iFixit Tears Down the New 12-Inch Retina MacBook [Photos]

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Posted April 15, 2015 at 2:31pm by iClarified

iFixit has posted its teardown of the new 12-inch Retina MacBook.

Apple describes its new Retina MacBook as "the future of the notebook." Its all-new design certainly has us intrigued. The whiff of aluminum in the air and the whisper of screws unwinding to reveal the mysteries within can only mean one thing: The teardown has begun.

Highlights:
● Model number—A1534
● The standard plastic clips of old are replaced with futuristic pegs and weird spring clips.
● 3-in-1 display/power/I/O port cable runs to the MacBook's lone USB-C port.
● Even the center cell of the battery is glued down.
● 7.55 V, 39.71 Wh, and 5263 mAh battery.
● USB-C port cable turns out to be an interconnect cable

The MacBook 2015 Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)
● Proprietary pentalobe screws continue to make opening the device unnecessarily difficult, and new cable routing makes the procedure even trickier.
● The USB-C port is secured by tri-wing screws, and buried under the display brackets, complicating replacement. Also, being the only port, it will experience more use and wear than a typical single-purpose port.
● The battery assembly is entirely, and very solidly, glued into the lower case.
● The Retina display is still a fused unit with no separate, protective glass. If the display needs replacing, it'll cost a pretty penny.
● The processor, RAM, and flash memory are soldered to the logic board.

Take a look at a few photos below or hit the link for many more...

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iFixit Tears Down the New 12-Inch Retina MacBook [Photos]

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lemon4611 - April 15, 2015 at 10:57pm

Apple Fail !!! Bought the new 2015 MB Pro and for the dollars the MBP blows this out of the water. Love Apple but I am not seeing the logic behind this product. Also have a MB Air with an i7 processor and 8 gig of ram that beats this all day long and again better dollars spent.

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gamerscul9870 - April 15, 2015 at 11:01pm

troll fail!!! Won this MacBook and bought an external sad and that altogether is without a doubt blowing the pro out of this dimension! Like you love a company that gimmicks their product. Who cares if you hate it, let it be then! Not to mention you can find any sad from the same company for other MacBooks but they still don't compare to what I have. Still money worth spent than buying a whole machine outright! Beating other machines with better deals 24/7.

Sona - April 15, 2015 at 8:29pm

This is just a deja-vu from 2008 with MBAir. Such a nice design and great idea, but fails hard for its main purpose. Why cant they just make the damn MBAir with retina and keep regular MacBook as-is with better performance. I cant believe that i can get the new MBAir at bestbuy for $800 that can perform 1.5times better than $1300 "new" MacBook. Such a weird move from Apple

gamerscul9870 - April 15, 2015 at 9:01pm

It's because it's their first time with a small logic board. This was to achieve the thin design and eliminating Dan to be the quietist MacBook yet, but just give it a break for performance, yet in terms of that, external ssd exists, not to mention the turbo boost let alone ssd goes up to 2.6ghz.

Sona - April 15, 2015 at 10:34pm

You meant CPU? It doesnt matter since even with boost clock speed, the CPU itself is super slow due to lowering heat output. I understand this macbook has fantastic design and there's no doubt about it. But from what i seen, MBAir was the one that Apple focused on portability and Aiming MacBook as their normal laptop line which makes this new model in the questionable position. Plus even portability is important, you have to find the balance between the performance and portability. And this time its way too much on portability. By the way, why the hell Apple wont bring us MBAir Retina??? I mean if this garbage can run retina display, then MBAir can handle it perfectly since MBAir has better performance in every way

gamerscul9870 - April 15, 2015 at 10:54pm

1. My point really is that Apple was trying to make the thinnest and improved built MacBook, and for those that wanted that over performance, that's the whole focus point of MacBook, 2. The so-called garbage you said what you liked almost every bit about it is only missing retina, not that it's a big deal but it's coming soon. Apple maybe has to find a way to make it better without decreasing any lifespan of anything on the inside somehow.

Sona - April 16, 2015 at 4:10pm

Yeahhh but thats what confuses me more. Supposedly portability was main title for MacBook Air. And now MacBook is smaller than MacBook Air?? I think its either Apple lost their mind with naming series or maybe getting rid of MacBook Air now. idk but its strange

gamerscul9870 - April 16, 2015 at 5:01pm

Truth be told, neither. Apple tried to do it to the air but then thought of a way to do it to make it appeal more to customers such as using it on a new product instead of sacrificing the air stuff and everything.

Dan - April 15, 2015 at 2:48pm

Sorry iFixit, you're about 12 hours too late, someone else did their tear down before you

Sunny - April 15, 2015 at 2:37pm

Look like world is shrinking.

gamerscul9870 - April 15, 2015 at 8:04pm

The logic board world of course.