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

[montanaco]

I think I'd like to retain hope that these aren't merely aesthetic. We'll see. Perhaps having it only slightly drilled reduces tinniness or something like that. I feel like Apple is well aware we'd take apart the machine and find everything they did/didn't do, so they'd know well enough not to have weird aesthetic only speaker grills.

 

[anentropic]

eh, no upgradeable SSD?

that's pretty Pro

 

[Bacillus]

Pssst....THIS IS A provision for a future side-TouchBar...
Where you can choose between no speakers or no slots at all !!

 

[Elbon]

I want to buy one down the line but this is making it very hard for me..

So many complaints about the new MBP, and THIS is the deal breaker for you? Huh.

 

[Rogifan]

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

Er, seems like it's everyone else losing their mind over this.

 

[inhalexhale1]

Er, seems like it's everyone else losing their mind over this.

Lol idk man I was just scrolling through and denial came to mind when I saw your posts.

 

[Rogifan]

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.

The fake speaker holes on one side of the the iPhone is for consistency. Sorry but I don't consider thin and lightweight to purely a cosmetic and/or aesthetic decision. I would never want to go back to the heaviness of my iPhone 4S, others prefer the extra heft. I don't consider that cosmetic.

 

[Donoban]

These holes are there to provide a path for liquid to drain from your laptop if you ever spill a drink over it.

 

[Macist]

God I hate this stupid, horrible product the more I learn about it. It's basically immoral.

 

[Rogifan]

Lol idk man I was just scrolling through and denial came to mind when I saw your posts.

Well it was one post. And iFixit hasn't confirmed these speaker grills are cosmetic only. They're just making an assumption. Perhaps they could get confirmation from Apple before making a definitive statement?

 

[montanaco]

God I hate this stupid, horrible product the more I learn about it. It's basically immoral.

I think you'll be okay. I think.

 

[KiraDouji]

The speaker grills are obviously there to main an aesthetic throughout the line. Given that the speakers are apparently MUCH better than previous gen I'm not exactly upset about this? It matches the 15".

The glue and solder does make me wince for their Genius Bar crew, though. Not being able to work on something, perhaps surprisingly, does NOT make your job easier. It was already something of a pain for the phones, given the limit of what you could immediately do to help someone... and I have recently enjoyed being able to replace the battery on my MBA for another few years of use.

Makes me wonder if it's financially feasible to replace the entire computer if the battery needs to be replaced?

I'm pretty sure the battery is one of those things you absolutely need to be able to replace? Some... law or directive or some such? I can't remember for the life of me, though. Anyone else feel free to chime in here.

 

[Bacillus]

This sale of baked air must be a final effort to court Steve Ballmer into the company.
He is the only one that can burn cash faster than it comes in.

 

[kaminsky]

Apple will do anything to reduce weight

 

[Donoban]

I think I'd like to retain hope that these aren't merely aesthetic. We'll see. Perhaps having it only slightly drilled reduces tinniness or something like that. I feel like Apple is well aware we'd take apart the machine and find everything they did/didn't do, so they'd know well enough not to have weird aesthetic only speaker grills.

Improved airflow for speaker movement / heat outlet? Anyone know how high Ives likes to get when he designs a new laptop? Either way, I'm sold on the new design. Strong aesthetics, awesome screen, CPU + GPU are decent, 4 x USB-C, touch ID and touch bar... going to be a quality upgrade from my 2012 Mac Mini.

 

[HoosBruce]

So the speakers are much better, yet people are upset that they used speaker grills for cosmetic reasons? Who gives a damn? Does it make your user experience worse? Nope. Pipe down.

 

[montanaco]

Improved airflow for speaker movement / heat outlet? Anyone know how high Ives likes to get when he designs a new laptop? Either way, I'm sold on the new design. Strong aesthetics, awesome screen, CPU + GPU are decent, 4 x USB-C, touch ID and touch bar... going to be a quality upgrade from my 2012 Mac Mini.

Yeah I'm working with an Early 2011 stock 13" pro, so when I pick up the new one tomorrow I already know my experience is going to be 3000% improved. So excited.

 

[bluespark]

Just like the iPhone 7's left speaker... Aesthetics with absolutely no function, I wonder what Mr. Ive is smoking these days.

Right. If true, this would betray design principles he espoused not all that long ago.

 

[Nick11Mac]

The in depth teardowns will continue beyond ifixit certainly. Learning of the "cosmetic" speaker grills, and near impossible to repair issues are a downgrade from what came before.

 

[0958400]

Did anyone check the headphone jack? Maybe it's just there - but disabled.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Symbolic of the facade that this pro-labeled machine is. Truly, if this was a great machine in the aspects that matter no one would give a flip about fake speaker holes. It wouldn't even be a headline store here.

 

[matjamca]

Yup. Apple has lost the plot entirely.
These new MacBooks are a very bad joke.

 

[Return Zero]

Congrats on being the 50th person in this thread to apparently NOT read anything. They are not holes, it doesn't go all the way through the casing.

The holes are not drilled all the way through.

I read it. The phrase "clear through to the internals" was a little ambiguous to me. By that statement the holes could still be drilled through the aluminum but be blocked on the inside by another barrier, which perhaps still allowed for air travel around the edge of the case. I just hadn't looked at all the iFixit pictures yet, which I see largely confirms they are not drilled through at all.

 

[Smartass]

thank god they at least included speakers...

 

[grennis]

Dont worry, you can buy a dongle to attach real speaker grilles.