About two weeks ago, Apple unveiled their newest additions to the MacBook line up, which included the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops with M1 Pro and M1 Max processors. iFixit has performed and posted their teardowns of these laptops, showcasing the internals and changes that Apple has made with this generation.
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops feature updated designs, and Apple has really taken advantage of every inch of space inside the device. The X-Ray image of the internals show.
The battery on the 16-inch model was rated to be 99.6Wh battery, which is slightly smaller than the 99.8Wh battery on the 2019 Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro. A pleasant change is that the batteries are no longer glued to the chassis, instead they can be removed with simple adhesive pull tabs.
The cable connecting the display panel has a more slack, which should make repairs easier. The laptop’s ports, specifically the three USB-C ports, the MagSafe port, and the headphone jack, are modular. This should make it easier to replace in case these ports fail. However, the HDMI port and the SD card slot are soldered on to the main board. As expected, the memory and storage also not user-replaceable.
Overall, Apple did make a number of improvements for repairs, however there are still pain points. For example, if a user replaces the display, the laptop loses True-Tone functionality, and the TouchID sensor no longer works if it gets replaced. For these reasons, iFixit scored the 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro a 4/10 for reparability.
Check out iFixit’s teardown video of the M1 Pro MacBook Pro for a deeper look here.