13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Teardown Reveals Minor Improvements in Accessibility

[DirtySocks85]

Surprised at the number of people that are totally okay with the soldered RAM situation here. I get where people are coming from with the "if you want more RAM, buy a machine with enough RAM" comments, but Apple charges a premium for pre-installed RAM that I can easily top elsewhere (like OWC). Same for storage.

A good example was when we bought a 13" MBP for my wife this spring. We bought the minimum config RAM version from Apple, and then right after I completed that order, I went over to OWC and ordered 8GB RAM. Came out to save us about $100 over just buying a machine with more RAM from Apple.

This is what I have a problem with in regards to the soldered RAM - Just another area in which the Apple tax can't be bypassed.

 

[724699]

The problem with you 'people' is that you're buying a Mac and you're surprised they charge more? You're surprised the best built systems on the market don't cater to you opening them up and tinkering?

Get lost with the attitude folks. If you like to tinker, go build a desktop PC.

Who the F tinkers with laptops anyhow? Laptops have NEVER been very upgradable. Sure you can swap RAM and the drive. But why? Buy what you need RAM wise and HDD wise and be done with it.

I don't understand the need to upgrade RAM, especially these days. Yeah... 10 years ago when you wanted to grab an extra tiny little bit of performance sure. Even still, I have built custom PC's my entire life before switching to Macs - and the amount of times I ever upgraded my RAM was twice AFAIK over the span of 15+ computers.

The couple times I did upgrade the RAM ages ago, you had to be very careful to match and select the right brand or you had stability issues at times.

You're paying for the best, and you're still trying to be a cheap ass. Sure you can upgrade your RAM, but how much time does it cost you to find and order up the proper RAM, have it shipped then install it? Oh no... an extra $100 and RAM that will be covered under warranty and is specifically matched to your system.

Grow up. Laptops aren't designed with repairability and upgradability in mind by very nature of what they are. Fools.

 

[skunnykart]

Grow up. Laptops aren't designed with repairability and upgradability in mind by very nature of what they are. Fools.

Please don't bring out the "F" word so easily.

The "nature" of a laptop is that it is a portable PC that can be operated on your lap.
This has nothing to do with whether or not it easy to repair or upgrade.

I am fine with Apple for soldering the RAM and coming up with proprietary blade-form SSDs but I am not fine with Apple charging an arm and a leg for factory RAM and SSD upgrades.

Even if Apple charges a price that is similar to the market price of RAM and SSD, they will still be making money since they get their RAM and SSD from OEM suppliers at a cheaper price than your EBAY or AMAZON seller can. Just go check out the price a retail boxed samsung 830 ssd and how much APPLE charges for the upgrade. Do the maths.
Also there is nothing special about the RAM that apple uses (other than the fact that they are soldered) equivalent ram can be bought elsewhere and cheaper (but we can't anymore because it is all soldered to the board).

 

[DirtySocks85]

The problem with you 'people' is that you're buying a Mac and you're surprised they charge more? You're surprised the best built systems on the market don't cater to you opening them up and tinkering?

Get lost with the attitude folks. If you like to tinker, go build a desktop PC.

Who the F tinkers with laptops anyhow? Laptops have NEVER been very upgradable. Sure you can swap RAM and the drive. But why? Buy what you need RAM wise and HDD wise and be done with it.

I don't understand the need to upgrade RAM, especially these days. Yeah... 10 years ago when you wanted to grab an extra tiny little bit of performance sure. Even still, I have built custom PC's my entire life before switching to Macs - and the amount of times I ever upgraded my RAM was twice AFAIK over the span of 15+ computers.

The couple times I did upgrade the RAM ages ago, you had to be very careful to match and select the right brand or you had stability issues at times.

You're paying for the best, and you're still trying to be a cheap ass. Sure you can upgrade your RAM, but how much time does it cost you to find and order up the proper RAM, have it shipped then install it? Oh no... an extra $100 and RAM that will be covered under warranty and is specifically matched to your system.

Grow up. Laptops aren't designed with repairability and upgradability in mind by very nature of what they are. Fools.

It cost me nothing to find and upgrade to the proper RAM, companies like OWC specialize in figuring that out for me. Install time on my wife's 13" MBP was 5-10 minutes max. I don't know what you do for a living, but my job pays me significantly less than $1,000 per hour worked. I think you're the one that needs to get lost with the attitude. We're simply trying to get the most we can for our money. Apple does indeed make the best gear on the market, if I didn't believe that I wouldn't buy that, but that's no reason that I should want to pay a premium on RAM and storage for it when the same parts can be found elsewhere for less.

Maybe you should grow up and stop criticizing what others want to do with things that they buy. Fool.

 

[DVD9]

Its Apples way of forcing you to buy the 15 inch retina.

No.

Apple's method of forcing a purchase of the 15"model was slapping a $1,699 price on the grossly underequipped 13" Retina thus rendering it a massive RIPOFF.

 

[rdlink]

I don't see pcs going anywhere. Maybe absent from Apple's product line, but they will still be available for those that believe form follows function.

OMG, are you kidding me? Look at what everyone else is doing now. THEY'RE COPYING APPLE! Either in handhelds, laptops or desktops. Everyone is trying to make a Macbook Air clone. All in ones trying to copy the iMac. Samsung commercials are the worst. If their POS Android driven Galaxy III was worth a Sh** they wouldn't be wasting their time ridiculing iPhone customers in their commercials.

Right now, where Apple goes, the competition follows. It's like the movie business: One original thought. 25 copycats.

 

[gotluck]

OMG, are you kidding me? Look at what everyone else is doing now. THEY'RE COPYING APPLE! Either in handhelds, laptops or desktops. Everyone is trying to make a Macbook Air clone. All in ones trying to copy the iMac. Samsung commercials are the worst. If their POS Android driven Galaxy III was worth a Sh** they wouldn't be wasting their time ridiculing iPhone customers in their commercials.

Right now, where Apple goes, the competition follows. It's like the movie business: One original thought. 25 copycats.

What is this? I was referring to desktop PC's, which apple doesn't even really make. The iMac is a laptop on a stick and the Mac pro is an outdated workstation beyond the scope of what i need. I just want a regular, powerful desktop with desktop parts.

 

[rdlink]

What is this? I was referring to desktop PC's, which apple doesn't even really make. The iMac is a laptop on a stick and the Mac pro is an outdated workstation beyond the scope of what i need. I just want a regular, powerful desktop with desktop parts.

"This" is me telling you that you don't know what the H*** you're talking about. I work with PCs and Macs every day. I'll tell you that, while iMacs might not have the raw specs that some PCs do, they outperform them in real world situations every day, in spades. And your original statement that "form follows function" is pure BS. If that were true, why is every PC manufacturer in the business trying to copy Apple's form? Without much success, I might add, because their engineers don't know how to make their POS crap sexy and functional.

 

[objc]

Surprised at the number of people that are totally okay with the soldered RAM situation here. I get where people are coming from with the "if you want more RAM, buy a machine with enough RAM" comments, but Apple charges a premium for pre-installed RAM that I can easily top elsewhere (like OWC). Same for storage.

A good example was when we bought a 13" MBP for my wife this spring. We bought the minimum config RAM version from Apple, and then right after I completed that order, I went over to OWC and ordered 8GB RAM. Came out to save us about $100 over just buying a machine with more RAM from Apple.

This is what I have a problem with in regards to the soldered RAM - Just another area in which the Apple tax can't be bypassed.

<sarcasm>
ZOMG! 10 minutes? That's, uh, way too long or something! If I want to upgrade my RAM, it would be way better to spend time posting it on Ebay, packing it, dropping it off at UPS, waiting for the money and then fighting ebay when the buyer files a fraudulent claim saying the laptop was broken. Don't forget about the 2 hours or so it will take to transfer data to the new machine and of course going online and buying it as well. As you can see, replacing the entire machine is a much better option than the long, involved process of swapping SO-DIMMs.
</sarcasm>

 

[Pegamush]

still don't understand why on earth they won't use mSata connector for the ssd...
funny also that the hdd bay can fit a regular 2.5" drive (though not the regular 9.5" thick)

my opinion: if just the 13" mbp had 1440x900 like the mba, i wouldn't justify 500$(€) premium for the rmbp.
considering that with the rmbp you'll have non-upgradeable ram, expensive (if any) ssd replacement (compared to standard 2.5"), ~0.3kg less, which is not so much in my opinion, slower overall performance given the amount of pixel the vga has to render all the time.
but, still, on the 13"mbp they have the same (resolution-wise) lcd that came with the first 2006 white-macbooks, we're talking 6 years without any screen resolution improvement!! crazy. even more crazy given that the mba, which is thinner and lighter HAS a higher resolution.
apple really think just about marketing when choosing specs for their machines...

 

[Tech198]

Neat.... But why would you even want to attempt to replace the trackpad yourself?

Making it easier for Apple? *shrugs*.

But they know their own Macs anyway...

Plus, i thought this was the "most unrepairable Mac". Just like the 15-inch Retina..

Didn't Apple say this? Then they build in features that allow "Easy access", bascally asking users to replace stuff themselves.

 

[RedTomato]

Definitely not hardware. 10.8.2 is required. A new version of Disk Utility is required. What else, nobody knows. _If_ it works, and your 500GB is full, 128SSD + 1TB is probably better for less money.

At first I thought you were joking. Then I checked out the prices. Mm, laptop HDDs have really fallen in prices since I bought my 500GB (which cost about £80 at the time). A 1 TB laptop drive costs about £65 now ...

If Fusion can be backported to my 2009 whitebook, then I won't bother sinking £130 into it. A £50 SATA 2 (3gb/s) SSD is perfectly good enough & will max out the interface. I'll clear out some files and keep the 500GB hdd.

Thanks Gnasher for saving me some money (if this Fusion thing works out).

 

[gotluck]

"This" is me telling you that you don't know what the H*** you're talking about. I work with PCs and Macs every day. I'll tell you that, while iMacs might not have the raw specs that some PCs do, they outperform them in real world situations every day, in spades. And your original statement that "form follows function" is pure BS. If that were true, why is every PC manufacturer in the business trying to copy Apple's form? Without much success, I might add, because their engineers don't know how to make their POS crap sexy and functional.

Nope, iMacs do not outperform traditional full size desktop pc's with full size parts - keep dreaming. Maybe they outperform the garbage all in ones, but all in ones are garbage in general anyways. I couldn't care less about the design of my pc case that sits out of view.

Give me performance, cooling, and full size gpus.

Apple makes no desktop for the competition to copy. I don't see vendors copying the Mac pro box.

 

[rdlink]

Nope, iMacs do not outperform traditional full size desktop pc's with full size parts - keep dreaming. Maybe they outperform the garbage all in ones, but all in ones are garbage in general anyways. I couldn't care less about the design of my pc case that sits out of view.

Give me performance, cooling, and full size gpus.

Apple makes no desktop for the competition to copy. I don't see vendors copying the Mac pro box.

You're wrong. I see them outperform Dell and HP Business class desktops, and Dell business class laptops every day. On my own desk. Can you build a PC that outperforms a Mac? Yes, if you want to over engineer the heck out of it. But the stuff that gets sold and bought in the real world, by real world enterprise and consumer users, and used for real world (i.e., not niche) use gets its A** handed to it by my Mac. Every day. In fact, My MBA runs the virtual version of my Dell Latitude 64xx about two times better than the actual Dell does. Believe or don't. I know it's true.