Teardown of 13-inch MacBook Pro With Touch Bar Reveals 'Cosmetic' Speaker Grilles [Updated]

[nfilg]

Magsafe was one of the best MBP features.
"Hanging off each end of the logic board, we find a small, modular USB-C board. - Now that our beloved MagSafe connector has been retired, a wayward step on the power cord is much more likely to damage your ports—so, it's heartening to see the USB-C hardware can be replaced separately (although you'll have to remove the logic board to get to it)."

 

[gnasher729]

Same here. I'm not bothered by them either.

However, what some in the industry have been bothered by is the repair time for these things. In the past, with the old silver MBPs and Powerbooks, repairs were deteremind by accessibilty of the part, and the time needed for the tech to get to the machine and replace the part. If we were pressed, and had a good reputation with the Genius Bar, we could get the tech to forgo all of the diagnostics and just fix the machine in the same day.

Now, I don't see Apple Retail stores stocking up motherboards left and right. RAM problems? Replace the logic board. Powerbutton? Replace the logic board. PSU? Replace the logic board. GPU? Replace the logic board.

They're going to have to ship the machine off for even a minor repair, and that could take two weeks.

If that's how it gets repaired, why wouldn't they? Swap the logic board, takes five minutes, then ship the old board off, fix it, and turn it into a refurbished computer.

 

[Wildkraut]

I suppose these grill holes helps the speakers to move back and forth while playing music. I think it sustains the airflow movement. Sound -> Speaker moves at one direction -> sucks air at one side and presses out at the other, when it moves back it does the same but inverted.

The dense design probably requires this.

 

[The Mercurian]

You may want to consider periodically backing up your disk to ensure you will not lose your data. Time Machine makes that process essentially effortless. There are other options as well.

Of course I backup. But my point is it is a stupid design feature. Also, I like to wipe a machine before giving it up - usually multiple times. I could not do that on this machine if the power on key broke.
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If that's how it gets repaired, why wouldn't they? Swap the logic board, takes five minutes, then ship the old board off, fix it, and turn it into a refurbished computer.

This exactly - I don't want them shipping off my old SSD to someone else without me having done a major wipe on it

 

[inhalexhale1]

"iFixit also found that the new improved speakers are located in the lower portion of the case, while the external speaker grilles are positioned in the top half of the case"

Why is this news? It's clearly shown on Apple's site.

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/

View attachment 672686

It's the the fact that the speaker grills don't provide any outlet for those speakers.

What an odd decision. Almost $2k and fake speaker grillls?

 

[Seed101]

I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Jony Ive's design team did something like drill fake speaker holes, which don't even look nice. I'm convinced they must do something.

..that's where you blow the smoke...

 

[69Mustang]

Why in the world would Apple create speaker grills for no reason? One can quibble about aesthetic choices the company makes but it's rare that they do something for no reason. iFixit really wants us to believe the company chose to incorporate fake speaker grills (on both sides) for purely cosmetic reasons? That's absurd.

What about the fake speaker grill on the iPhone? Also the fake grills could be for design consistency. Apple does plenty for cosmetic reasons: Their whole thinner mantra across all product lines is for cosmetic reasons and not all of the thinness has a functional aspect. It makes laptops lighter, but sometimes at the expense of performance. It makes iPhones... it actually does nothing for iPhones. So Apple does do non-functional cosmetic.

 

[neuropsychguy]

"Where does aesthetic judgment come from? With many things—high-performance automobiles, for example—the aesthetic comes right from the function, and I suppose electronics is no different. But I've also found that the best companies pay attention to aesthetics. They take the extra time to lay out grids and proportion things appropriately, and it seems to pay off for them. I mean, beyond the functional benefits, the aesthetic communicates something about how they think of themselves, their sense of discipline in engineering, how they run their company, stuff like that." ~Steve Jobs

 

[0004838]

I would have never guessed that Apple would put fake speaker grills on a Mac. What the hell is going on at Apple these days.

It's business as usual. I'd rather this than what I have on my current MBP: the third speaker, ostensibly to round-out the mid-range, is placed right of centre in the chassis, and the stereo balance is noticeably affected. I noticed it from day one, but it took me quite some time to find out it wasn't a software issue - I was incredulous when I uncovered the true reason.

 

[ReneR]

I alway totally hated this stupid speaker holes, even since the PowerPC PowerBooks, ... and now they even make fake ones? While I already do not like the rest of the new MacBook "Pro", at least they could have kept this design simple and smooth, ... and the fake holes even can still accumulate dirt, ...

This is so damn, ugly, crap. !design :-/

 

[ZMacintosh]

well just like the iMac, the speaker design is to push the audio towards the openings, despite their positioning. more great fixit propaganda. /s

 

[69Mustang]

I suppose these grill holes helps the speakers to move back and forth while playing music. I think it sustains the airflow movement. Sound -> Speaker moves at one direction -> sucks air at one side and presses out at the other, when it moves back it does the same but inverted.

The dense design probably requires this.

The holes aren't drilled through. You can't suck air through the metal.

 

[RightMACatU]

I'm soooo getting one. You had me at "but the Touch Bar machine weighs 20 grams less".
Ohhhh yeah, I forgot about the stupid price

May iFixIt should rename to iCantFixit? /s

 

[aknabi]

Completly closed... As in FAKE HOLES!!!

Indeed seems that the whole Apple exec team are just a bunch of fake holes so apropos to have them on the MBP

 

[skinned66]

What the hell is going on at Apple these days.

Sounds a lot like Steve Jobs explaining why Xerox failed. Apple is being run by tonerheads now.

 

[dollystereo]

I wouldn't mind all these design decisions if apple gave standard 3 year warranty an all machines. (applecare to 5 years).
I think we should fight in our countries to have better warranties mandatories. (England has 5, The Netherlands 3, etc...)

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

I don't think it matters where the grilles are, how would they allow water damage if the holes are only cosmetic and don't go all the way through the case?

My point was the reason why the real speaker holes are under the machine is water spills. They have the holes there purely for aesthetic reasons.

 

[horste]

Why? Repairs will be easier--if anything breaks, just replace the entire logic board.




I missed the part where the microphones are located on the bottom of the machine. Source?

My biggest concern with this machine is not the inability to upgrade but rather the fact that virtually any repair will require replacing the entire logic board. IMO, no one should buy a new MBP without AppleCare unless they only plan to keep it only for a year or have a lot of disposable income in case something breaks after 12 months.

I think no-one should buy this trash. It should not be allowed to sell this smoking pile ...

 

[Wildkraut]

The holes aren't drilled through. You can't suck air through the metal.

Ahhh okay, well then it's cosmetic, who cares. Won't change how it already sounds.

 

[azpekt]

News like this make appreciate my 2105 rmbp even more.

 

[ryanasimov]

the new Touch Bar, which broke as it was removed from the chassis

Is iFixIt an Authorized Apple Repair Center? If not, then why is this (or any of the other hard-to-replace components) a concern?

 

[inhalexhale1]

Why in the world would Apple create speaker grills for no reason? One can quibble about aesthetic choices the company makes but it's rare that they do something for no reason. iFixit really wants us to believe the company chose to incorporate fake speaker grills (on both sides) for purely cosmetic reasons? That's absurd.

You're really having a hard time with this, aren't you?

 

[jonnysods]

The fixability of these machines must be what drove the price up. Once a new macbook pro requires service work they must just chuck the thing in the bin!

 

[oftheheavens]

I mean if there wasn't a speaker grill there people would be complaining about how the "keyboard bezel" is to big lol but I have to agree that this MacBook and its oddness is really getting disappointing.

 

[Armandodj]

Like they said nothing last forever, the real MBP is gone so is Apple. I refuse to pay that much money for a laptop like that, on top of that more adapters, really Apple, this what you call innovation? I rather keep my 2011 MBP which by the way still kicking ass instead of buying this new piece of garbage you call MBP.