard once and for all.

MacBook Pro 2012

Once upon a time I owned a 12" iBook but then the screen died and I felt like I got burned.

Then in October 2014, I ordered a refurbished 2012 15" MBP directly from Apple.  My research says that that is the last MBP model that allows user upgrades.  My experience is I upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 16GB and have removed the SuperDrive for another hard drive storage.  For the boot drive, I upgraded the stock 500GB 5400rpm hard drive to a SSD.  I have since then upgraded the SSD from 240GB to 480GB and have swapped in new harddrive when the existing one was full a few times.

It's not retina display but I am OK with that.  It can drive an external display at 2560x1080 at the same time.

The keyboard gives me no problem and neither is the trackpad.  I like the keyboard and the trackpad right where they are.  I mean the trackpad is right there I don't like to move my hand to grab the mouse for a walk.  For a desktop I opt for the keyboard and trackpad combo as well.  I never like the mouse that much.

Fast forward to the current 2018 MacBook or MBP.  I am somewhat leery of their butterfly keyboard.  Even the latest third iteration of that design.  Apple just started selling the 2018 models refurbished.

Officially, the 2012 MBP is the last MBP hardware that Mojave supports, anything older is not supported.  So my 2012 lives another year or two.

2012 15" MacBook Pro Power Button and Keyboard malfunction.

I opened and closed, not the lid, the 2012 15" MacBook Pro half a dozen times to change out the RAM modules and to add and replace the harddrives.  I thought I am experienced not to mess anything up

Long story short, this time around when I close everything, both the keyboard the the power button acted funny, very iffy and some of the keys don't work or work intermittently and they work or don't work the next time I reboot or open and close the back cover.

I went to panic mode as this is my beloved MBP, I spent countless hours and take pride in upgrading it--quote possibility the last MBP that can be upgraded or fixed by the users.

In the end thanks to YouTube, I finally figured out what I did wrong inadvertently.

Instead of removing the battery connection like I should be before any operation, I messed up the keyboard connection.  Even the keyboard connection is protected with a metal guard with two screws.  When I finally figured that out I realized the lock lever was in the open position instead of the locked position and hence the iffy performance of the keyboard,  I locked it down and bingo all the keys work and so is the power button.

I thought it was messed up by some magnet as I also for a few seconds left the ifixit tool kit on the logic board . . . even I don't believe that's the cause but then you never know for sure.  Then I thought maybe I messed up some of the cables, but they are actually cables for the harddrive or CD-ROM (thought I changed it to another harddrive anyway), or for the keyboard backlight.

I did so many Google searches in the end, I just I found a tear down on Youtube so I know exactly which and where is the keyboard connector.  And bingo, that was the one I messed up when I initially tried to detach the battery connector.

https://youtu.be/xAHtxNVOXZI