iFixit Tears Down M5 MacBook Pro

[Mac Fly (film)]

So tired of the cheapskates.

Folks want speed and more speed. The faster speeds required soldered connections on printed circuit boards to reduce signal and power losses. The fastest laptops cost many thousands of dollars. A 1 to 2% repair program seems to tip their scales financially. That is a cost of ownership like an extended warranty on a car.

If someone needs to ask how much a product costs to operate, perhaps they need a cheaper product or no product as they seemingly can not afford the true costs of ownership.

My M4 MacBook Pro Max (128GB memory, 8TB SSD and nano display) cost over $6,600 before taxes and Apple care.
It is now on the Apple One or whatever it is called for $19/month along with other multi thousand dollars Apple gear. Damn cheap insurance to cover the repairs in an Apple authorized repair facility.

Buy a low cost loss leader computer and then just throw it in the trash when it quilts.

I want reliability and speed. The old equipment that was so called repairable lacks both the speed and reliability that we have today.

I’m absolutely not an expert and not trying to disprove you at all, but I did find this speed test interesting. I know some (or all) of the M4-series Mac minis have storage that’s removable with one screw (or maybe that’s just for the base chip, but I’m assuming not). If this is removable storage I could think of many pros would who opt for these speeds, if the chips were it removable.

I had to screenshot the link because of on an iOS 26 bug preventing me copying the permalink on this occasion:

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Arguments to repairability aside (and I sit in the "I used to but now I don't care it isn't repairable" camp), these devices are just as beautiful on the inside.

Thank you, Steve (and all the techs that make his vision happen).

 

[ThomasJL]

In other words, there is, and always has been, more than enough room inside for a tiny external light showing whether the laptop is on or off. Tim Cook defenders used "limited space" as an excuse to justify Cook's coroporate greed of cutting corners to maximize profits. Now if the screen is off, there is no way of knowing if the computer is off or on-but-in-sleep-mode.

To make matters worse, that wouldn't as much of a problem if users could just press any key on the keyboard to confirm that the laptop is off (because if it were on-but-in-sleep-mode, the screen would illuminate when a key is pressed), but that cannot be done now becuase if the laptop is off and any key is pressed, the laptop will turn back on again. This is such a nuisance, but Tim Cook defenders actually say it is a feature. There is already a damn power button on the top right corner of the keyboard, so why in the world must every single key turn on the computer? Yes, Cook is really this clueless and mediocre!

If anyone happens to be interested, the thread in the link below focuses on that topic:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/auto-boot-is-a-sign-of-tim-cooks-mediocrity.2446187/

 

[scrapesleon]

who's bright idea was it to put one fan in a pro model MacBook

 

[kp98077]

Hi all, I got the M5, just because I was due - its the base model, all need but it does seem a bit different, for example I know the screen is 14" but is it the software update making it seem larger, brighter? Coming from M3 14". machine just feels more solid and keyboard much more smooshy. Of course, its blazing fast, more than I need but Ill take it!

 

[svish]

Always interesting to see the teardown. Good that it is slightly easier to access the battery with the new model.

 

[jecowa]

Maybe they have two battery manufacturers and only one is producing the slightly larger batter, so Apple only advertises the smaller size. But probably just an oversight.

 

[Happy_John]

In other words, there is, and always has been, more than enough room inside for a tiny external light showing whether the laptop is on or off. Tim Cook defenders used "limited space" as an excuse to justify Cook's coroporate greed of cutting corners to maximize profits. Now if the screen is off, there is no way of knowing if the computer is off or on-but-in-sleep-mode.

To make matters worse, that wouldn't as much of a problem if users could just press any key on the keyboard to confirm that the laptop is off (because if it were on-but-in-sleep-mode, the screen would illuminate when a key is pressed), but that cannot be done now becuase if the laptop is off and any key is pressed, the laptop will turn back on again. This is such a nuisance, but Tim Cook defenders actually say it is a feature. There is already a damn power button on the top right corner of the keyboard, so why in the world must every single key turn on the computer? Yes, Cook is really this clueless and mediocre!

If anyone happens to be interested, the thread in the link below focuses on that topic:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/auto-boot-is-a-sign-of-tim-cooks-mediocrity.2446187/

I miss the small row of leds that would show you the amount of charge in the battery charge left without having to open the laptop.

I agree with you in that this isn’t a case of „not enough space”, it’s simply a design choice - aesthetic minimalism.

 

[darngooddesign]

who's bright idea was it to put one fan in a pro model MacBook

The M5-Pro and M5-Max will have two fans; this one is more MacBook than MacBook Pro.

 

[mike2q]

Apples main innovation these days is making products more difficult to repair in order to keep their revenue artificially high. Everything tech is getting worse, not better and Apple is leading the charge.

 

[MacMorrison]

That's why Framework started their business. Their laptops are expensive, but they're at the leading edge of the repairability movement.

 

[hgfjhbvytjdnb]

But you don’t need any special tools now either apart from a precision screwdriver with a couple of bits, and an old credit card or gym membership card ( some IPA is handy too). That hasn’t changed.

they were gluing down batteries in MBPs from the time they switched to retina screens. So designs from 2011. The MBA didn’t gave glue only because it was a legacy design. 2016 -2018 was the Wray point with regards glue in MBPs - it’s actually gotten easier since then.

I love the game of gaslighting through semantics. Since you missed it - the point is, with an OG MBA approach almost anyone was able to replace the battery with very little effort - it was plug and play, the OG Apple way. What happened with Retina Macs is they moved away from user friendliness to profit margin squeezeness. I had multiple OG MBA's where I had to replace batteries, it was a piece of pi55 done in 5 mins. I also had multiple post 2013 MBP's, where the battery had physically gone to sh17. When I looked into what I had to do to get it done I decided to pay 200+ sheets to get it replaced by Apple since the risk of a mistake - which could have ended up in fireball - was much greater than the 200+ I had to pay them. So it'd cost me 200+ plus it cost me hours in time wasted to deal with the repairs. The only beneficiary in this game was the Apple. That's why they do this isht.

 

[hgfjhbvytjdnb]

So tired of the cheapskates.

Folks want speed and more speed. The faster speeds required soldered connections on printed circuit boards to reduce signal and power losses. The fastest laptops cost many thousands of dollars. A 1 to 2% repair program seems to tip their scales financially. That is a cost of ownership like an extended warranty on a car.

If someone needs to ask how much a product costs to operate, perhaps they need a cheaper product or no product as they seemingly can not afford the true costs of ownership.

My M4 MacBook Pro Max (128GB memory, 8TB SSD and nano display) cost over $6,600 before taxes and Apple care.
It is now on the Apple One or whatever it is called for $19/month along with other multi thousand dollars Apple gear. Damn cheap insurance to cover the repairs in an Apple authorized repair facility.

Buy a low cost loss leader computer and then just throw it in the trash when it quilts.

I want reliability and speed. The old equipment that was so called repairable lacks both the speed and reliability that we have today.

That's what I call a proper brawndo moment right there.