MacBook Pro 2021 Teardown: Easier to Repair, Harder to Score…

[@JerryRigEverything]

Awesome video! 👌

[@crazysax2004]

I was scrolling down looking for your comment! lol

[@dekobra3834]

@@crazysax2004 same

[@christophergaspar6520]

he finally saw it haha

[@faisiriandi7736]

When there is sentence "Scratches At Level x, Deeper Groov at Level x" I knew you here

[@kimchithatisnicelyfermente4627]

Will there be any durability test on this one? Just asking LOL

[@Bchan]

I like how the standards for "removable battery" went from a battery you could remove by pressing 2 tabs or one on the outside of the machine to... single use adhesive hidden behind a plethora of screws

[@TheSpotify95]

Thankfully my current/prior laptops have (or have had) remvable batteries, though again different definitions of removable: Acer Aspire 5742: locked in with 2 tabs, externally removable and upgradable (from 6 cell to 9 cell) HP 15-ac Series: locked in with 2 tabs, externally removable (capped at 4 cell) HP OMEN 15-dc Series: remove back cover (screwed in), then remove battery (screwed in). More of a pain, and being Li-Po (instead of 18650) it is more prone to expanding later on in life (potentially damaging other components) but hey, at least it's not glued.

[@kurttappe]

@@TheSpotify95 When a battery lasts 17 hours and has a 7-year life, I'm not sure why users would need it to be removable.

[@trym2121]

Because look comes first before functionality. We are at the era where showing off is easier and need wow factor every now and then to spice up the life.

[@CommonTater100]

what the heck is a platera? were you trying to say plethora?

[@tcc5750]

@@kurttappe It is not 7 years. The battery is rated to 1000 cycles. That is typically 4-6 years for the average consumer, with most prosumers roughly 3-5 years typically. Heavy users 2-3 years easily.

[@kveiris]

Instant like for "scratches at level 1 with deeper grooves at level 2"!

[@Askar_Birmuhammedov]

Йо инглиш из пёфект

[@BikeHelmetMk2]

The compound likely had something hard in it, like microscopic diamonds, which he pressed into the IHS accidentally.

[@LordTechPro]

It scratched because of the thermal compound, plastic can't scratch metal

[@epicnicity916]

@@BikeHelmetMk2 that makes sense! ty

[@DrFarisArab]

Watching pro level tear down is so satisfying..i wish u dig deeper in the logic board though

[@janrynkevic377]

Keyboard as well

[@carusowa241]

and Display

[@mrrkrr]

That's what the written teardown is for

[@djplonghead5403]

I put a command strip on my wall and when I took it off it pulled the paint off my wall.

[@oldcountryman2795]

The logic board is a single piece and can’t be further torn down. If you want to know more about it there is plenty of info on-line.

[@MandoMonge]

I nearly cried not to stop when you said “this is getting long” I wanted it to keep diving it’s so AWESOME these videos

[@brucemckay6615]

You Tubes bitching algorithm more or less forces video makers into short videos... else they get automatically down ranked...

[@jedics1]

Bringing awareness to repairability is admirable, hopefully it helps push companies back towards it.

[@thibaldus3]

I wish. But they'll come kicking and screaming.

[@erickauffmann_official]

I’m really glad they made the battery removal process easier than before and that the display cables won’t be ripping like older models.

[@morfeyrun]

A 2 trillion $ company can't design proper display cables? What a joke

[@katzenjunge5869]

did you read the his comment or watch the video? they literally did exactly that. who cares about the old models which are not sold anymore and had a repair program too. they learned from their mistakes, thats all you can ask for.

[@erickauffmann_official]

Agreed 💯

[@zachv1942]

@@katzenjunge5869 it doesn't matter. Build your stuff for longevity. Spend the extra .005 cents on longer flex cables.

[@mini9503]

No point in making the battery replaceable when Apple doesn't sell any MacBook batteries to begin with though!

[@randaranatunga7259]

That Pull Tab section was hilarious 😂

[@vgavilla]

Family Guy all the way

[@derek400004]

the angry owl eyes was funny too 🤣

[@akinoz]

😝

[@5432604]

good

[@Thewaterspirit57]

@@derek400004 I will never forget that “angry owl” comparison XD

[@austinricker]

5:57 That spudger you're using is a glass-fiber reinforced spudger, meaning it has glass that may be exposed along the scraping edge. So it should be more like scratches at a level 5 with deeper grooves at a level 6, right?

[@iFixitYourself]

Oh man, I think you might be right! I didn’t think about which spudger I picked up haha. It must have been that, or the thermal paste doing the scratching (which was my original thought). -TD

[@JorisKeijser]

I was like, what's that shield made of? Lead? Mercury?

[@austinricker]

@@iFixitYourself I remember when you guys announced the pro-tech toolkit that the spudger was featured in! You have always made some amazing products for repairs! Compared to other plastic spudgers, yours are hands-down the best. I have been using your tools for the past 10+ years! Thanks for providing a great, reliable resource for tools and guides!

[@austinricker]

@@JorisKeijser maybe Bismuth? Lol :)

[@AlexandreG]

Yeah it felt weird seeing because I've seen another guy do this without a single mark. You have a good eye!

[@colinsane]

This nuanced analysis and constructive criticism is delivered in such a cheerful, snark-less way. Love to see it! Great work

[@jaden4833]

My speaker is cracking sadly I found out it's a physical damage. However, I found it I need to take a lot of things out in order to change it. Can I remove it without taking the battery?

[@PhilfreezeCH]

The shared SoC RAM I understand. It does actually provide a sizable performance improvement that is hard to replicate with other options at the moment but there is no good reason to solder on a SSD, the M.2 socket is tiny anyway and if you are concerned with the thickness there are even versions that live in a PCB cutout on the same level as the PCB instead of sitting on top of it.

[@virtudesign]

I agree, it’s a shame not to make it more repairable. if you use your laptop heavily and keep it on 24 hrs a day (I used to do that on a few of my computers), you will need a new logic board just because the ssd went bad. My 2015 MacBook ssd died, not cost effective to replace the logic board since the part alone costs almost $500.

[@artbear5653]

Apple, business model is to sell you same model with more storage for 5 times price, NVMe SSD 8TB is 1.2k$ on average, but price jump for MacBook from 1tb version to 8tb is 3 times that. This is the reason to have SSD soldered there ;)

[@StephenOrion]

I love my removable ssd in the 2015 macbook pro, but i also understand if the engineers at apple are going for "lets make the fastest ssd in a laptop". With that mentality, plus trying to capitalize on the storage, they're going to solder it for sure. and that's a compromise I can take for a couple hundred bucks more while purchase. Sad, but it's not the worst thing to happen on a computer unlike the butterfly keyboard lol

[@Ebalosus]

Hear hear! While I would prefer user-serviceable RAM, I can understand why that’ll be a thing of the past in the near future, even if I grumble about how much I’m paying for the extra RAM. SSDs however, they wear out, and should be very much replaceable, even if only for security reasons.

[@ashliehiggins]

@@DC90X That's negligible, I've got dozens of 10+ year old SSDs which are still at over 90% health, and that's them being used as cache drives and swap drives.

[@jpdemer5]

The speed of the M1 really does depend on integrated memory - the speed of electricity is actually a limiting factor, and shorter paths are better. On the other hand, I'd like to see the SSD socketed, so it could be swapped out without desoldering. The performance hit, if any, would be worth the tradeoff IMO.

[@000jjjoni000]

or have a dual memory version, socketed and swapable memory

[@jpdemer5]

@@000jjjoni000 Well, they did in fact socket the SSDs in the Mac Studio, so I guess a small "yay" is in order. PITA to replace one, though ... and sadly, you can't upgrade to a larger one.

[@jaden4833]

My speaker is cracking sadly I found out it's a physical damage. However, I found it I need to take a lot of things out in order to change it. Can I remove it without taking the battery?

[@schmijo]

Can we just appreciate how beautiful the macbook looks from the inside

[@dukeseb]

Too be fair when was the last time you saw a MacBook that wasn’t beautiful on the inside

[@m-stat9]

@@dukeseb Pre 2012 non-retina models

[@dukeseb]

@@m-stat9 yea…. So a long time ;)

[@theEskalaator]

Looks like Johnny 5

[@Muhamad_Taufiq]

@@m-stat9 That's also beautiful if you compare to another laptops of the same era

[@sardanus]

So this is a REAL teardown for a long time now, well done ifixit!

[@keco185]

There should be separate "repair" and "upgrade" scores. Lack of removable memory would hurt the upgrade score but not the repair score since I've never seen an integrated memory module fail so it wouldn't hurt repair.

[@HiiixImpakt]

I've seen both integrated memory and graphics modules fail. It definitely happens.

[@thebuddercweeper]

Good point. I'm not quite sure how you'd "upgrade" the battery though, surely that would also be repairs as the only time I can think of replacing a battery is when it runs down and stops holding charge or fails completely?

[@verpejas]

that's a good idea, but in this particular case, this macbook is simply not upgradeable. You cannot upgrade the ssd, ram, battery, wifi card. There are zero upgrades for this laptop, only repairs. On x86 PC laptops, yeah, this kind of separation would be nice. Infact it already exists, as ifixit provides guides on ram upgrades, ssd upgrades etc, for some laptop models, along with a maching "difficulty meter"

[@alexsmedile]

I AGREEE, we need an entire new concept of score

[@keco185]

@@verpejas yeah this laptop would get a 0 for upgradability. But its repairability score would be higher

[@MusicMoleOfficial]

2:02 is it me or are there empty storage slots on the left just above the battery? would that make upgrading storage a bit easier?

[@MrLazini]

Nice observation !

[@zombiegun71]

Just a guess, but they didnt mention which SKU they bought, i would assume they got a cheaper one to tear apart. Likely those slots would be filled with a topped out SKU.

[@rushilkisoon]

I doubt it would be easier… or worth the risk of trying to solder on NAND chips. And then to get them initialised and formatted so that they’d be recognised is another issue.

[@MrLazini]

@@rushilkisoon REWA Technologies can do it, why cant we

[@TheJosiahTurner]

youd prolly have to solder the new storage on

[@maybedonn]

I love everything you guys do but, I feel like the Pentalobe screw penalty makes me groan these days. I got a cheap screwdriver set for five bucks and it had a pentalobe bit, and pretty much every kit you've ever sold has a pentalobe bit. I get that it's non-standard, but if you're opening up $1000+ machines the tiny commitment it takes to spend a dollar or two on a pentalobe bit really should really have no impact on the device's repairability score. If Apple were changing it every year I'd get it, but it's one bit for every one of their devices since like, the iPhone 4S.

[@theEskalaator]

I really think that when you design a $1000+ laptop, you can afford to use standart screws

[@thebuddercweeper]

Agreed, it's probably about as easy to get hold of a pentalobe compatible screwdriver as it is to get hold of any other small screw driver tip.

[@maybedonn]

@@theEskalaator or you can use the same screws that have been in your supply chain for a decade and a half now and expect people who care enough to open them to buy a 2 dollar bit?

[@neolordie]

@@maybedonn they shouldn't have been introduced in the fist place

[@RandomUser2401]

@@neolordie relax Karen, now they are here.

[@karthiksathyanarayanan5271]

The battery on frame is actually an unecessary hassle. If an additional part count can be avoided by a pull tab without impacting functionality and repair, it's a go. The socketed memory, GPU would not achieve the same power vs performance gains as an integrated SoC. Trust me, the TDPs in SoCs in the same power envelope beat socketed parts any day.

[@CommonTater100]

what if the whole soc is socketed though as a single piece just like the soldered on one?

[@jackwilson7082]

@@CommonTater100 well that would add another mm at least, heatpipe size is non negotiable so the thickness of the socket would be in addition. As well as that, this new chip would need to be pin compatible. 53 billion transistors communicating over 2000 or so pins, that need to behave exactly the same. I assume you’re not an engineer, but we can all appreciate that it a bit complicated

[@aroberts3213]

I love this laptop so far. The screen, keyboard, IO and the speakers really make the upgrade worth it.. Oh and the much faster SOC.

[@stachowi]

yeah, totally living up to the hype. I'm just blown away by the screen blacks and the speakers. hopefully this MBP lasts as long as the one it's replacing.

[@TechDove]

I'm gonna go ahead and stick with my M1 MacBook pro, I have no need for the extra power of the M1 pro or max as I only edit In 4k60 and I am really offput by a notch on a laptop, since it only houses a camera and not a face ID system, to me there's zero reason for it to be there and it would have been much more apple like to not include a webcam and sell one separately. That being said I have no issues with larger bezels if it helps me avoid having a notch, I'd rather have a laptop with far less ports than to have a notch since I've already gotten used to the dongle life, I don't love it but I can deal with it, and Im so very happy with my 13 inch MacBook pro 😃

[@onemanshow4116]

@@TechDove why do you care, though? The notch cuts into the menu bar only. Content is ALWAYS below… so it’s not that the notch cuts into the screen, it’s the screen that cuts into the bezel.

[@TechDove]

@@onemanshow4116 why do I care? Because I don't want a notch cutting into my display, it's unsightly and not a good design for a device that has so much room, that isn't necessary to have 3mm bezels. Why don't you care? I always see these notch defenders and that's exactly why we keep seeing them. Would you be defending the notch if it was on the f'n apple watch?! It's like apple can do no wrong to people like you

[@TechDove]

@@onemanshow4116 I wouldn't care if it was a teardrop style notch, but it's oversized for no reason, and believe it or not but it is possible to view full screen content on that laptop, where the notch DOES cut into it. So it's not "just the menu bar"

[@josemedeiros007]

Great review, how cool is that! I worked for Intel in 1999 and 2006 in the server and computer SAN storage group so I am partial to Intel CPU's in my laptops, but I think I am finally making the switch to Apple Silicon this year.

[@trancenut81]

This thing is built BEAUTIFULLY!

[@pldaniels]

As a person responsible for getting the boardviews / schematics out and about for the people repairing the mainboards, I am anxious to see how long before we can get our hands on those diagrams. In years past it was entirely normal / expected not to see anything for a couple of years, but in the last couple of years there's a very strong expectation to get access to them within 3~6 months... so here's hoping some "leaking" happens soon and that we ( repair people ;) ) can get them sooner rather than later. I have to say though, I'm a bit disappointed with the component sprawl on the 16", I was rather hoping instead we'd see more development along the lines of the 820-020xx series rather than what seems to be now another 820-01700 remake :(

[@balthus9265]

At least changing the battery will be less challenging now. Still miss the easy access of the 2012’s MacBook Pro though.

[@meowmochimeow]

It’s still a major pain to replace but the fact that the battery can be replaced at all without nearly destroying the bottom case is a win in my book. I know they’re rated for 1000 cycles but anyone who uses a laptop as much as I do knows you’re gonna wear that battery down in 2-3 years but I’ll want to use it for 3-5 years. Having the ability to replace the battery even if it has a bunch of extra steps is better than not at all.

[@ekapris7880]

What I would love in the future from apple is to make the battery even easier replaceable (screws), have removable ssd, make the keyboard more accessible. I understand with the integrated memory for the new processors so as long as you can get replacement logic boards that don cost an arm and a leg that ok.

[@tpf4292]

this year’s Mac is so worth upgrading, I traded in my 2019 16’’ MBP and get the M1 Max version right after the launch, $3900 is not cheap but the performance is just way too attractive

[@venkateshk3633]

i hoped that you will show the components under the notch. i just wondered why it needs to be that big (it doesn't even have face ID).

[@labrats5]

Great review. One important note though: as of right now that performance level is in fact currently impossible with socketed memory. Even if you discount the fact that lpddr5 beat socketed ddr5 to market by over a year, or that socketed ddr5 is only available for server and desktop, there's still the fact that fastest socketed ddr5 is over 1ghz slower than the memory in the MacBook Pro (5200 MHz vs 6400 MHz). You really should revise your score to reflect the fact that in 2021, maximum memory performance and upgradable memory are mutually exclusive.

[@iFixitYourself]

I totally see where you're coming from, and we're keeping that in mind! But Apple makes a bajillion dollars a year and has some of the best engineers in the world working for them. Socketed ddr5 isn't the answer, as you said, but personally, I think that they could have found another way if it had been a priority for them. 🤷‍♂️ -TD

[@virtudesign]

@@iFixitYourself the problem is I’m not willing to wait another year so their engineers can come up this new socketed memory technology for the M1. I had that 16” MacBook Pro money burning a hole in my pocket since June 😂 they can leave that feature for the M2

[@jackwilson7082]

Well it’s really a physics thing, the longer the signal path (aka within the same soc vs across the board and then across contacts onto a module) the more limited your max frequency is gonna be before signal integrity becomes an issue. While it would be great if memory could be upgraded, you end up undermining your mission by making statements like “they have a bijilion dollars so they should fix it”, it’s rather vapid reasoning to an issue that can’t really be fixed. What about they keyboard? Or liquid ingress protection? These are things that can actually be improved, rather than reminiscing days of socketed memeory

[@Marngel]

Playing devil’s advocate, the tight integration between the SoC, ram, and SSD is not just to increase performance; it’s also to increase efficiency. Right now, there are laptops that are just as powerful, if not more powerful than these new MacBook Pros that maintain modular components for the ram and SSD. However, none of them have the power efficiency which is what makes these M1 MacBooks such incredible feats of engineering, even if it does come at a cost of irreplaceable memory and storage. That said, Apple definitely has a lot room for improvements in terms of battery replacements, screen replacement, or even just opening up the machines themselves. They definitely made improvements and they should get credit for it, but they still need to go further.

[@sanjay_swain]

I agree with RAM but not with SSD. It's almost impossible to make modular RAM for a SoC like M1 but current gen NVMe are more than enough for almost any even workstation loads.

[@stoinks224]

@@sanjay_swain yeah

[@EugWanker]

@@sanjay_swain Yeah, integrated RAM is a key performance advantage in this design. In fact, integrated RAM is integral to the design. However, for the SSD, likely not so much. The good news though is Apple includes some of the best SSDs available.

[@khoifoto]

Totally agree with the unified memory module. Can't get to such high level of efficiency and performance with traditional memory setup. Just wish those SSDs are replaceable.

[@edo9104]

i disagree with RAM, the actual DDR4 has a trnsfer rate about 50GB/s, these macs have it at 200 or 400 depending on the config, only GPUs that have baked VRAM can reach those speeds

[@vasiovasio]

Please update your website article with the section on how to properly change keyboard keycaps without breaking some of them, which will be useful.

[@slowgoins]

Fantastic explanation! And I really appreciate that the repairability score is dynamic as our understanding of the technology changes. Y’all are definitely a company I’m happy to keep supporting.

[@shethewriter]

Just the fact that the battery might be replaceable is huge. I loved that I could open my 2013 macbook and fix it up

[@alexdubois6585]

I love the notch. Extra pixels to put the menu and it's not visible while watching videos. Just a shame they did not put FaceID in this iteration.

[@braedenneale845]

Pro tip from a not pro (lol): suction cups help get the bottom case off super easy. Just suction cup to unclip the clips and then slide the top teeth out. That’s the official apple method and it works well for me.

[@dukeseb]

I really do wish they made the MagSafe modular like the old one. I always get grease and has contact issues over time with filings…. However since you can still charge with usb c as well you do have a backup so not bad

[@iFixitYourself]

the MagSafe port is modular like the old one! But you're right, thankfully there is always usb-c

[@dukeseb]

@@iFixitYourself thanks I must have missed that in the video

[@mbvglider]

They did make MagSafe modular, though?

[@pikachu5647]

@@dukeseb yes, he mentioned that usb c, magsafe and headphone jack is modular, while sd card slot and hdmi isnt.

[@dukeseb]

@@pikachu5647 I was watching the video at work with the sounds turned off ;) I missed it

[@prem3548]

I can understand why memory is soldered on the board. It is shared for the whole SoC, so there is not really an easy way to offer upgrades. Storage on the other hand makes no sense whatsoever. Even if they wanted to solder the original storage out of the box, they should give us a PCI-E slot for an expansion. Sony decided to do this with the PS5. They had a very fast built-in storage but gave us a PCI-E slot for expansion.

[@leokimvideo]

It's VERY similar to the previous 'touch bar' models. I just hope all the bugs with the logic boards are sorted but the whole soldered design is in my mind a huge issue. I had a 2017 MacBook Pro and the logic board failed within a year, the screen failed within 3 years, Yet my old 'classic' 2014 MacBook Pro continues on in 2021 without EVER a problem. Sort of says to me Apple made some very poor decisions in the redesign with the touch bar models. I wouldn't touch these new models until at least a year of others finding design faults and failures. It's just too much money to blow being the test pilot for this Apple bling.

[@MyLastSong719]

Lol my 2014 had to have the logic board replaced 2 months after the warranty expired. Apple generously fixed it for free thankfully. Been great ever since though until I replaced it a few weeks ago

[@cristibaluta]

I am the reverse, beside the famous doubled space key my 2016mbp is the only one that didn't break. Can't say that about my older macs, mbp2012 graphics breaking 2 times, one row of keys not working, and camera; my white mb with inflating battery; macmini g4 broke too.

[@esoel]

@@MyLastSong719 Oh, I remember when they had good customer service 😢

[@murtadha96]

Lol that's such an anecdotal point you're making here. I don't see how your individual experience is representative of anything. Many people had more issues with older models, so it's the exact opposite. It's not a measure of anything.

[@rohithmekala2608]

Well this is a whole new architecture than the 2016-2019 Macbook Pro. The whole logic board would need a complete redesign when compared to the touchbar models.

[@MedRed]

Can you do a display teardown? Everyone wants to see the camera situation with the notch.

[@user-st3cn3tw8k]

Sketchy they mentioned nothing about it. My initial take is that only 20% of what's behind is actually the camera components.

[@TheStanHill]

Can’t believe that Apple actually made something more repairable. Even if just a tiny bit.

[@r3dp1ll]

the EU laws have probably something to do with that

[@sevbait]

Serialized parts makes sure to throw a wet blanket on that sentiment.

[@dodo19923]

In all fairness the average joe who buys this laptop won't have an idea of how to replace certain things if it breaks. Right to repair is great for small shops to fix them but lets be real, dave who bought it for college isn't stripping it down and cleaning everything then putting it back together with the same tolerances.

[@r3dp1ll]

@@dodo19923 I agree but changing a simple battery should be accessible to everyone. And easy to implement by Apple. On my Macbook Air 2012, you just need to remove a few screws and unplug a cable. It could made the same now

[@夕阳-n1h]

@@dodo19923 thats because you assume laptop teardowns have to be this complicated in the first place, when they can be much simpler.

[@BB-tm7gx]

I used this to get a new battery into my 12' macbook retina which i never thought i could but but it was great. took me 2 hours but it was like painting with numbers. thanks so much

[@ProMoe_]

To disconnect the battery you would first disconnect the battery detection flex cable (to the left of trackpad flex cable) to disable and stop powering from battery going into the MacBook then you disconnect the trackpad flex cable. It’s a small detail you’ve missed.. Good teardown nevertheless.

[@UniversalKutub]

I didnt expect to have so much fun watching this

[@utubekullanicisi]

I REALLY appreciate you guys trying to expand your knowledge on whether the performance that is on the table with these new systems with integrated, "unified" memories is possible without soldering down everything to the motherboard. Thank you for being as objective as possible! And as we know by now, Right to Repair isn't all about making everything socketed or in general easier to repair by design, it's also about the company not making conscious efforts to get in the way of the end user having access to cost friendly, 'non-impossible' repairs, with non performance, efficiency, or space, but rather evil and greedy reasons.

[@nickwallette6201]

Exactly. Having removable components, where it makes sense and without compromising performance and reasonable space concerns, is perfectly adequate. If people are educated about the real advantages and legit disadvantages, it's up to us to make our own decisions about what's most important.

[@EmilSanMusic]

Really informative Video, big ups guys!

[@SteelSkin667]

The use of on-package LPDDR5 has some fairly large implications on performance and battery life so I definitely think they can be given a pass for that, unlike some of their previous designs that used bog standard DDR memory. On the storage side it is a little bit more dubious, but there is no SSD controller on the mainboard so it does look like it's integrated to the SoC as well. I too am a little bit less salty about the lack of modularity inside the machine this time around. Now if only they were selling parts and publishing schematics.

[@piotrd.4850]

People who can use parts, can figure out schematics. Can't "figure out" parts.

[@lifeisbetterwhenyourelax]

AFAIK, Apple has begun selling parts and repair manuals, as of 1-2 years ago, so that people can repair their machines themselves. This is unprecedented for Apple. I'm glad they've seen the light.

[@SteelSkin667]

​@@lifeisbetterwhenyourelax Not for Macs unfortunately, and only for an extremely limited set of parts and repairs - ie screen and batteries of recent-ish iPhones. A move in the right direction to be sure, but one that feels a lot like a token gesture to preventively evade right-to-repair legislation.

[@r5cpt]

Is the keyboard riveted onto the case, in this model?

[@MK73DS]

It is hilarious how the Intel MBP has almost non existent cooling but for their own, more power efficient chips, they put adequate cooling. Sounds like they didn't want their Intel MBP to be powerful so they can say "performance increased by X00%"...

[@mbvglider]

While I'm with you that they could have made the Intel MBPs better by adopting this thiccboi design and outfitting them with bigger batteries and more cooling, I don't think it would have significantly increased the performance of Intel chips. It would have, however, made them better computers overall. When I switched from a 16" Intel MBP to an M1 Air, with no fan, I noticed how much faster the computer was overall, but I also noticed how it didn't heat up and how it was so quiet and the battery lasted longer. I don't think the 16" MBP could have been faster, but it could have been quieter, and that would have made it a more useful computer for music production.

[@GingerDrums]

Sound engineer here. 80% more bass is an absolutely meaningless statement.

[@chrometape]

Great to see apple actually showing some advancement in the repairability of these new macbooks, I was surprised by how modular this laptop is compared to earlier models. I'm really hoping they don't start pairing components on macbooks like they do on iphones, and hopefully some day they might even stop pairing those because there is literally no benefit to it at all.

[@夕阳-n1h]

> literally no benefit bruh, they will, it helps them sell more

[@chrometape]

Yeah good point, all we can hope is that they maybe show a little bit of mercy to 3rd party repair

[@thegoodsmaster]

serialized parts.

[@Mikertt]

When pulling off the adhesive for the batteries, it sounded like a radioactive reading from a scanner, LoL!

[@Heretechnocrat]

Is replacing the keyboard still the same ordeal as before? Is it still fastened with rivets or has there been a change?

[@iFixitYourself]

It is unfortunately still the same ordeal as before. :(

[@규하권]

thank YOU!! I had no idea about the macbook repair program so I left it lying around in my room but now I can get it fixed! Thanks!

[@youssefsadek130]

I’ve been waiting for this!! 😁

[@sevagtankabalian91]

All the batteries in Macbook air models have been put in a frame and screwed down to the top case assembly, but still some adhesive is used to maintain the lower portion of the battery to the top case, i admit it is easier to remove, thank you for taking time and tearing down this device.🙏

[@iamseanb17]

Are the 6 speaker system the same on both models? In the keynote they kinda said that only the 16” model has true 6 speaker system

[@ThinkCleverAndSmart]

Just a few seconds later then also said that the 14" has it too

[@rick5078]

nice they finally opted for removable adhesive for the batteries, but one very big question.... how did they install the keyboard? bunch of rivets again or back to screws? Still can improve a lot on the repairability of the lcd screens, still having that layered bullcr*p is a mayor pain for repairing the screen without having to spend a ton of money on an entire monitor assembly. At least good to know certain small things were improved to be repairableish.

[@ichumak]

Awesome video as usual! Thanks!

[@Lvlaple4Ever]

Why didn’t you tear down the screen? Was that big notch necessary for no FaceID?

[@lenshibo]

This is a massive step in the right direction! im glad apple finally admitted to there mistakes. its so rare nowadays

[@jaden4833]

My speaker is cracking sadly I found out it's a physical damage. However, I found it I need to take a lot of things out in order to change it. Can I remove it without taking the battery?

[@lenshibo]

@@jaden4833 I believe most models let you but i could be wrong

[@Techformative557]

Can you verify if the force boot power pads are back? older pre 2016 Macbooks had those copper pads on the board that could be used to force boot, they came real handy in repair

[@lasarith2]

A few videos of the 16”.MBP have 5 SSD chips for the 512 GB , where your teardown one only has 4SSD chips on the board 🤔🤷🏼‍♂️

[@rynomuncher]

More chips means more capacity. The other videos might have the 2TB+ options.

[@trshcln6937]

That has got to be the best looking manufacturer applied thermal paste I've ever seen

[@funposting8912]

10:58 What’s your idea for repairing a raspberry pi? Throwing it out and buying a new one? I certainly love the device, but I would argue it is vastly less repairable than something like the Apple Mac mini. I mean, at least it has some… Parts? Rather than just being considered a single part.

[@zachv1942]

Or just learn on how to troubleshoot.

[@levetbyck]

4:42 first time that i've seen these pull release adhesive strips (need a compilation video of pulling those out)

[@Liqweed1337]

who removes thermal paste with a spuger?! \o/

[@redpillsatori3020]

The work put into making this video blow me mind. Thank you!

[@willieetcheto5211]

Heck ya. Love these videos 🤘🏻

[@openmarkand]

Honestly what's the point of gluing the battery?

[@UItEnthusiast]

That M1 Pro package is quite interesting. Usually, the heatspreader covers any on-package RAM chips as well or has them off to one side. I've never seen a package that has holes cut in the heatspreader for the RAM.

[@daveshade6062]

Getting back into an old hobby is hard, watching these videos makes it easier. Thanks!

[@andrescarrasco1248]

to be fair, the fact that the ssd is soldered or integrated aio makes it really bad for many true professionals, imagine one ram modele goes bad, or even a single little thing on the MB you are screwed, you may loose all your data, while there are some ways to recover it, it would had been just so great to just have a pci4 ssd

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

RAM modules don't go bad ... it's a myth. Like SDDs dying left and right. It doesn't. Unless you run your laptop like a data center server. But if you do that, you shouldn't be buying consumer grade H/W. I have never heard of anyone had they SDD die and them and unable to recover data from it. It's just fear mongering.

[@sanjay_swain]

According to current technology it's almost impossible to have a modular RAM for the Apple device but SSD is not the same. Current NVMe SSDs are plenty fast for even workstation loads.

[@mbvglider]

"True professionals" back up their data, though. Heck, most pros I know back up their backups multiple ways. And considering how much faster the soldered RAM and storage are compared to what's currently available out there, until user-replaceable options catch up in performance, I think it's hard to say that professionals would be willing to give up a percentage of performance to be able to open up their computer themselves and replace a component, which most pros I know don't have time to be opening up their own computers. Given that Apple is willing to service your computer if the RAM and storage go sideways, and there's an Apple Store in every major city, I don't know that this problem actually affects "true professionals."

[@excore1322]

@@mbvglider RAM is faster yes, storage is not though. It's standard PCIe gen 4 x4 speeds.

[@gemini-mg6sc]

The inside of the Macbook Pro is so clean and elegant compared to other laptops.

[@平和-v1z]

Perfect teardown, I agree on every point! :)

[@bobsthea]

macbook with ready made asmr sound for all to enjoy when it's being repair

[@khoifoto]

Honestly it's impossible to get to that level of performance without the Unified Memory sitting next to the CPU. I'm all for removable RAM, but for this case, I'm actually very satisfied with the 400GB/s memory bandwidth of the M1 Max.

[@thedausthed]

Completely wrong, it is very much possible, it would just take up too much room in a laptop.

[@khoifoto]

@@thedausthed so now we are playing grammar nazi? We are talking in context of mobile devices, so are you agree it’s impossible to achieve such high performance without the unified memory using our current technology within the context of mobile devices?

[@bodysnatcher825]

Do we know yet if batteries are serial-matched?

[@bsvenss2]

Great teardown, but to be honest... I miss Gwendolyn. _(tears)_

[@petrov8086]

Why tears? Is something happened?

[@filipsardjoski]

I was hoping for a screen tear down. I wanted to see if the notch really needs to be that big?

[@dansanger5340]

The soldered on HDMI and SD card ports are a fail. But, it's nice that the rest weren't soldered on.

[@azstmpr]

Very cool to see the new MBP taken apart. Just received my iFixit kit to take apart my 2018 Mac Mini.

[@qwertimus]

10:06 > Apple adds millimetre to this model > People freak out... Seriously, the pull-tabs are a good compromise to adding additional thickness and weight

[@tenhundredkills]

I have to agree with the video. Having to remove the trackpad to access the final battery pull-tabs is a little ridiculous. The additional weight and thickness of a few extra screws only matters on paper. In the real world, no one is going to tell the difference.

[@Lilfop]

There’s no mention or demonstration about the keyboard and how to remove it, why?

[@alistairblaire6001]

As it was being disassembled, I could see where a lot of the money went. Inside, it really is impressive looking. But for me personally, I can't justify spending that much money on something that I can't upgrade at all.

[@m-stat9]

Get a Dell XPS then. Also nice, but Intel... 🔥

[@tcc5750]

Sadly even Thinkpads are soldering components down. It's just the way things are headed for now. Hopefully Right to Repair and other movements help bring us back to the light from darkness.

[@Rooftopaccessorizer]

how worried should i be about debris ingress on the side vents? I cant tell if they had the foresight to put grates over them

[@chickenwing986]

Wow, this is practically enterprise level hardware quality. Most of the parts are made of metal and screws, not plastic. You do get what you pay for with Apple.

[@samlook]

I honestly don't think you can penalise the integrated RAM and storage. This is just fundamental to how the system works and not a design decision relating to repairability. That said it would be pretty awesome if Apple just included a seperate NVME / m2 expansion slot for storage upgrades.

[@nazarottto]

Regardless of how powerful and efficient they are, the new MacBooks look like a real pain to maintain or repair when something goes wrong.

[@sanjay_swain]

Agree but a new M2 chip with easier access to battery and other peripheral would be the perfect laptop for most. (Yes I know apple is never going to do that but I can dream).

[@leonardodolc666]

the background music caught me off guard, it sounds like an alarm lol

[@TheTornadoWind]

gosh, it‘s so beautiful on the inside

[@fredericoluisfigueira9053]

Awesome video, just one question left, can we repair the keyboard?

[@stoinks224]

3/10 repairable due to keyboard and unavailability of parts

[@jestix9662]

this computer is just beautiful from the outside AND from the inside

[@yzapre]

ah so it scratches at level 1 with deeper grooves at level 2. good job apple

[@jackwilson7082]

Yeah cause the paste has diamond particles it it 🙄, like bro it’s metal

[@furkanguzel3486]

can you tear down the keyboard and see if it's possible to replace it without replacing the whole frame?

[@ltitus8900]

I give it a 2/10. Even though the most used features are fairly easy to work on to me, I care only about the issue that force customers to get a new device: Board, storage, processor , Memory and display issues. I get that packing memory into the same package as the processor and GPU yield astronomical advantages in performance, those are the parts that fail the most and most repair shops, like mine, do not have large extremely expensive reflow systems capable of removing processors. I've successfully done it without one but I failed many many times before success. To me, this new design is apple saying hey, we hear you. You want better repairability. Here you go BUT, I do not trust any of you to do the real stuff on these devices and we want you to be strong armed into doing so. So, I still see a lot of "sorry, we are not able to repair this" or "No sorry, we do not fix macbook pros newer than 2019. With that said, I will definitely try to get one because it will be mine. If it breaks, I gain a chance to explore and learn what most shops are not able to or, I can simply have fun trying to fix it. The incredible performance makes it worth it.

[@waynestuart2755]

Did you manage to get them both back together and working again?

[@mactalk2871]

From what I've heard memory latency is very important on the M1 which is why the memory is so close to the CPU. I am not sure if thats entirely true, but what is true is the further away your RAM is, the more clock cycles your CPU is gonna run empty, essentially wasting all the performance gains. So I think there is actually a truth behind what Apple is claiming.

[@nickwallette6201]

The zero-copy between CPU and GPU thing is huge. I think there are reasonable arguments to be made for incorporating the memory on-die. There are also reasonable arguments against it. Maybe what we should be looking at is a cache-like tiered system. 8GB on-die, 32GB socketed..? Some of the really niche use-cases might suffer -- like loading really really REALLY big 3D models in memory and manipulating them in the GPU -- but perhaps clever buffering strategies could negate some of the penalties.

[@mactalk2871]

@@nickwallette6201 Thats actually a brilliant idea! I wonder why they didnt opt with this, maybe they will be using the M1s RAM as Cache on the Mac Pro, as I hope/think they will keep that device upgradable. So maybe 32/64GB on die cache and you could add more in the sockets.

[@thedausthed]

@@nickwallette6201 Zero copy between the CPU and GPU is not a huge thing, AMD (e.g HSA) and Intel have had support for it for years and it in no way requires the memory to be next to the SOC like it is one the M1 (as shown by the huge number of systems that support it but have their RAM in slots).

[@mactalk2871]

@@thedausthed It does have an effect, thats why RAM is always as close as possible to your CPU. I think the higher latency actually comes from the slower Transfer rate of the M1‘s RAM. Desktop RAM can operate at a much higher transfer rate than this.

[@nickwallette6201]

@@thedausthed Technically true, but AFAIK, there are only two ways to implement that right now in x86-land: 1) Use an iGPU. While this is also, technically, what Apple is doing, it's proving to be a cut well above the usual fare for iGPUs, rivaling the performance of at least the low-mid range of discrete GPU performance. 2) Use the PCIe bus to share pointers to system RAM. It is zero-copy, but you still have to move data over the PCIe bus. That isn't _so_ bad, since the PCIe bus just keeps getting faster, and if all you're doing is loading textures or models and then running them on the GPU (with all the processing done in GPU RAM), then no big deal. But, if you want to stream data, or modify the frame buffer in code, then you have to resort to bus transfers again. All that said, I'm a tech fan, not a professional graphics developer, so it could be that I'm not aware of something pivotal. But, from what I can tell, this is in typical Apple style: We're not starting a revolution with the idea here, it's been done before -- they just did a a particularly good job implementing it. At least for now, I'll still have a Windows build with a discrete GPU. I doubt the M1 is going to take the ray-tracing crown for a while. But I definitely welcome the advancement to what has traditionally been one of the Mac platform's weak points. Gotta give them credit where it's due.

[@micahalan]

6:11 why are the display cables exposed through the hinge?? Wouldn't Apple want to protect those cables and cover them up?

[@notnotjake]

I have 0 interest in repairability, but I do like seeing the inside of these things. Thanks!

[@onemanshow4116]

Sure you do. What happens if one of your ports fail out of warranty? Do you want Apple to tell you “yeah, you need a new MB, that will be $2k” or “the port needs replaced, that will be $80-$100” ?

[@nielgoh]

1:50 May i have the link to the Pentalobe Screwdriver+pry+suction module.... I feel like it's time to clean my MBP fan.... *cries*