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Teardown of Apple's 11.6-Inch MacBook Air Underway

diddl14 said:
Check out the connector left from the RAM, looks like this is this trick for the in-store upgrade from 2to 4GB.
4rYk1TIISyISQoCb.huge
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Sorry, no, that's the connector for the SSD (which sits on top of the RAM normally, but is removed in that picture). The RAM is soldered directly to the board.

jW
 
diddl14 said:
No that's mounted further left, check out earlier post with the board layout. Interresting about the SSD is that it is connected via SATA to the NVidia chipset. The SSD controller + flash + cash is identical to this http://www.storagereview.com/kingston_ssdnow_v_review_snvp325s2.

Main weakness is the lack of NCQ support but for a laptop that should be ok.
Click to expand...

Ahhh the silver pins in front of the SSD connector ? if so i'm guessing it would be mounted below the SSD but am not sure how it would be held in place, perhaps attached to the read of the SSD?
 
NoShare1 said:
Even those Tamper Proof Torx bits and drivers can be bought anywhere, they're not Top Secret, so it shouldn't be too much of a big deal and a non-issue for anyone looking to take this apart even if they were there.
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No, it's just annoying to have to acquire ultra-specialized tools. I can take apart my PowerBook with just an ordinary Allen wrench and a Phillips screwdriver, which are also useful for many other things. Five point Torx or tamper-resistant Torx? Not so much.
 
diddl14 said:
No that's mounted further left, check out earlier post with the board layout. Interresting about the SSD is that it is connected via SATA to the NVidia chipset. The SSD controller + flash + cash is identical to this http://www.storagereview.com/kingston_ssdnow_v_review_snvp325s2.

Main weakness is the lack of NCQ support but for a laptop that should be ok.
Click to expand...

this is the SSD
EwXnxRyfEywUEP4A.medium

and I'm pretty sure it fits above the memory chips in that connector to the left as you can see in this picture

LknkqWKga2vIIUHD.medium
 
DrivinWest said:
This is of interest to me. The notion that it can be upgraded down the road is a big selling point.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about more from the perspective of being able to replace a bad SSD "drive" down the road without having to replace the entire mainboard.

But, yes, it would be nice to have that be an upgradable component, especially as SSD chip prices continue to fall. The question will be, will it be upgradable? Will the next MBP use the same form factor as this one in the MBA? Is it something Apple will sell? Will it be something OWC can sell clones of? Or will it be more like the 30-pin dock connector that is only available from Apple?
 
0087215 said:
Hmmm... interesting... But sadly enough I wasn't that excited about those new machines considering their weak hardware and relatively high price...
Click to expand...

So... You wanted a computer release with strong hardware, extreme bleeding edge form factor, and a relatively low price?

You are either mad? Or not thinking properly
 
diddl14 said:
No that's mounted further left, check out earlier post with the board layout. Interresting about the SSD is that it is connected via SATA to the NVidia chipset. The SSD controller + flash + cash is identical to this http://www.storagereview.com/kingston_ssdnow_v_review_snvp325s2.

Main weakness is the lack of NCQ support but for a laptop that should be ok.
Click to expand...

I think you're confused. In the 11" MBA the SSD sits on top of the RAM. In the 13" MBA, the SSD sits to the left of the RAM. There is no place to install more RAM. You can't upgrade a 2GB model to a 4GB. You have to order it with 4GB. The only things in a socket on the board are the SSD and the Airport card.
 
Arcady said:
I think you're confused. In the 11" MBA the SSD sits on top of the RAM. In the 13" MBA, the SSD sits to the left of the RAM. There is no place to install more RAM. You can't upgrade a 2GB model to a 4GB. You have to order it with 4GB. The only things in a socket on the board are the SSD and the Airport card.
Click to expand...

i think this is correct, it is either 2 or 4GB, all are build to the logic board.

So the RAM is soldered to the Logic board right? So it is not a regular Stick of 2 or 4GB RAM.
 
Phil A. said:
and I'm pretty sure it fits above the memory chips in that connector to the left as you can see in this picture
Click to expand...
Oops, your ofcourse correct. I skipped over that to fast. Still had the prototype board in mind which had a different layout and was looking for how the RAM upgrade would work...
 
shanmugam said:
are you sur?e, your URL is pointing to a Kingston SSD, but the controller and Flash in 11" MBA is Toshiba.
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If you look further down that page, they show the controller that Kingston is using, and it appears to be the same Toshiba controller chip from the labeling on it.

jW
 
applemike said:
Can buy a cheap set of eBay if necessary, I have a half descent set, about £20 for every size you can think of. With these I can get into everything.
Click to expand...

Do those kits offer five point bits? Unless there's an off-the-shelf screwdriver, you'd probably have to modify a bit of some kind to make this work. Not a big deal for me, though it shouldn't be necessary.
 
JeffDM said:
Do those kits offer five point bits? Unless there's an off-the-shelf screwdriver, you'd probably have to modify a bit of some kind to make this work. Not a big deal for me, though it shouldn't be necessary.
Click to expand...

You do the right research and buy the correct ones then yeah.

We have a good tool shop in a shopping centre near where I live. So I have a good set of precision articles and tools.

Its a good set of things to have. However being the person most people turn to when they need something fixed, they have paid for themselves.
 
franswa za said:
looks good to me too......... enjoy!

6 batteries? how does one or aapl troubleshoot a faulty single unit, or easier to replace all 6?
Click to expand...

They're just six cells of one battery, technically. They're permanently connected, albeit flexibly. They can't be replaced individually.

jW
 
JeffDM said:
Do those kits offer five point bits? Unless there's an off-the-shelf screwdriver, you'd probably have to modify a bit of some kind to make this work. Not a big deal for me, though it shouldn't be necessary.
Click to expand...
You're right. All this does is make sure some enterprising tool and dye guy makes a hatful of money selling custom 5-point bits on eBay.
 
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