Well, that was fast -- mere hours after we reported Tuesday night that iFixit was busy dismantling a mid-2012 MacBook Air, and the doctors already have a new patient on the table: The new MacBook Pro with Retina Display.
iFixit has started tearing down Apple’s latest wonder, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Referred to as “the Chosen One” of MacBook Pros, after viewing Apple’s video showing off the inside of the slim notebook, you’d think there would be no surprises left -- but that’s not exactly the case.
Spudger in hand, the iFixit surgeons had little trouble maneuvering past Apple’s proprietary pentalobe screws and by Step 6 in the process, the inside of the unit was unveiled for all to see online.
Among the discoveries made: The battery is no longer screwed into the machine, but rather glued. The 512GB flash storage chips were marked as Samsung, but the chips themselves appear to be proprietary, something new for the MacBook Pro line.
Unfortunately, those hoping to see every minute detail of the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display are likely to be disappointed -- the notebook scored a mere one out of 10 on iFixit’s Repairability Score, which means owners won’t be tinkering around much with this model.
The reasons for the bottom of the scale grade include the RAM being soldered to the logic board -- for the first time, MacBook Pro users will be unable to add RAM after purchase. The proprietary SSD also is not yet replaceable, but iFixit hopes to remedy that in the future.
Finally, and more ominously: “The display assembly is completely fused, and there’s no glass protecting it,” iFixit writes. “If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire extremely expensive assembly.”
Ouch. Be careful with that screen, new MacBook Pro with Retina Display owners!
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