MacBook Neo Teardown: Modular Ports, Glue-Less Battery, Zero Tape

[turbineseaplane]

So much wasted space; they could have put significantly more battery capacity in there.

The speakers go there.
Also, batteries are heavy.

 

[9640418]

Apple needs to adapt MacOS to touch. I was always skeptical of this, then for work, I owned an HP laptop that was also a touch screen. I fell in love with it. I would type most of the time, but there were times I would touch the screen to do certain things. It became a fantastic user experience

 

[Jamie0003]

Simple. If Apple is against something, a whole bunch of Apple fans are against it.

If Apple pivots and does a 180 on something, suddenly they also support the new direction.

Yep, sadly true

 

[MNGR]

It was pretty good until the Retina era. I swapped parts on my old iBook, my 2008 Unibody, and my 2012 MBP several times. New batteries, swap the screen, add ram, new SSD. I wouldn't even bother taking the bottom plate off a new MacBook, because there is little to nothing I can do with it once open except look around.

This is a positive move, assuming you can get parts.

And I remember working on my Mac II those many many years ago
It was soooooo easy

 

[abowlby]

To be fair @abowlby students (or any qualified Education customer) can buy this at $499 I don't think it's as dire and insidious as "lying to themselves" nor "astroturfing".

View attachment 2612736

Your using florid language to try and undermine my point is also disingenuous. As is your screenshot which clearly denotes this is the subsidized education pricing, as evidenced by the square academic hat in the upper right corner there.

If it wasn't about half-truths or dishonesty, then why do you all struggle so vehemently to say "it starts at $599,"...because it literally does. 🤣

 

[turbineseaplane]

Your using florid language to try and undermine my point is also disingenuous. As is your screenshot which clearly denotes this is the subsidized education pricing, as evidenced by the square academic hat in the upper left corner there.

If it wasn't about half-truths or dishonesty, then why do you all struggle so vehemently to say "it starts at $599,"...because it literally does. 🤣

"It only costs $499 if I lie about my education status!"

 

[Jamie0003]

Yeah, that’s a behavior I’ve been observing lately

Especially with the EU stuff. Hot take: They’ve done more for Apple products in the last few years than any innovation that Tim has managed, aside from the hardware stuff, despite the lack of right to repair

 

[turbineseaplane]

Especially with the EU stuff. Hot take: They’ve done more for Apple products than any of innovation that Tim has managed, aside from the hardware stuff, despite the lack of right to repair

This is true, and folks will never admit it since we can't run the counterfactual and see Apple behavior if left to chart its own course.

I suspect they'd do anything they could get away with to make number go up.
That's sort of what MegaCorps do. They tend to not do what is best for a consumer unless forced to.

 

[abowlby]

"It only costs $499 if I lie about my education status!"

"But that lie isn't a lie because it allows me to then crow from the eaves that a computer some company is selling is being sold for cheaper than than it actually is. Also, this is a highly sensible display of logic and reasoning. Hrmph!"

Some real "Senpai notice me" energy if I'm being honest.

 

[tonmischa]

And where in the law does it require standard T screws and not to use adhesive?

Nowhere.

Standard T screws and non-use of adhesive makes it CHEAPER for Apple to follow the law. That's the only reason for this new design.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Seems there's a lot of confusion about why this is repairable when more expensive ones aren't.

This is designed for institutional administrators to make repairs. And being cheaper makes it more repairable. The fancier ones are less repairable because they are fancier. This thing is relatively simple. The more expensive ones are for one person to invest in. These are to buy by the score for corporations and schools.

Also macOS is manageable just like iOS. More-so because it has proper multi-user support (in theory.)

Limited user accounts, configuration profiles, MDM, EDR, it's all there.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Seems there's a lot of confusion about why this is repairable when more expensive ones aren't.

This is designed for institutional administrators to make repairs. And being cheaper makes it more repairable. The fancier ones are less repairable because they are fancier. This thing is relatively simple. The more expensive ones are for one person to invest in. These are to buy by the score for corporations and schools.

While plausible, we don't really know this yet.

The Neo is their first truly all new, ground up, case design in quite a while.

We'll learn a lot with the upcoming all new MacBook Pro.

 

[baryon]

Wow. This computer is really a game changer for Apple and for everyone else. Low cost, high quality, repairable? I think this will single-handedly make a huge number of people transition to Macs. Apple user numbers are going to go up like never before.

 

[I7guy]

I've got news for Apple about their "reputation" ...

Tahoe & iOS 26 are torching it.

Agree. But only here on MR. 😉

 

[brunerd]

Your using florid language to try and undermine my point is also disingenuous. As is your screenshot which clearly denotes this is the subsidized education pricing, as evidenced by the square academic hat in the upper right corner there.

If it wasn't about half-truths or dishonesty, then why do you all struggle so vehemently to say "it starts at $599,"...because it literally does. 🤣

I didn't think words like "insidious" or "dire" was "florid language" and yes I posted the academic pricing and posted a picture of it with the hat 🎓 to clearly show that. I don't think that's disingenuous? 🤷‍♂️ I'm just saying there is a reality where Apple will sell a "metric ton" of that that price which is what the poster was saying. I dunno man, just chill out. I don't think he deserved the attack of "lying to themselves" nor the label of "AstroTurf". I don't think anyone is struggling "so vehemently". It seems like you are pretty upset about all this. Take some deep breaths and walk around the block, honestly. I'll steer clear of you in the future and not engage. 🙅

 

[Paul1964]

Especially with the EU stuff. Hot take: They’ve done more for Apple products in the last few years than any innovation that Tim has managed, aside from the hardware stuff, despite the lack of right to repair

The reason we got out of the EU in the UK was overreach and interference in national laws.

Usually their meddling is an absolute pain in the backside but occasionally they do get something right, such as forcing Apple to use USB-C and right to repair rules.

 

[baryon]

This is designed for institutional administrators to make repairs. And being cheaper makes it more repairable. The fancier ones are less repairable because they are fancier. This thing is relatively simple. The more expensive ones are for one person to invest in. These are to buy by the score for corporations and schools.

Quite the opposite. If I'm going to invest in an expensive product, I expect it to last longer, therefore I will prefer a more repairable product. The whole reason products were not repairable was to save costs. The most expensive "pro" computers like the original Mac Pro were the most repairable, while lower cost consumer products like the butterfly keyboard "MacBook" were the least repairable with its glued-in terraced battery. Investment = expectation of longevity.

The Neo was the computer where people would have forgiven a lack of repairability, since it's cheap to just buy a new one and beggars don't expect to be choosers. And yet it's setting a very positive trend regardless.

The fancier computers are less repairable because... why exactly? They also have a battery, a trackpad, a keyboard, speakers, and a motherboard. It's not like a luxury car where you have a gazillion extra pipes and sensors connected all over the place. An M4 MacBook Pro has pretty much the same number and size of components, and the only difference is that they're glued in.

There's absolutely no reason Apple can't just use this design philosophy in their future laptops.

 

[Jamie0003]

The reason we got out of the EU in the UK was overreach and interference in national laws.

Usually their meddling is an absolute pain in the backside but occasionally they do get something right, such as forcing Apple to use USB-C and right to repair rules.

Yep, though we’ve managed to screw quite a bit up ourselves since, such as the digital ID and OSA.

Also other good EU stuff: using non apple watch devices with iOS. Alternate app stores. RCS. Maybe not related, but I think the NFC chip being opened up was their doing too

 

[tonmischa]

This is designed for institutional administrators to make repairs.

Do you seriously believe that the IT Admin of 2.000 MacBook Neo's will sit down in his own little workshop with his own little toolkit and repair a 500 dollar laptop when a kid spills coffee on it?
What a nice little picture. Unfortunately very unrealistic.

When I buy 2.000 Neo's for my school district / office / business, I buy Service and Repair contracts with it. This stuff get outsourced immediately, otherwise the yearly costs are non-predictable.
Apple knows this. Since they are the ones who have to provide the necessary parts and toolkits, they try to do it as cheap as possible.
Using standard screws, not using any adhesives and using "square"/"standard" parts as much as possible, will achieve that goal for Apple.

EDIT: And I am willing to bet that the next internal re-design of the MBA and MBP will also reflect this.

 

[Paul1964]

The fancier ones are less repairable because they are fancier. This thing is relatively simple. The more expensive ones are for one person to invest in. These are to buy by the score for corporations and schools.

Being fancier does not mean it has to be less repairable. Some of Apple's previous designs seem to be more about making repair difficult that any aesthetic value.

 

[Paul1964]

Do you seriously believe that the IT Admin of 2.000 MacBook Neo's will sit down in his own little workshop with his own little toolkit and repair a 500 dollar laptop when a kid spills coffee on it?
What a nice little picture. Unfortunately very unrealistic.

When I buy 2.000 Neo's for my school district / office / business, I buy Service and Repair contracts with it. This stuff get outsourced immediately, otherwise the yearly costs are non-predictable.
Apple knows this. Since they are the ones who have to provide the necessary parts and toolkits, they try to do it as cheap as possible.
Using standard screws, not using any adhesives and using "square"/"standard" parts as much as possible, will achieve that goal for Apple.

Yes, it's good for business, so it begs the question why they, and other companies, were not doing this already.

 

[abowlby]

I didn't think words like "insidious" or "dire" was "florid language" and yes I posted the academic pricing and posted a picture of it with the hat 🎓 to clearly show that. I don't think that's disingenuous? 🤷‍♂️ I'm just saying there is a reality where Apple will sell a "metric ton" of that that price which is what the poster was saying. I dunno man, just chill out. I don't think he deserved the attack of "lying to themselves" nor the label of "AstroTurf". I don't think anyone is struggling "so vehemently". It seems like you are pretty upset about all this. Take some deep breaths and walk around the block, honestly. I'll steer clear of you in the future and not engage. 🙅

It's ok to be flustered because your emotional and logical centers are at odds, Apple and frankly all marketing departments worth their salt work very hard to ensure this.

My disagreeing with you is hardly an outburst. Though (and this is me being a bit of a pill 💊) I would find it interesting to see you navigate a truculent cross examination. Like what am I supposed to do when I see inaccuracies? Give an empowering speech to rival that of Henry V's on St. Crispin's Day, rallying all people to the defense of Applecestershire? No. Its wrong. Period...NBD, its only discourse.

 

[tonmischa]

it begs the question why they, and other companies, were not doing this already.

I hope this is a rhetorical question 🙂

In case it's not: In the past, Apple was the only one who could the repairs. So they profited from every repair they did.
Now they HAVE to allow other shops to do the repairs and now they HAVE to provide the parts and toolkits and manuals. So now the only profit comes from making this process (providing the parts) as efficient as possible. (most basic parts, at the highest prices the R2R law allows them - which is not very high.)

 

[M4irmidnight]

Honestly, I wouldn't really care about macOS on an iPP if the hardware disparity wasn't so extreme.

The gorgeous OLED + Cellular of the iPP is incredibly appealing.

All the Macbook hardware falls well short of the iPP for me right now.

I tried using the m4 to replace my Mac, as my needs are not extreme at all.

But the OS is so trash compared to the Mac. Death by a million cuts.

My dream is a thin iPad Pro that could run macOS , right now we have Temu macOS on it.

 

[Mikegwald]

Apple is going to sell a metric-ton of these things. Great internet computers for $499 that are repairable and simple with MacOS? I honestly expect these things to finally move Apple's market share needle beyond 15% to 20%+

and as a shareholder, I really don't care about the hardware profit margin because at 256GB, these all be ripe for iCloud attach rates where people are paying apple $5 - $10 a month for storage. $100-$200 a year in services revenue for every single device is where it's at. Buy one of these, pay apple for Apple Music + iCloud and install Chrome + ChatGPT and iWork and you're rocking. Only pros will need more power.

In a year, this things gets the A19 and 12GB of RAM then we're cooking!!!

I’m currently replying on a Neo with six Chrome tabs open and Photoshop running, and it’s handling everything without a hitch. This is far more capable than just an internet computer it’s an amazing laptop for the price.