MacUpgrades.co.uk offers a wide range of fixed price upgrades and repairs for your Apple computers. You can drop in to our offices in Sawston, Cambridge or if you are not local you can either have us collect or send in your computer yourself. Sameday fitting is available for most items, contact us for details. We also offer on site installation services and training on your premises.
Macupgrades offers a wide range of on-site services for your Apple equipment. We offer all of our upgrade services, and most of our repair services too.
All our engineers have at least 15 years of experience with Apple hardware and software
Enter your serial number into the box below for specific upgrades for your machine. Each upgrade has been tested in the machine we list it for. Compatability is 100% guaranteed or your money back.
How to find your serial number in software
You can find your Mac's serial number in Apple System Profiler: Select the Apple Menu > About This Mac, then (depending on the version of OSX you are running) click the System Report button or the More Info button. This brings up System Profiler, and on the Hardware Overview that is displayed by default you should see your serial number, and be able to copy/paste it. The procedure does vary slightly between different versions of OSX.
If you can't boot your Mac
If your Mac is not working, the serial number is printed on the computer casing but the location varies. Here are the main locations of serial numbers on Apple computers.
Unibody MacBook Pro - Laser etched onto the base.
MacBook, Early MacBook Pro, PowerBook G4 - Inside the main battery bay. Remove battery to locate.
iBook (White) - Under the keyboard. To lift keyboard, pull back on the release tabs between the F-keys.
Intel iMac, iMac G5 - Underside of the foot/stand.
iMac G4, iMac G3 - Underside of the iMac.
Mac mini - On the underside of the Mac mini.
Mac Pro 2006-2012 - On rear of machine near graphics card ports.
PowerMac G5 - On lower chassis under side panel. To remove side panel, lift lever on rear of Mac.
PowerMac G3, PowerMac G4 - Label on the back of the Mac.
Your Mac's Model Identifier can be found in System Profiler. You can use the drop-down menus above to be taken to a page that displays upgrades specifically for your exact model.
This tool is also available on its own page, with a list of all Model IDs here.
COVID Update: Online orders and mail-in repairs/upgrades are happening as normal. Collection and drop-off are operating by appointment - please call us on 01223 833 412 to book a slot.
MacBook Pro 15" Retina Upgrades
This page covers all the upgrades we sell for the MacBook Pro with Retina
display 15". made between 2012 and the present. Choose the type of
upgrade you are looking for from the tabs below. (Not
the right Mac? See here for
more MacBooks and MacBook Pros, or here for
all Macs.)
If you want specific upgrades for your exact model, choose it from the Model ID links below, or enter your serial number here:
The MacBook Pro 15" with Retina display was introduced in
June 2012. Its groundbreaking feature was its high-resolution
2880x1800-pixel "Retina" display. It also added a second Thunderbolt
port, HDMI and USB 3.0. However it lost its
DVD drive, along with ethernet and FireWire 800 ports (Thunderbolt
adaptors for ethernet and FireWire 800 were sold separately).
It is much less upgradeable than previous models, with
RAM being soldered onto the board and non-replaceable, the
battery glued in place, and the SSD drive, while being upgradeable,
is of a non-standard type. The case is put together with pentalobe screws.
The first, mid 2012, revision of the MacBook Pro 15" Retina
was released in a 2.3GHz, 2.6GHz and a BTO option of 2.7GHz
quad core Intel Core i7 CPU. RAM options were either 8GB or
16GB of 1600MHz DDR3 memory and there were 256GB, 512GB and
768GB SSD options. Apple specs here.
The line was refreshed in February 2013 with a 2.4GHz (BTO
2.7GHz option) and 2.7GHz (BTO 2.8GHz option) variants. Apple
specs here.
New models were released in July 2014, with very little differences to the previous models beyond slight differences in CPU speeds - 2.2, 2.5 and 2.8GHz i7 models. Apple specs here.
In Late 2016 a new revision came with the new Touch Bar. These models have both soldered in RAM, and a soldered SSD, making them completely non-upgradeable.
How to Identify these Machines
The main distinguising feature between the MacBook Pro 15" with
Retina display, and the MacBook
Pro 15" Unibody is its very high-resolution display. It also has no
optical (DVD) drive, no FireWire port and no ethernet port.
The machine is similar to the MacBook
Pro 13" Retina with the screen size being the main difference.
Memory Upgrades
Memory is soldered onto the logic board in these machines, and cannot
be upgraded after purchase.
We do not have RAM available for these Macs.
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive Upgrades
There
is no internal DVD drive in the MacBook Pro 15" Retina, to use optical
disks it requires an external device.
Blu-Ray is not fully supported in OSX. Disks can be mounted and read, but movie playback requires third party software.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Internal Hard Drive & SSD Upgrades
The MacBook Pro 15" Retina's SSD drive is a non-standard part, rather
than the 2.5" SATA drive used on previous MacBook Pros. There are different parts available depending on the age of the machine. They come with USB 3.0 enclosures for the removed Apple SSD - allowing easy data transfer and leaving you with a handy (and blazingly quick) external SSD.
The Late 2016 (Touch Bar) models have a soldered in SSD and cannot take upgrades.
If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.
Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.
For all Retina models prior to the Late 2013 revision. Note the included Envoy enclosure is for the original Apple supplied SSD only, fitting the new OWC SSD into it will damage it.
2
Requires 10.13 High Sierra or later. For Retina models from the Late 2013 to the Mid 2015. Note the included Envoy enclosure is for the original Apple supplied SSD only, fitting the new OWC SSD into it will damage it.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Repair service for the MacBook Pro Retina 15in Mid 2012/Early 2013 only.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Expansion Card Upgrades
The MacBook Pro Retina does not have any expansion slots, however
with its Thunderbolt ports a wide range of equipment can be used.
There are none available.
Keyboards & Mice
Desktop
keyboards and mice can be used with the MacBook pro 15" Retina via
USB.
For models with Thunderbolt/Thunderbolt 2. Or Thunderbolt 3 with an adaptor.
3
This can be connected to this models that have a USB Type-A connector, to access a 2.5in SATA drive. But this Mac does not use a 2.5in SATA drive internally.
External Drives & Enclosures
The MacBook Pro 15" Retina has USB 3.0 which can allow it to control
a wide range of external storage. For high-end use it also has Thunderbolt
ports.
Fully compatible with models with Thunderbolt 3, will work with an adaptor and at reduced speed with models with Thunderbolt 1 or 2.
2
This can be connected to models which have a USB Type-A connector, to access a 3.5in SATA drive. But this Mac does not use a 3.5in SATA drive internally.
3
This can be connected to this models that have a USB Type-A connector, to access a 2.5in SATA drive. But this Mac does not use a 2.5in SATA drive internally.
Complete Machines - Refurbished
Any complete machines of this type or similar that we have for sale are listed here. Please note that these are refurbished models with a 3 month warranty, and that delivery is likely to take 3 - 5 working days. These can be purchased online with the standard website courier delivery charge for the mainland UK only. Please contact us for a quote on shipping to other areas.
There are none available.
Repair Services for this Mac
Here are the various repair services we offer for this Mac. You can have us take the machine in for evaluation, or book a fixed-price repair if you already know what the fault is and the service is listed below (for services without parts, please see the relevant tab on this page for compatible parts that we sell). If you know what the fault is, but we don't have a fixed-price repair listed below, please contact
us for a quote.
