Ever since the Touch Bar MacBook Pro came out, I wanted it to be brilliant – many others included. However when Apple came out with the 2018 model year not only the problems for the 2016-2017 MacBook Pros were becoming more widespread, the specs were also a massive improvement over the 2017. Namely, the 2018 included over the 2017: Intel coffee lake, double the VRAM, faster/newer DDR4, a silicon membrane under the keycaps to address some of the butterfly keyboard issues, and more. Back then I witnessed a coworker’s 2017 15″ MacBook Pro’s display cable going bad in the same timeframe. Witnessing a hardware failure in person after seeing the value proposition of the tech specs of the newer model, I decided to sell my very own 2017 15″ A1707. I coasted by for a few months on a 2011 17″ MacBook Pro patched with Mojave for work before being fortunate enough to buy a 2018 15″ A1990 MacBook Pro base model. How was this like to use over the years? Is it worth it in 2025? What does it take to keep it in shape? This article reflects my thoughts and experiences.
I owned the base model A1990 2018 until sometime around 2022 when I sold it. OWC was running a sale in Early 2025 with the same model for just under $300 in good shape and a 500 GB SSD as opposed to a 256 GB SSD. To my surprise, it also came with a brand new NewerTech battery!
First things first, new thermal paste..
As our machines age, the thermal paste used inside them periodically needs to be replaced. While it’s uncertain when exactly this OWC-sourced MacBook Pro was last serviced aside from the new battery it’s quite obvious the thermal paste is old, flaky, and unusable. Old thermal paste is no longer effective in conducting heat transfer between the CPU die and the heatsink, allowing the computer to “cook” itself over time through use. This is what it looked like inside mine. Looks stock. (Click to enlarge)
Getting inside the machine is a bit less intimidating than it seems. There are a total of 6 screws holding on the back cover along with 2 tabs. You then prop the bottom cover up slightly and slide it down from the tab-hooks near the fan assembly, and done. See iFixit teardown guide on how to do this.
(Above: Cleaned off heatsink and Radeon Pro 555X with an I7-8750H. Click to Enlarge)
(Click to enlarge: Circled in red are the screws to undo the logic board)
- There is a screw under the rectangular black plastic piece above the battery, where the red circle is. This plastic piece is only taped on.
(Above: Logic board fully out of the case)
- Above: Idle temperatures before applying new thermal paste.
- Below: After applying Arctic MX-4. Beforehand, the machine could idle as low as 45c but any single task would leave it hovering at least in the upper 60s. Fans would kick up frequently, the machine would linger in the 75-90c range doing anything more than a single tab of web browsing.
(Enlarge above: MacBook Pro hits 85c+ downloading an update, before new MX-4 was applied.)
- Some tips: Check everything over twice when reconnecting, work against a lighter color surface (screws are black). The Touch ID connector and a couple small connectors around the board can be really easy to miss! Without the Touch ID connected, there’s no power button either.
(Dust patterns on the bottom cover before it was cleaned)
Time to test things out!
Right away when plugging it in, it booted to a macOS Ventura setup to which I updated immediately to Sequoia before anything else, even the thermal paste. Unfortunately there isn’t a single thing inside this Mac which could be upgraded, even if you had proper soldering equipment.
- Geekbench 6.4.0 + macOS Sequoia 15.3 – Single Core: 1325 (2396 M1 mini)
- Multi Core: 5286 (8493 M1 mini)
(Enlarge above: Benching immediately after updating)
- SSD speed and health in Early 2025 – Nearly 1 PB (994 TB) Written to SSD yet the SSD is still in good health!
- ~2500 MB/s Read, ~1900 MB/s Write (according to Blackmagic)
- Novabench says this MacBook Pro gets a score of 1215 in Early 2025. (Click to enlarge)
Stress testing with Minecraft
I like to get a sense of the computer’s relative performance by roaming around a little while in a Minecraft world. It’s a popular game that’s been ported to quite a few platforms, and although I’m someone who doesn’t build things in Minecraft anymore – I still have an account and it ends up being useful. For this I downloaded Vanilla 1.21.4, Render/Simulation 32 chunks, 2880 x 1800 display (shows up as 2048 x 1280?), and after 10 minutes I recorded the results. FPS ranges anywhere from 25-150 depending on a variety of factors, with no dips to 0 from what I’ve seen. The MacBook Pro averages 75-85 FPS in most cases, with 20-40 fps lows and up to 150 for in certain circumstances. I also recorded the temperatures of the surface of the laptop’s bottom case surfaces using a laser thermal gun.
(Enlarge above: Using a laser thermal gun to record temps.)
(Enlarge Above: A toasty ‘Book after 10 minutes of Minecraft. Similar temps underneath.)
Indeed, this is a toasty laptop – this is the notorious TouchBar MacBook Pro which was renown for being too thin for the parts put into it. Namely the CPU, GPU, and VRMs. More of something that sits on a desk unless it has a case, and can probably keep you warm if you use it on your lap in the winter.
(Enlarge above: Avg internal temps on maxed MC settings after applying new thermal paste)
(Enlarge above: Emulating Mac OS X Tiger in UTM on this ‘Book)
(Enlarge above: Virtualizing Windows 11 In UTM. Actually runs quite nicely!)
NewerTech battery life on Sequoia
The battery is essentially brand new as it shipped installed by OWC, with only 2 cycles on it. It’s a newer tech as opposed to a OEM, and was made in late 2021. Haven’t used it long enough to get a feel for how long the battery lasts off a single charge yet, but feels promising. 1 and a half hours of mild usage on a random day last week (web browsing) yielded a 17% drain on the battery – It can be assumed this could last 7-8 hours without more information. Time will tell!
(Enlarge above: Youtube plays smoothly in 4K on UHD 630 GPU, temps aren’t too bad.)
Limits of using an un-upgradeable machine (This one specifically)
While the 2018 MacBook Pro has aged rather well in terms of performance for most basic task there are some caveats to using an Intel Mac, let alone this specific machine.
1: Absolutely no upgradeability whatsoever
The T2 security chip is paired with the storage on the computer, and device components on the logic board are signed. This makes it far more difficult to repair, and absolutely impossible to replace the storage modules on this Mac. In addition, there are absolutely no ways to upgrade the RAM – this is also onboard, soldered.
2: Butterfly Keyboard
This is the model with the infamous butterfly keyboard, albeit one that’s slightly remedied. There is a silicon membrane underneath each keycap which provides an extra barrier between the external environment and the key mechanism. The problem is when debris gets stuck inside the mechanism, causing keys to become stuck, repeat, or outright not at all work. Miraculously this A1990 2018 MacBook Pro 15″ has survived 7 years without issue, although every once in a while it seems the “.” key randomly presses. It can be remedied by strike-tapping the key hard a few times.
3: USB-C only
This ‘Book was from a time when they thought it was okay to ditch all ports except USB-C. Indeed it has aged well, USB-C is versatile and fast with the USB 3.1 standard. This however didn’t stop users from demanding Apple add ports back to the MacBook Pro, which Apple did with the M1 Pro MacBook Pro in 2021.
So far.. still good!
I’m both surprised yet unsurprised about this ‘Book’s performance under Sequoia. On one hand it is a 7 year old notebook and it is to be expected that newer operating systems would consumer ever increasing resources which would make older hardware obsolete. On the other hand the reality is it’s still super snappy, delivering on the “dream” of what this notebook was way back in 2018. It’s no Apple Silicon Mac and the benchmarks show this, however: Web browsing feels indiscernible from an AS Mac, icons don’t linger/bounce when launching an app, it boots rather quick, and can handle up to moderate gaming tasks/rather heavy but not too heavy CPU tasks.
Benefits of the A1990 MacBook Pro
1: Touch ID
Just like a newer Apple Silicon Mac, you have the benefit of Touch ID on this Mac. It works all the same, it’s not some chopped down or old version just because it’s an Intel Mac. Makes entering payment information, passwords, etc; much quicker than older Macs and other Macs of the same era.
2: Gigantic trackpad
This trackpad was a game changer for sure, a massive leap up from the trackpads of previous generations. I remember years ago before the 2018 ‘Book I had a 2017 A1707 ‘Book Pro and how big of a change it was – you can press down on any part of the trackpad, drag and drop with the entire trackpad, and use force touch with haptic feedback.
3: However much storage or RAM, it is fast.
2500 MB/s read and 1900 MB/s write is rather nice for a boot drive, all things considered. If you make a RAM disk, you can get a whopping 4470 MB/s read and 3410 MB/s write!
4: More vRAM than previous generations, dedicated GPU
Unlike Apple Silicon or other Intel ‘Books of the same era, this MacBook Pro has a dedicated GPU with 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, which isn’t at all shared with the internal 16 GB DDR4. Provides more oomph than the Intel UHD 630 1536 MB which is used by default and is power saving. It is a Polaris GPU.
5: In Early 2025 it’s still supported
While Intel Macs are in their twilight era, it is still a currently supported machine. You can still receive security updates on it, run the latest macOS, and mostly any macOS app. Windows 11 runs smoothly in UTM, as well as other modern operating systems. I opted not to partition my 500 GB SSD into separate macOS and Windows partitions as I don’t use Windows all too often and would rather not deal with the hassle.
6: Using an eGPU
With Thunderbolt 3 you have the ability to use an eGPU on this model of MacBook Pro – just like the 2018 Mac mini. This is also in contrast to Apple Silicon Macs, which cannot take GPU upgrades or run an eGPU whatsoever.
7: Charges from both sides!
It doesn’t at all matter which port you use to charge the MacBook Pro, you can charge from all 4 USB-C ports. Just not the headphone jack, of course. It’s been said online that it’s better to charge off of the right side ports to prevent overheating as opposed to the left side USB-C ports. (See cult of Mac article)
Some tips for a seemingly delicate Mac
Here’s what worked for me and helped keep my 2018 MacBook Pro running without issue from 2018 – 2022. I had no key failures despite spilling an entire sugar free energy drink onto the ‘Book by accident!
- Hold it upside down without putting pressure on the screen so the particles fall out and air-dust the keyboard, then the bezel area. (Daily)
- Close the ‘Book and air-dust the vents.
- Try not to keep food or liquids near the ‘Book to prevent possibility of crumbs or spills
- Do not recommend using a keyboard cover. Anything that sits between the screen and bottom case could potentially crack the screen or bezel.
- Put an exterior case on the ‘Book
- Carry it gently, use a carrying case, clean it frequently, and don’t take it anywhere it would be moved frequently or where there would be a lot of traffic/interaction with this ‘Book.
- Try not to adjust the screen angle frequently. While the 2018 model had the fluxgate issue remedied, it’s still a similar design and should be approached with caution.
- Don’t hold heavy objects near the notebook, don’t store anything on it, and try not to ever bump or scratch it. Aluminum is a soft metal.
Why a 2018 MacBook Pro in 2025?
For me the 2018 MacBook Pro is sentimental as it was one of the few Macs I ever got new. I bought it at a Micro Center, helped me work at an old job and pushing through tasks like a breeze. While many started to overlook the 2018 as the issues snowballed with the TouchBar models back then, I saw something special in the leap up in specs. While there is no upgradeability, these are the very first intel ‘Books to ship with Intel Coffee lake and DDR4. While all devices someday become obsolete, the 2018 MacBook Pro still delivers!
The 2018 A1990 is to Macs what the USS Vengeance was to Star Trek: Into Darkness. Both have a radically new design, powerful hardware, however, developing circumstances reveal a dark and destructive aura. They are advanced in design and leap ahead of everything before either of them. If the logic board were slapped into the shell of a 2015 15″ along with the trackpad, with upgradeable RAM/storage and minus the TouchBar, this would have been easy to recommend and quite possibly have been the highlight of the intel ‘Books.
In conclusion
Would I recommend this MacBook Pro in Early 2025? I most certainly would love to considering the specs, but I feel obligated to stick to the track record and share what worked for me. It’s like a giant MacBook Air, and on a performance level feels like a great introduction to macOS as a whole. macOS will still be able to function on this ‘Book in and of itself for the foreseeable future irrespective of whether or not it receives updates. You can still run current apps on it, it’s super responsive, and has solid mid-tier performance for heavier tasks. Still feels like a million bucks just browsing the web, too! If you’re someone on a budget, can understand the limitations of this device and are prepared to put up with it.. this MacBook Pro may be for you!
In Early 2025, this ‘Book still browses the web A-ok, streams 4K video no issue, is a decent portable hypervisor, is also a decent emulator for consoles and PowerPC Macs, can play some games, and graphical animations are still fluid. It isn’t cutting edge anymore, but it’s worth another look.
