Dissected the new MacBook: Difficult to repair, impossible to upgrade
iFixit has released the teardown of the new MacBook 12″, the new jewel of Apple characterized by weights and dimensions very contained. But not all gold that glitters.
Beginning with the introduction of the new MacBook 12-inch. The new ultra-portable Apple is definitely a very good exercise in style, but now the hardware can be integrated in a space so tight forces us to come to some serious compromises. The drawbacks of a solution of this type are many, both in terms of performance than on the real functionality. But the new work by the guys at iFixit teardown puts the attention on another aspect.
Inside the MacBook is a jewel from the engineering point of view, but its implementation leads to extreme problems equally extreme. All this leads to a result of 1 of the 10 traditional reparability Score, the minimum possible. Besides being a company substantially crowds, that by practicing to gain access to the interior of the new Apple laptops is also is useful only in case of serious malfunction.
Nothing inside the handset is upgradeable processor, RAM and flash memory are soldered on the logic board. Not even the battery pack is replaceable, with the different units that are glued firmly on the aluminum chassis. iFixit also analyzed the particular trackpad with touch feedback technology, which is slightly thinner than the one installed on the new MacBook Pro.
iFixit has also identified some interesting peculiarities: some electronic components are installed on either side of the logic board to preserve maximum space inside the body. We speak specifically of flash memory drives SSD or 128 GB of two separate chips that make up the unit of a mass storage model analyzed, of course 256 GB.
” The pentalobe screws proprietary continue to complicate the opening of the device, and the new cable routing makes the process even more difficult, ” writes iFixit commenting on the operations. ” The USB-C is fixed with screws tri-wing and inserted under the brackets of the display position that complicates the work for replacement. Also, being the only door, will be subject to more rapid wear than a door monofunctional “.
On the battery pack and the other components also iFixit pointed out: ” The battery pack is bonded very firmly in the bottom panel. The Retina display is still one unit merged, with no additional layer of protective glass. If the display needs to be replaced, in other words, the operation will cost a fortune. Processor, RAM and flash memory are also soldered on the logic board. ”
All these issues must be added the more tangible for all users, even that less savvy. The new MacBook has performance comparable, if not lower, than those of a MacBook Air with Intel Core i7 2011, further compromise to which we must come now if you want an ultra-compact and fanless cooling system.
