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Hi. My 13” macbook pro, early 2015, is growing old. It’s in very good condition and I don’t want to buy a new computer. However, a processor/ram upgrade would come in handy. Can I replace the motherboard with a better one from the same model? Would an i7 with 16gb of ram do the trick? Thank you.
With these Macs, the performance gap between the i5 vs i7 is minimal due to the U series CPUs. It will help as long as you get a i7/16GB replacement board, but do not expect a night and day difference with ULV chips. You may be better off with a i5/16GB board. The real i5 vs i7 gains are seen once you step up to 8th gen U series from an i3, which aren’t found in the 13" rMBP – these use Broadwell, so they have the old 2C/4T chips. The 8th gen i5/i7 are 4C/4T (i5) or 4C.8T (i7), or 2C/2T (i3, run). The i5" version uses Intel HQ Haswell chips in 2015, but those are 35W parts and wouldn’t work in the 13" due to the thermal footprint. The Broadwell chips in these are power optimized HSW. Long term, the machines that look like better long-term options are the M1 Max/32 or 64GB 14/16” — whichever size you get depends on if you’re okay with a heavy laptop that competes with the 17" MBP for weight and bulk (6.6lbs for the last 17”, 4.8/4.9lbs for the 16” M1). I personally loved the 17" screen, even considering it was heavy (the 16" being a welcome de-ja-vu I’ve wanted for the last 10 years), but it’s a commitment (not like a phone payment plan, but in the sense the weight and sheer size makes them bricks). I had the A1297, so I wasn’t surprised, rather very happy with the change (it has the screen I wanted back for the last 10 years, with the ports, SD card slot and MagSafe). Generally speaking, the 16" will be similar to the 15" so most will be right at home, but you may not be prepared for it if you had smaller laptops. The weight will catch people who had 13" machines for years off guard – for them, 14" is better.
It won’t be easy to find one, they are quite rare, but yes, an i7 logic board of the 2015 model would fit in place of the i5 just fine, same form factor and connectors.
