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Those new models are getting and better. Function over design, return of ports, touchbar removed, more sturdy components (like the display cable), better thermals, webcam and speakers, while repability improved from 1/10 to 4/10, at least. Next to Promotion and MiniLED for all configurations. Pretty much everything we had hoped for. Noice.
 
Not sure why anyone would open it up...proprietary CPU/MB, plenty of standard RAM, maybe a new Battery but honestly mind as well let Apple do it and buy their quality ones anyway.
On the various MBPs we have I have cleaned the fans, replaced screens, replaced trackpads, and replaced fans so these are the kinds of repairs I expect to have to do on these after five or six years. My personal 2014 MBP could stand to have the keyboard replaced if for no other reason that left left-shift key is thinks it is permanently depressed so I had to deactivate it, but that’s more invasive than I have the energy for right now.
 
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logic board looks much simpler than Intel Macs…. Maybe they’re moving all they can inside the SoC
 
I'm coming from a MacBook Air M1 and I noticed that my new 16-inch sounds more 'hollow' when I'm typing on it.

It's also the area around the touchpad that sounds if there is a lot of air underneith when you tick on it with your finger.

I'm I the only one, or is it perhaps the 16-inch and is the 14-inch more compact inside?
 
I spy with my little eye empty solder pads for NAND flash chips.

So it appears the 512GB version, not surprisingly, only uses 4 out of the 8 channels.

This obviously limits max read and write speeds of the SSD.
 
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I dunno. Pentalobe and triwing are really just there just to be annoying. They offer no mechanical or longevity advantage over torx.

I can see choosing torx over Phillips because the latter strips so easily. But pentalobe is used pretty much entirely because most people don’t have them on hand. I have one and it was purely for opening Macs up. I’ve never used it for anything else. Torx, on the other hand, is all over the place.
When I worked at Agilent all our test equipment was built with torx.
 
They're still harder to come by. You can get a flathead or Phillips screwdriver in any hardware store but you have to go out of your way to acquire a pentalobe.

When a manufacturer picks a common type of screw over another it's probably just because they get a better price on them or something, but when a manufacturer goes out of their way to source these particular kind of screws it's obvious they're trying to keep you out of the device, hence why the ducking.

Also I don't really see why it's disingenuous just because they sell them? If anything I would be suspicious if they went "by the way they use pantalone screws, with you can deal with by buying one of our FixIt kits". If anything the fact they duck points despite being one of the largest supplier of screw bits for uncommon types shows their integrity.
Hop on Amazon, search pentalobe screwdriver, purchase. The options are a dime a dozen at this point since Apple has been using them so long. Heck, I'm sure you CAN buy them at the local hardware store now too.
 
It's amazing how much larger the fans in the 16-inch model are compared to the 14-incher.
 
Their 4/10 score is not of particular use to me because the likelihood that I would ever open up a MacBook and try to repair it myself is about 1/100,000. . .
So... do you not think someone else might fix it for you? Do you just throw away your Macs when they stop working out of warranty? Also it should be noted that Apple itself does very little component level repair and mostly replaces modules.
 
Yes, that pentalobe score is strange. It's like they are stuck in a time warp.

But everyone should know the score means nothing, Not only that, it probably mean nothing to repair people :D

Now that I think about it, I think I actually bought a pentalobe screwdriver from them :D
iFixit are experts at repair and these issues are very real for professionals who fix these machines. They're not stuck in a time warp, it's Apple who is stuck prefering to make more money than save the environment. Even "recycled" electronics is toxic and extremely bad for our planet. Repair and reuse is the only way to go, but Apple hasn't listened to that message.
 
iFixIt gotta do what iFixIt gotta do, but I’m hoping we can get over the idea that a low score is automatically some sort of indictment. Socketed chips, accessable parts, easily replaceable batteries, and swappable components come at a size and weight cost, and these are already beefy computers. I’ll bet the world’s most advanced hearing aid would have a low iFixIt score too.
 
I was waiting to hear if the RAM could be increased. I‘ve ordered the 14 inch with 16GB RAM. Would be nice in the future if I could add more RAM. I’m guessing that’s totally not possible.
 
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these issues are very real for professionals who fix these machines.
Here’s the deal, though… professionals who fix these machines? They DECIDED to do it, no one’s twisting their arms. If they made a business decision to NOT be certified by Apple, that’s on them.

Even "recycled" electronics is toxic and extremely bad for our planet. Repair and reuse is the only way to go
Recycling as much as possible from a device is better than both digging new material out of the Earth AND sending devices to the landfill. Apple CAN control how much new material they use, but they can’t control what folks who “repair” systems do with the parts they take out.

And, if someone’s already making the decision to not be held to the higher standard of being certified, they’re likely not holding themselves to the higher standard of making sure the parts they replace are responsibly recycled.
 
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iFixIt gotta do what iFixIt gotta do, but I’m hoping we can get over the idea that a low score is automatically some sort of indictment. Socketed chips, accessable parts, easily replaceable batteries, and swappable components come at a size and weight cost, and these are already beefy computers. I’ll bet the world’s most advanced hearing aid would have a low iFixIt score too.
The RAM used in these systems that provide the performance and power efficiency can’t even BE slotted. Anyone using this type of memory has it soldered, there’s no option. So, yeah, they’ve been riding the bashApple gravy train for a long time and that won’t stop anytime soon. At least on their website they do have a statement indicating how important recycling is… but of COURSE it’s after the part that makes them money :)
 
Yeah but you have to remember the iFixit score is not some kind of accolade, it's just meant to indicate how feasible it is to service something either by yourself or by a third party repair shop so it makes sense to duck the score for trivial things like uncommon screws.

If you only have 10 points to dock, then it seems there must surely be things harder to deal with than finding the right screwdriver.

I like seeing the guts of things, so I'm glad they post the tear downs, but iFixit in general has lost relevance for me. They've caved in to whims of clickbait nation.
 
Based on the appearance, was hoping to see a removable keyboard for easy replacement. Seems like my hopes are dashed.

I understand why the RAM isn't removable, but the SSD *really* should be. This is a big thing for me personally and will guarantee they will never see use with many security centric organizations that insist on physically removing the storage prior to decommissioning.

No idea why they're complaining about pentalobe, nothing wrong with them and the screwdrivers are easy enough to obtain. Much prefer it to philips screws.

Certainly an improvement over the horrific 2016-2019 models, but doesn't match older units.
 
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iFixit frustrate me sometimes. Clearly Apple has done a redesign inside for the better to some degree. And it’s easier to get into. But deducting points for pentolobe screws is plain dumb being Apple as used them for years now and it is a matter of switching a tool.
Pentalobe screws are annoying, but not the real problem. The main issue is that this MacBook, like the iPhone 13, has certain parts that can only be replaced by Apple.
For example even if you buy two identical 16” Macbooks and you try to swap the two displays, you’ll lose certain functionalities like TrueTone because the display won’t be recognised as genuine.
 
I was waiting to hear if the RAM could be increased. I‘ve ordered the 14 inch with 16GB RAM. Would be nice in the future if I could add more RAM. I’m guessing that’s totally not possible.
It’s technically possible, but the required equipment and difficulty is many orders of magnitude above, say, obtaining a pentalobe screwdriver set (which seems to be some sort of repairability baseline here).

Also, given the silicon shortage, I doubt the RAM ICs will be available in the typical Shenzhen market for a couple years. A quick check of mouser for a 128Gb LPDDR5 module with a 128bit interface shows it’s $170 (and you’d need two for 32GB), so it’d be an expensive upgrade— and it’s likely a special pin-out like on the M1, which means that off the shelf parts like that probably wouldn’t work anyway.
 
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They're still harder to come by. You can get a flathead or Phillips screwdriver in any hardware store but you have to go out of your way to acquire a pentalobe.
It takes less time to order these on Amazon than to drive to a hardware store. And they don't cost very much. These days they are hardly "harder to come by".
 
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