iFixit Tear Down of New MacBook Pro Reveals ‘Least Repairable Laptop’

By Matthew On June 13, 2012 · Add Comment

iFixit has ripped open the new MacBook pro, revealing that the laptop is almost unrepairable. With a repair rating of 1/10 the Retina MacBook pro is the ‘least repairable laptop’.

“Apple has packed all the things we have into one beautiful little package.” For you, this means incredible expensive repair bills if you have to, and very little upgrade-ability.

As iFixit puts it:

Just like in the iPhone 4/4S (and the MacBook Air), proprietary Pentalobe screws prevent folks from accessing the machine’s internals. That means you need a special screwdriver just to remove the bottom cover.

As in the MacBook Air, the RAM is soldered to the logic board. Max out at 16GB now, or forever hold your peace—you can’t upgrade.

The proprietary SSD isn’t upgradeable either (yet), as it is similar but not identical to the one in the Air. It is a separate daughtercard, and we’re hopeful we can offer an upgrade in the near future.

The lithium-polymer battery is glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it’ll break during disassembly. The battery also covers the trackpad cable, which tremendously increases the chance that a user will shear the cable in the battery removal process.

The display assembly is completely fused, and there’s no glass protecting it. If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire (extremely expensive) assembly.