While Apple's MacBook with Retina display is nearly impossible to fix or upgrade, earning a 1 out of 10 repair score from iFixit, the upgraded "regular" MacBook Pro earned a more respectable 7 out of 10.
Apples new MacBook Pro with Retina display
may have grabbed the spotlight, following its Worldwide Developers Conference
(WWDC) debut, but its the updated, regular ol MacBook Pro that deserves some
attention, repair site iFixit has announced, following
a
teardown of the latter.
While the MacBook Pro with Retina display
(referred to as the MacBook Pro WRD from here on, for purposes of brevity and
clarity) received an embarrassingly low iFixit repairability score of just 1
out of 10, the 15-inch MacBook Pro received a very respectable 7 out of 10.
Still, one question is bugging the iFixit
team, Miro Djuric, its chief information architect, wrote in a June 20 blog
post. Could Apple make a super-sleek laptop like the MacBook Pro with Retina display
and still preserve the repairability of the machine? The answerand we hope you
agreeis yes.
Tearing down the MacBook Pro WRD,
the
team found it virtually nonupgradeable.
Apple has packed all the things we hate into
one beautiful little package, iFixits Kyle Wiends wrote in a June 13 blog
post. He added, Laptops are expensive. Its critical that consumers have the
option to repair things that go wrong, as well as upgrade their own hardware to
keep it relevant as new technologies roll out.
Richard Gaywood, writing for
TUAW,
pushed the idea, explaining:
The MacBook Pro with Retina display isnt
just harder for you to fix; its harder for anyone to fix, including
independent specialists you may be used to using. Sure, you can always pop into
an Apple Store ¦ unless you cant. Some people live hours and hours away from
their nearest store; some people live in countries where there are no official
stores at all, just a handful of authorized service centers.
Indeed, the implication that in a year or two
one should be left with no options but to toss an outdated, nonupgradeable
machine onto the trash heap and move on to the next deviceand indeed, someone
with $2,200 to plunk down is likely not going to suffer old technology, in 18
months timeis irresponsible.
So theres much to
celebrate in the refreshed MacBook Pro, then.
Its back panel features regular screws,
instead of Apples proprietary, pentalobe screws. Its LCD, while not cheap to
replace, were it cracked, can be replaced on its own. By contrast, were the LCD
to crack on a MacBook Pro WRD, the entire assembly would have to go, at an even
greater cost.
iFixit notably also discovered that the
battery is exactly the same on the refreshed MacBook Pro as on last years
model; that its Serial ATA drive is almost three times as thick as the solid-state
drive (SSD) in the MacBook Pro WRD; that the optical drive is held in place
with standard Phillips screws, creating the option to replace it with an SSD
enclosure for a storage boost; and the boring old fans, not asymmetrical
versions as on the MacBook Pro WRD, can be removed easily enough to clean out
electronics-damaging dust bunnies.
DIYers can also sigh with relief, iFixit
wrote. While you can only configure your MacBook Pro with up to 8GB of RAM
from Apple, you can install up to 16GB yourself with no issues.
In all, the team found the RAM, fans, hard
drive and optical drive to be easy to access, noted that significant amounts
of thermal paste may be a pain in later repairs, but called the MacBook Pro
nothing to scoff at.
They added, Its way more repairable and
upgradeable than its sleeker-looking sibling.
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