Teardown of the New 13-Inch MacBook Pro and Its Force Touch Trackpad [Video]

iFixit has posted a teardown of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro and its Force Touch trackpad.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now features the all-new Force Touch trackpad with built-in force sensors that allow you to click anywhere and haptic feedback that provides a responsive and uniform feel. You can even customize the feel of the trackpad by changing the amount of pressure needed to register each click. The Force Touch trackpad also enables a new gesture called Force Click, a click followed by a deeper press, for tasks like pulling up the definition of a word, quickly seeing a map or glancing at a preview of a file.

The updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display also features fifth generation Intel Core processors up to 3.1 GHz, with Turbo Boost Speeds up to 3.4 GHz, faster integrated Intel Iris Graphics 6100, and flash storage that is up to two times faster, with throughput up to 1.6GBps. In addition, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now delivers up to 10 hours of battery life and up to 12 hours of iTunes movie playback.




Here are some highlights from the teardown:
● Force Touch looks to be a clever application of a technology that dates back a ways—the year 1824, to be exact. Made of wire coils surrounding a ferromagnetic core, the electromagnet in the Force Touch Trackpad is used to create the vibrational feedback you feel.
● We're guessing that the four separate coils here are used to vary the feedback given to the user. Turning different sets of the four coils on and off varies the strength and direction of the vibration, and how it feels to your finger.
● The magnets rapidly push and pull against a metal rail mounted beneath the trackpad, to create a tiny "buzz" of feedback with each click (and a second buzz for a "force click").
● Based on the wiggly pattern of traces stuck to the metal tabs, we're pretty sure the magic pressure sensors in the new Force Touch trackpad are tiny strain gauges. Mounted on flexing metal supports, they detect the amount of flex on each—and based on that, the force from above.

Unfortunately, the MacBook Pro receives a terrible repairability score:

MacBook Pro with Retina Display 13" Late 2015 Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)
● Proprietary pentalobe screws continue to make opening the device unnecessarily difficult.
● The battery assembly is entirely, and very solidly, glued into the case, thus complicating replacement. Additionally, the battery covers the screws holding the trackpad in place, meaning it's impossible to replace the trackpad without first removing the battery.
● The Retina display is a fused unit with no separate, protective glass. If anything ever fails inside the display, the entire ($$$) assembly will need to be replaced.
● The RAM is soldered to the logic board. Pay for the upgrade now, or be stuck with 8 GB forever. There is no chance of upgrade.
● The proprietary PCIe SSD still isn't a standard drive. Cross your fingers for future compatible drives; for now, you're stuck with what you've got.


Hit the link below to check out the full teardown!

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