iFixit Tears Down the New 15-Inch MacBook Pro, Finds Few Major Changes

[ThunderRiver]

Two fans?

Wow, I haven't been keeping up with the latest gen of MBP, but with the teardown, I am surprised to see that MBP uses two fans! Does the machine really get that hot, to the point that it requires two fans?

 

[rcappo]

I'm no engineer, but I reckon if you took the optical drive out you could chuck in a SSD + HDD, and a much larger battery. Is there anyone here who would not like a huge increase in performance?

I would rather that they reduce the size/weight of the laptop by removing the drive.

I know I won't be tearing apart my 17" laptop when it comes next week. (And I would assume that they document it well enough to put it back together again.)

 

[firestarter]

Wow, I haven't been keeping up with the latest gen of MBP, but with the teardown, I am surprised to see that MBP uses two fans! Does the machine really get that hot, to the point that it requires two fans?

It's probably like the Mac Pro situation (which has something like 8 fans). Having more fans means you can run them slower, and the noise is lower.

 

[rcappo]

Forget about swapping batteries, I want to know if I can upgrade my Rev A 15” Unibody screen to a high res display.

I remember back a few years ago someone managed to graft a MBP display onto their G4… if they could pull that off then swapping Unibody displays should be a piece of cake, amirite?

Edit: Now that I think about it, such an upgrade would probably cost 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a new computer… why bother, right?

Your older graphics card would have to be able to support the new resolution as well.

It would be easier to sell what you have and buy a new one probably.

 

[bigcpoint]

Hmmm

Unfortunately, the outside still looks like an HP.
And the interface is a joke compared to most other brands.
No Xpress slot, no simcard slot, ....
I hope my "old" MacBookPro will last for a long time.


MacBookPro, 2.5 Ghz, 4 Gb, 667 Mhz

 

[Sound Evolution]

Unfortunately, the outside still looks like an HP.

Give me a break man. Nothing looks like a unibody mac.

 

[flopticalcube]

Wow, I haven't been keeping up with the latest gen of MBP, but with the teardown, I am surprised to see that MBP uses two fans! Does the machine really get that hot, to the point that it requires two fans?

I thought they always had 2 fans due to the discrete GPU. They tend to generate as much heat as a CPU. Can't wait for heat recovery tech to make its way into notebooks. That would be , literally!

 

[iNikorn]

Just only Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor (3M Cache, 2.40 GHz)
# of Cores 2
# of Threads 4

 

[wovel]

Unfortunately, the outside still looks like an HP.
And the interface is a joke compared to most other brands.
No Xpress slot, no simcard slot, ....
I hope my "old" MacBookPro will last for a long time.


MacBookPro, 2.5 Ghz, 4 Gb, 667 Mhz

Link to the HP model that looks like a unibody macbook pro?

No one used the Xpress slot, so they took it out. No simcard slot? While on your planet of idreamalot this is a common feature on notebook computers, here on earth it is fairly uncommon.

 

[RazHyena]

Dual core: The wave of the future.

 

[ThunderRiver]

Link to the HP model that looks like a unibody macbook pro?

No one used the Xpress slot, so they took it out. No simcard slot? While on your planet of idreamalot this is a common feature on notebook computers, here on earth it is fairly uncommon.

I actually use the ExpressCard slot for my smart card reader (work requirement) I guess now.. I need to have USB card reader ....bummer

 

[ThunderRiver]

I thought they always had 2 fans due to the discrete GPU. They tend to generate as much heat as a CPU. Can't wait for heat recovery tech to make its way into notebooks. That would be , literally!

I guess so, but the one I have is just one I believe
See the review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3659/apples-15inch-core-i5-macbook-pro-the-one-to-get/8

 

[Furrybeagle]

Link to the HP model that looks like a unibody macbook pro?

No one used the Xpress slot, so they took it out. No simcard slot? While on your planet of idreamalot this is a common feature on notebook computers, here on earth it is fairly uncommon.

Well, there’s the HP Envy (obligatory link: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/10/hp-envy-15-review/) with it’s no-button trackpad, black chicklet keys, glass display, and metal body, but that came after the uMBP was introduced.


And, just for the record, I boot off of my ExpressCard slot. So nyeh.

Edit: Just to add further fuel to the fire, I have never seen anyone use the optical audio on their MacBook Pro (or PowerBook). An Apple store employee even told me that the last revision PowerBook did not have optical audio, when it in fact did. Why have they not axed that feature? (Cupertino: don’t get any ideas.)

 

[mymoon]

I belong here

I am sorry but clearly you do not belong here if you are willing to admit you were wrong and correct yourself.

That someone took the time to offer such an observation is an indication that do I belong here!

 

[bcortens]

Well, there’s the HP Envy (obligatory link: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/10/hp-envy-15-review/) with it’s no-button trackpad, black chicklet keys, glass display, and metal body, but that came after the uMBP was introduced.


And, just for the record, I boot off of my ExpressCard slot. So nyeh.

Edit: Just to add further fuel to the fire, I have never seen anyone use the optical audio on their MacBook Pro (or PowerBook). An Apple store employee even told me that the last revision PowerBook did not have optical audio, when it in fact did. Why have they not axed that feature? (Cupertino: don’t get any ideas.)

Hey! I use my optical port whenever I connect my MBP to my home theatre! I hope they never remove this feature.

 

[robeddie]

Do the new unibodys have PLASTIC hinges!?

Not exactly. The COVER of the hinge is plastic. Inside however, the hinge itself is metal.

 

[Sound Evolution]

Not exactly. The COVER of the hinge is plastic. Inside however, the hinge itself is metal.

Yeah, but since there is no antenna anymore inside, why not make the cover of metal, like the non-unibody macbook pro's

Btw. That HP is such a rip-off from mac. They even stole the hinge design.

With kind regards,
Bas

 

[Jamekae]

Hey! I use my optical port whenever I connect my MBP to my home theatre! I hope they never remove this feature.

You could always use a mini-display to HDMI cable now that the MBPs carry both sound and audio, doesn't that make the optical port kind of obsolete, or am I missing some special optical audio feature here?

 

[Furrybeagle]

You could always use a mini-display to HDMI cable now that the MBPs carry both sound and audio, doesn't that make the optical port kind of obsolete, or am I missing some special optical audio feature here?

Yes, it does. In fact, HDMI can carry higher bandwidth audio streams than plain S/PDIF optical audio. S/PDIF is fine for DVD audio, but I don’t believe it can keep up with the highest quality Bluray audio.

 

[elev8d]

AudioTest

Yes, that's the way it's been for quite a few generations. I think the other poster was referring to the fact that it's probably questionable to call anything that size a sub-woofer.

Typically, a sub-woofer would generate frequencies less than about 60-100 Hz (although there may not be a standard definition, that's the way most audio people would see it). I doubt if this particular little speaker is going to do much below 100 Hz.

I would call it a woofer, but even that's a bit of a stretch (particularly since there are only 2 pairs of speakers. Tweeter/woofer makes more sense than tweeter/subwoofer). But, then, that doesn't sound as good to the marketing people as sub-woofer.

I just ran some audio tests on the MacBook Pro, it produces barely an audible tone at 120 Hz, anything lower, you can't hear over the hum of the computer. As for the high frequencies, I tested for up to 22 khz, but it was to bothersome working in a high frequency range. It sounds like it can reach as high of a note as the human ear can hear.

 

[Vicometric]

My 15" MBP is on its way from Shanghai.

After 7 years, my G4 is still in fantastic condition although it does leave burn marks on my lap. It is heavy, but has withstood a number of crash-landings. Now, I mean to be more careful with my new instrument, but how delicate are the MBPs compared to the old G4s?

I have little dings and dents, but there has never been any damage to my hard drive. In seven years I only had to replace the jack.

 

[Little Endian]

My 15" MBP is on its way from Shanghai.

After 7 years, my G4 is still in fantastic condition although it does leave burn marks on my lap. It is heavy, but has withstood a number of crash-landings. Now, I mean to be more careful with my new instrument, but how delicate are the MBPs compared to the old G4s?

I have little dings and dents, but there has never been any damage to my hard drive. In seven years I only had to replace the jack.

what is the exact model of your Powerbook G4? Apple has largely improved things all around since the grand old days of the Powerbook, so you should not be disappointed. It is good to here though that you have gotten so many years out of your Powerbook. It is unfortunate that many people forget or under-appreciate that much of Apple's current design influences were only made possible by utilizing the PowerPC.

Build quality, battery life and performance has largely improved, albeit you may be disappointed as far as weight and heat dissipation goes. 5 years since the switch to Intel yet weight and TDP has remained largely unchanged. But hey Power PC is dead right? so I guess we have to be happy with what Apple can produce from Intel hardware.