AppleInsider Staff
The details come from iFixit's extensive teardown of the next-generation MacBook Pro, which the site published on Wednesday, just two days after the new notebook was announced. The solutions provider took particular issue with the design of the new MacBook Pro with respect to repairability, giving it a lowest possible score of 1 out of 10.
"Even though it packs lots of gee-whiz bells and whistles, we were thoroughly disappointed when we ventured inside," they said. "This is, to date, the least repairable laptop we've taken apart. Apple has packed all of the things we hate into one beautiful little package."
Among the issues iFixit has with the Retina display MacBook Pro is the fact that the battery is no longer screwed into the machine, and has instead been glued into place. This increases the chances that it will break during disassembly, and makes it particularly hard to fix the trackpad, as its cable goes under the battery.
In addition, the display assembly is completely fused, and there is no glass protecting it. Any failure with the new Retina display would likely need a full replacement.
And the exterior of the MacBook Pro is sealed with proprietary pentalobe screws that will prevent users from cracking it open.
As with the MacBook Air, the RAM on the new MacBook Pro is soldered onto the logic board, which means that it cannot be upgraded after it is purchased. The next-generation MacBook Pro comes with up to 16 gigabytes of RAM.
The model disassembled also featured 512 gigabytes of Samsung flash memory. The proprietary solid-state drive found in the new MacBook Pro was called "similar but not identical to the one in the air," featuring a separate daughter card that the site hopes will be upgradeable in the near future.
Also discovered inside the new notebook was aBroadcom BCM4331 single-chip 802.11n dual-band wireless and a BCM20702 single-chip Bluetooth 4.0 HCI solution with Bluetooth Low Energy support.
An asymmetrical fan found inside the MacBook Pro spreads the noise produced over multiple frequencies, making it less noticeable. But iFixit said attention given to the fan by members of the press is "a testament to Apple's marketing department," more than anything else.
The central processor and graphics processor heat sink feature an exhaust air vent assembly that pushes the air through a restriction before it gets to the outermost vents. This additional pressure drop accelerates air and pushes it out of the computer faster.
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194 Comments
When I predicted here that the next MacBook Pro would have RAM soldered directly onto the motherboard, no one believed me. This means lower cost, higher reliability, better performance, and a more compact design. All manufacturers will follow Apple's lead on this.
Alas this is the price to pay to get something as svelte as the new Macbook Pro. In my mind it is well worth it. Just remember to get Apple Care!
When I predicted here that the next MacBook Pro would have RAM soldered directly onto the motherboard, no one believed me. This means lower cost, higher reliability, better performance, and a more compact design. All manufacturers will follow Apple's lead on this.
Cost : Why would it be lower ? Support/replacement is more expensive
Reliability : Maybe, because you won't have badly seated ram, but wat happens when at QC you find a bad memory chip....
Performance : No difference between soldered/non-soldered
Compact design : The only plausible reasong in my opinion.
[quote name="mcarling" url="/t/150678/teardown-of-retina-display-macbook-pro-finds-soldered-ram-propreitary-ssd#post_2126871"]When I predicted here that the next MacBook Pro would have RAM soldered directly onto the motherboard, no one believed me. This means lower cost, higher reliability, better performance, and a more compact design. All manufacturers will follow Apple's lead on this. [/quote] Ultimately, it comes down to how many people actually bother with upgrading their RAM. If the number is small enough, soldered RAM isn't a problem. If a significant number of people want to upgrade their RAM, there could be some backlash. However, given the modest price for the upgrade to 16 GB, I would simply get the higher RAM from the start and it should be sufficient for most people for the life of the computer. Heck, I'm currently still stuck at 3 GB and lots of people are using even less.
I must say this is the most snarky teardown (pun unintended) of a Mac by iFixit. I sympathise with the repair providers but at the end of the day, if you're repairing Macs, I think your jobs are pretty safe. I understand it's a trade-off between the cash flow of repairing Macs and the high level of skill involved... But at the same time when the iPhone first came out repairers were going nuts, now even joe blow across the street has a little iPhone repair shop. Long-time Mac repairers are pretty amazing anyway, the guy in my previous company could lay an iBook (not MacBook, mind you, iBook is pretty crazy) on a chair and totally rip it apart and put it back in several minutes. Unfortunately in my previous company he had to do most of the work because the other technicians were pretty lost, especially if they were new to Mac.
For an end-user, just get the AppleCare 3 year and be done with it. You want super-customisable stuff? Get a MacBook Pro and tweak to your heart's content. I'll take the Retina MBP anyday. If 8GB isn't enough in 3 years time for most tasks, I'll eat my shoe. In any case if all goes well in the next few years my next Mac will be a 13" MacBook Air or maybe 13" MacBook Pro Retina.