Apple's new MacBook Pro has antenna mounted to optical drive frame
"The new MacBook Pro doesn't look any different than its predecessor, but Apple has made quite a few subtle tweaks within their latest professional laptop," said Kyle Wiens, teardown specialist over at iFixIt. "We dove inside to find out exactly what a year's worth of tweaks and improvements looks like."
In an email, Wiens noted the following highlights from the tear-down:
Wireless
- Apple moved the WiFi/Bluetooth board. This redesign no longer requires that the wireless connections be integrated into the camera cable, greatly decreasing the size of the connector.
- Since the WiFi/Bluetooth board is now mounted inside the all-metal case, Apple added an antenna that is mounted on the frame for the optical drive opening. "Pretty clever! Time will tell what impact this move has on wireless performance."
Audio
- Apple changed the design of this speaker assembly slightly, moving from a single plastic enclosure to separate plastic enclosures for the speaker & subwoofer that are connected by the speaker leads.
Graphics Switching
- Apple's homebred automatic graphics switching calls on the OS to switch to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics as needed for higher demand applications "like Chess, and uses the integrated Intel Core i5 graphics for Solitaire."
Chipset
- Apple is using Intel's HM55 Express Chipset. Apple has clearly tweaked Intel's chipset to enable the seamless switching between the Intel and NVIDIA graphics. Interestingly enough, the chipset hub (BD82HM55) is not connected to the heat sink. Enough heat is convected from the surface of the silicon to remove the small amount of heat generated. Another advantage of this Intel chipset over Optimus is that the integrated graphics are powered down when the discrete GPU is active.
Battery
- The battery is now rated at 77.5 Wh. That's just a tad bit bigger (6%) than the 73 Wh battery we found in last year's 15" model, but not enough to explain the 2 hour battery life (22%) improvement Apple is claiming for this machine. Apple has dramatically reduced this machine's power consumption, and we expect it to run quite a bit cooler than the previous model.
- Apple has stopped using five-point Torx screws found on other MBP 15" Unibodies in favor of Tri-Wing screws.
48 Comments
Ah damn. Now I can't use my outdated Torx screwdriver to break open the case anymore. Seriously though, wonder why they stopped using Torx in favor of Tri-wing?
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBo...eardown/2212/1
I was thinking that in conjunction with the MacBookPro lineup, the MBA was the future...eventually adding a 15" and 17" with the idea of supplanting the MBP dominance. Sans the Superdrive!
Obviously, the MBA's would need a lot more RAM & larger SSHD's. And a lot lower price.
But, now I think Apple should just 'dump' the SuperDrive in the MacBookPro's and use the space for larger batteries...add SSHD's and you have an 'instant-on' laptop with a ~15 to 20hr battery life.
Knowing Apple, they (MBP's) would most likely be a little thinner, too!
Thoughts!
Ps. I also think with the advent of the iPad that has pretty much killed the MBA....I know it has for me. All I need is my iPhone 3Gs, iPad 3g and a 27" iMac....and I'm good to go along with my AppleTV!
Pss. Once I get my iPad 3G...I will seriously be thinking of dropping my iPhone 3Gs for a 'dumb' phone and tell ATT to 'stuff the $110/mo iPhone fees up their nose!'
Apple has dramatically reduced this machine's power consumption, and we expect it to run quite a bit cooler than the previous model.
AnandTech notes that it's actually warmer and uses an additional fan, but that might be with the previous entry-level 15" MBP.
I was thinking that in conjunction with the MacBookPro lineup, the MBA was the future...eventually adding a 15" and 17" with the idea of supplanting the MBP dominance. Sans the Superdrive!
Obviously, the MBA's would need a lot more RAM & larger SSHD's. And a lot lower price.
But, now I think Apple should just 'dump' the SuperDrive in the MacBookPro's and use the space for larger batteries...add SSHD's and you have an 'instant-on' laptop with a ~15 to 20hr battery life.
Knowing Apple, they (MBP's) would most likely be a little thinner, too!
Thoughts!
Ps. I also think with the advent of the iPad that has pretty much killed the MBA....I know it has for me. All I need is my iPhone 3Gs, iPad 3g and a 27" iMac....and I'm good to go along with my AppleTV!
Pss. Once I get my iPad 3G...I will seriously be thinking of dropping my iPhone 3Gs for a 'dumb' phone and tell ATT to 'stuff the $110/mo iPhone fees up their nose!'
1) I think the MBA has its place. The iPad for traveling weighs greatly with consuming not creating. The MBA still makes a lightweight device for travel if you need to do a lot of typing. The next update for the MBA should be the CULV Core-i7, hopefully with 4GB RAM and with a greatly improved battery life. With the 9400M being on par with Intel HD, I would think that is an okay tradeoff as long as the anemic battery duration is increased, and price once again lowered (but not to the foolish sub-MacBook prices some people think it should simply because it's less powerful than a MB).
2) If the MBA does get discontinued, I think that speaks more for the future of Mac notebooks than for it being a result of the iPad. I think that would mean the removal of widely unused internal ODD in their next release. A USB drive or SD card with some funky design just for the Mac OS X Restore Disc utilizing the cheapest, slowest NAND would still faster than any DVD, use less power and be cheaper when you consider the cost savings from drive, too. After years of waiting for Blu-ray each new release pulls farther and farther away from Apple supplying BRDs in Macs. I think they might add AACS support in the future, but only well after ODDs have been removed from their notebooks. Do you really think they added SD card slots so late in the game just for photo transfers? I don't.
3) The most pressing issue seems to be the next revision of the 13" MBP. The space and price point seem to make adding a discrete GPU difficult, to put it mildly, and while the C2D with Nvida 320M is certainly a better choice over Core-i3 and Intel HD I can't see them being able to pull that same trick next time around. I think a discrete GPU in the 13" MBP is going to be required.
4) I bought an iPad to see if carrying it around could replace my iPhone. I found that it's much easier to walk or stand in line much easier with the iPhone, which is how I seem to mostly use it. For me, I don't think saving a few bucks on carrier fees will work.