Little Has Changed in Impossible-to-Repair MacBook, MacBook Pro
Apple surprised WWDC audiences by eliminating the price difference between its 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro—both now starting at $1,299.
Boasting few physical advancements from their 2016 specs, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. Right?
According to teardown experts iFixit, little has changed internally, as well.
“The larger trackpad. The USB 3 port. The lone microphone jack. Why does this all feel so familiar?” the team said of the 12-inch Apple MacBook. “Can we just use last year’s teardown and call it a day?”
One noticeable upgrade is hiding beneath the laptop’s keyboard, where a second-gen butterfly mechanical switch (inherited from the Pro) comes with a new round dome for enhanced typing.
Cupertino’s 13-inch Pro, meanwhile, comes with a new finish on its fans.
“Looks like the 4K iMac got the real refresh juice this year,” iFixit said.
Both systems come with 8GB of RAM (configurable up to 16GB), but differ on storage: Apple’s MacBook features a 256GB SSD, while the Pro has only half that, but can be configured with a 1TB SSD (for an additional $800).
Power-hungry users may want to pick up a MacBook Pro, with a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor—faster than the MacBook’s 1.2GHz Intel Core m3 processor (sans fan).
Available now in the Apple Store, the pair come in silver or space grey finishes; the 12-inch MacBook—Cupertino’s thinnest laptop—is also on sale in gold or rose gold.
Just don’t try any at-home restorations: Both computers earned a measly one-out-of-10 repairability score from iFixit, which complained of soldered-on components and too much battery adhesive.
The MacBook’s Retina display “is a fused unit with no separate, protective glass,” the firm said, warning that “if the display is damaged, it’ll be arduous and expensive to repair.”
There is one bright spot for Pro owners: The trackpad can be removed without first extracting the battery. That doesn’t quite make up for the machine’s difficult-to-repair Touch Bar and Touch ID sensor.
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