2012-ish macbook problems

I have an old macbook pro that i am trying to keep using, so obviously i thought linux. Problem is its so slow, I put mint on it and it was laggy and took forever to anything, so I thought maybe I put something a little more lightweight on it and see if that helps, so I tried Kali. Unfortunately that is still just as slow. What do I need to fix? Do i just need a new hard drive? any help is appreciated!