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Teardown of New Mid-2013 MacBook Air Reveals Smaller SSD, Increased Battery Capacity

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Apr 12, 2001
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The teardown experts at iFixit have just taken apart the new 13-inch Mid-2013 MacBook Air that was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote yesterday, and while there aren't too many drastic changes in the internals there are a few differences that are worth noting.

The team found that the PCIe-based SSD module from Samsung is smaller than the previous model's Toshiba SATA module, which also means that the drive is not compatible with previous MacBook Air models. As noted earlier by AnandTech, the read/write speeds of the flash storage approach 800 MB/s.

samsungssdmacbookair.jpg
Samsung SSD in Mid-2013 MacBook Air When Apple announced the Haswell-based MacBook Airs yesterday, perhaps the main highlight of the introduction was the "all-day" battery life topping out at 12 hours for the 13-inch model. And while the processors are a large part of the claimed all-day battery life, iFixit found that the new Airs also sport batteries with increased capacity driven by higher voltages: increasing from a 7.3 V, 6700 mAh power battery to a 7.6 V 7150 mAh power battery.

Other changes that the iFixit team found include a redesigned AirPort card that provides 802.11ac Wi-Fi and an expanded heat sink covering both the CPU and platform controller hub (PCH), although the PCH does not have any thermal compound applied to assist with transferring heat to the heat sink.

The 11-inch MacBook Air starts at $999 with a 128 GB hard drive, while the 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1099 with a 128 GB hard drive. Both lines are available at Apple's Online Store and at the company's retail outlets.

Article Link: Teardown of New Mid-2013 MacBook Air Reveals Smaller SSD, Increased Battery Capacity
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/11/teardown-of-new-mid-2013-macbook-air-reveals-smaller-ssd-increased-battery-capacity/
C

commander.data

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2006
1,057
183
MacRumors said:
Other changes that the iFixit team found include a redesigned AirPort card that provides 802.11ac Wi-Fi and an expanded heat sink covering both the CPU and GPU, although the GPU does not have any thermal compound applied to assist with transferring heat to the heat sink.
Click to expand...
If I'm not mistaken the GPU is integrated on the same die as the CPU which is why it's so rectangular. The second smaller die is the platform controller hub which has been brought on package and doesn't have a high thermal output which is why it doesn't need thermal paste.
 
B

blahblah100

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2009
272
30
MacRumors said:
...
The team found that the PCIe-based SSD module from Samsung is smaller than the previous model's Toshiba SATA module, which also means that the drive is not compatible with previous MacBook Air models.
Click to expand...

:eek: What are the people on this forum who have said they will not buy Samsung products going to do??? Hopefully they are not in the market for the new Macbook Air.
 
SmileyBlast!

SmileyBlast!

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2011
654
43
RaggieSoft said:
No thanks. I need something with hard drive capacity. Casual System would be fine, but I have a HUGE iTunes Library of just under 400 GB, mostly movies.

Let me have an Air with a large capacity HDD or SSD then we will talk :D
Click to expand...

Can't you just iTunes Match that library and stream as necessary to save all that disk space?
 
Klae17

Klae17

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2011
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1,578
I think it's a worthwhile upgrade. Apple already makes a 13.3 inch retina computer. This one is awesome!
 
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burnout8488

macrumors 6502a
May 8, 2011
575
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Endwell, NY
I wonder if the 802.11ac card will be a direct swap into the 2012 MBAs? Comparing the two images, it looks like the slots are the same, but the orientation of the card differs a bit. The antennas might not reach the "ac" card if installed into a 2012...
 
ikm19

ikm19

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2007
280
78
Texas
burnout8488 said:
I wonder if the 802.11ac card will be a direct swap into the 2012 MBAs? Comparing the two images, it looks like the slots are the same, but the orientation of the card differs a bit. The antennas might not reach the "ac" card if installed into a 2012...
Click to expand...

I guess it should be.. but where can you find one ?
 
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burnout8488

macrumors 6502a
May 8, 2011
575
79
Endwell, NY
ikm19 said:
I guess it should be.. but where can you find one ?
Click to expand...

True, you'd have to pay out the nose to get one now. Probably would have to order from an Apple repair shop I'd guess, at least until they start popping up on eBay.

Then again, if the 2012's antenna cables don't have enough slack, there's no way it'd work anyway.

EDIT: Looks like a "U.Fl" extension cable would make this a non-issue. I might guinea pig this if I can ever find the card somewhere for a reasonable price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pigtail-U-F...ectional_Network_Antennas&hash=item45ff3cb7ac

$(KGrHqR,!lIFD)lBnbRsBRG7uYoJ8Q~~60_12.JPG
 
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slynger

slynger

macrumors regular
Mar 1, 2010
153
12
my only question is can the SSD and RAM be upgraded by the user and judging by this, it looks like the SSD can, but does anyone know about the RAM?
 
K

kenboy127

macrumors newbie
Jun 16, 2009
26
0
RaggieSoft said:
No thanks. I need something with hard drive capacity. Casual System would be fine, but I have a HUGE iTunes Library of just under 400 GB, mostly movies.

Let me have an Air with a large capacity HDD or SSD then we will talk :D
Click to expand...

Do you really need ALL of your movies with you at all times? The Macbook Air is built for portability. Why don't you put your media on an external HD and transfer a few movies over to the Macbook beforehand when you know you'll be watching?

Crazy to lug extra pounds for movies that you probably won't watch again.
 
S

subsonix

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2008
3,551
79
RaggieSoft said:
No thanks. I need something with hard drive capacity. Casual System would be fine, but I have a HUGE iTunes Library of just under 400 GB, mostly movies.
Click to expand...

There is a 512GB version.

All though I agree with others that it seems a bit odd to carry 400GB of movies around in an Air.
 
R

RaggieSoft

macrumors member
Nov 17, 2010
74
5
In the Land of the Evil Empire(TM)
kenboy127 said:
Do you really need ALL of your movies with you at all times? The Macbook Air is built for portability. Why don't you put your media on an external HD and transfer a few movies over to the Macbook beforehand when you know you'll be watching?

Crazy to lug extra pounds for movies that you probably won't watch again.
Click to expand...

It was for when I moved to a dorm and no one wanted to lug my DVD collection. At that time, iTunes Match wasn't even thought of, let alone iTunes Match for movies.

Now of course, I'm fine. A laptop with a 1 TB hard drive, and I'm saving up for an rMBP. But I would love if the Air could have larger capacity drives :)

----------
subsonix said:
There is a 512GB version.

All though I agree with others that it seems a bit odd to carry 400GB of movies around in an Air.
Click to expand...

400 GB is the whole Library. Music. Movies. iOS Apps. Audiobooks. iBooks.
 
justperry

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,557
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I'm a rolling stone.
commander.data said:
If I'm not mistaken the GPU is integrated on the same die as the CPU which is why it's so rectangular. The second smaller die is the platform controller hub which has been brought on package and doesn't have a high thermal output which is why it doesn't need thermal paste.
Click to expand...

^^This, they are (CPU-GPU) on one die.

images
 
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A

akadmon

Suspended
Aug 30, 2006
2,006
2
New England
RaggieSoft said:
No thanks. I need something with hard drive capacity. Casual System would be fine, but I have a HUGE iTunes Library of just under 400 GB, mostly movies.

Let me have an Air with a large capacity HDD or SSD then we will talk :D
Click to expand...

First off, there is no HDD that will fit into an MBA. Second, you have the option to upgrade to a 500 GB SSD. Not enough? What -- you need constant access to your collection of Seinfeld reruns and Star Trek wherever you are? As one of my virtual gfs used to say, back in the usenet days: puhleeze!!!
 
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thomas040

thomas040

macrumors regular
Jan 5, 2007
159
280
New York
The 11-inch MacBook Air starts at $999 with a 128 GB hard drive, while the 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1099 with a 128 GB hard drive.​

I'm pretty sure neither comes with a "hard drive"
 
A

adiddas125

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2006
70
3
thomas040 said:
The 11-inch MacBook Air starts at $999 with a 128 GB hard drive, while the 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1099 with a 128 GB hard drive.​

I'm pretty sure neither comes with a "hard drive"
Click to expand...

Personally gonna be selling my MBP 13" 2009 and getting a MBA 11" with 8gb of ram and 256gb of space. Gonna be a sweet perfect machine.
 
I

InfoTime

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2002
500
261
Nice timing of this post. I was just wondering if the storage will be upgradeable on these new Airs. Hit http://www.ifixit.com and there was nothing on the home page about the tear down yet. Also chatting with OWC and was told "We will likely have something for them, but it isn't something that I could say for certain.".

From the looks of it, do you guys think it's safe to say we'll be able to put higher capacity storage in these later on, just like we can with the current models?
 
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