Teardowns Confirm 13-Inch and 15-Inch Touch Bar MacBook Pros Have Non-Removable SSDs

[MacRumors]

iFixit has completed its teardown of the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, confirming the notebook is equipped with a non-removable SSD just like the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Only the entry-level 13-inch model with a standard row of function keys has a removable SSD in Apple's new MacBook Pro lineup.

15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar​

The teardown confirms the processor, RAM, and flash memory are soldered to the logic board, meaning the SSD in particular cannot be removed or upgraded after the fact. If you opt for Apple's standard 256GB or 512GB configurations, for example, you will be unable to upgrade to a larger Apple or third-party SSD at a later time.

Interestingly, however, the teardown finds the new MacBook Pro has a connector that leads to "nowhere," which iFixit speculates could be for Apple to access the soldered-in SSD for data recovery. iFixit suggests there might at least be a chance of recovering data with Apple's help should the logic board experience hardware failure.

Apple's notebooks have become increasingly hard to repair and upgrade as their designs have become thinner and lighter. iFixit gave the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar its lowest "repairability" score of 1 out of 10, noting the Touch Bar is difficult to replace while the entire battery assembly is strongly glued into the case.

The rest of the teardown reveals the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is very similar to the 13-inch model, beyond having a different six-cell battery layout.

Article Link: Teardowns Confirm 13-Inch and 15-Inch Touch Bar MacBook Pros Have Non-Removable SSDs

 

[JaySoul]

What a coincidence, I have non-removable money from my wallet

 

[ghostface147]

Silly that they are getting to be non-removable everything and force you to rely on dongles, but man they know how to build laptops. The internals are so clean.

 

[Quu]

JokeBook Pro.

 

[Sunny1990]

If anything goes wrong with the SSD, the entire logic board will have to be replaced, which won't be cheap

 

[dumastudetto]

FFS we already knew this. Are you deliberately trying to start flamewars with these inflammatory threads that breathe new air into Apple haters?

 

[Avieshek]

Any chance, the 17-inch is being considered? Thinner & lighter, not smaller.

 

[FatherJack1980]

I would love the 15" 2 tb model, but with the Apple tax - can't afford it. Especially in my country, where there's no official Apple store and the ones that sell it here aren't getting it on wholesale prices from Apple (or whoever they are buying it from)

This is kinda how I'm feeling about Apple (Apple of course being the old lady ...which used to be what Microsoft was back in the day, in my opinion)

 

[CarpalMac]

No ability to upgrade.
No internal SDCard slot.
No magsafe.
No thanks from me.

Not that I was ever going to be "Pro" enough to be the one using this device to create the worlds next wheel/plough/penicillin etc...

 

[cube]

FFS we already knew this. Are you deliberately trying to start flamewars with these inflammatory threads that breathe new air into Apple haters?

I did not know about the 13".

 

[lowendlinux]

What a coincidence, I have non-removable money from my wallet

I thought I did to then I got married and had a kid both can easily remove that money

 

[neuropsychguy]

The MacBook Pro is now essentially an appliance, which was always Steve Jobs's dream for computers.

 

[Pupi]

better buy windows laptop

LOL no

 

[BeyondtheTech]

First, the new ones have a price hike for what many consider a minimal or incremental-at-best upgrade. Then, to get the new, much-hyped Touch Bar is basically another price tag all on its own. Then, they remove all the compatibility for older ports and chargers, so you need to buy dongles, cables, and chargers. Then, the guys at iFixIt tear it open and find that nothing inside is user-replaceable or even user-serviceable. Finally, and because of that, the guy at 9to5Mac says you'd better purchase AppleCare to protect it for three years, though it will likely get outdated or superseded in two.

Cupertino has been clever for years, but they're coming fast to that crossroads or tipping point where it no longer becomes worth it, competition is catching up, and users are willing to jump ship to a different platform.

On a side note, what good is that 'environment friendly' chart they always tout, when nothing is upgradable and the whole system has to be tossed when it goes bad or becomes obsolete because it can't be tweaked anymore?

Well, hey, at least it's beryllium-free, right?

 

[tshrimp]

I think this is the straw. I think I am now done with Apple laptops .

Force you to buy Apple branded hard drives or your trim disables - Yes I can get around this but I shouldn't have to.

Every update causes some kind of issue. Sierra - Battery Life and heat - Depends on year of Mac.

Now this.

 

[dannys1]

FFS we already knew this. Are you deliberately trying to start flamewars with these inflammatory threads that breathe new air into Apple haters?

Of course they are, and people love it on here.

The cable there which appears to allow access to the SSD is logic board dies won't be mentioned once though.

 

[ike1707]

Can someone please explain to me (without going on a tear about profits and greed) what the advantages of doing this are, from a design standpoint?

It seems like the end-user is only (and understandably) upset about this.

I, for one, will not purchase another Mac laptop now or in the future, and it's because of things like this. I'm just trying to understand the reasoning behind their decision- the benefits, even. Anything.

 

[ValSalva]

Not really a surprise. You have to buy all the SSD you feel you'll need at time of purchase. Price is the issue. The 2TB upgrade is very expensive. I wouldn't consider myself a pro, though I use a Mac every day at work. For true pros who can write off the purchase of the extra SSD this is less of an issue. It's similar to photographers buying expensive lenses. At least in this case the SSD Apple is using is amazingly fast.

 

[Zirel]

FFS we already knew this. Are you deliberately trying to start flamewars with these inflammatory threads that breathe new air into Apple haters?

MR in a nutshell

 

[KJL3000]

Soldered ram: bad
Soldered ssd: what the fu**
This is bad news even for people who don't care about the price of a maxed out machine, regarding data recovery and environment. This really sucks.

 

[AZ63]

If anything goes wrong with the SSD, the entire logic board will have to be replaced, which won't be cheap.By soldering the storage to the board, if anything else goes wrong on the logic board you will also lose all your data. You can't simply remove the SSD and recover the data anymore.no option left except regular data backup

So Apple knows people dropping that kind of cash will buy Apple Care. Apple will fix it and When it expires Apple believes you should just buy a new laptop anyway as it is now "old."

 

[jsavvy]

This is not a surprise. Why not update the 13" MBP article to confirm the same thing is true for the 15"?

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

If anything goes wrong with the SSD, the entire logic board will have to be replaced, which won't be cheap.By soldering the storage to the board, if anything else goes wrong on the logic board you will also lose all your data. You can't simply remove the SSD and recover the data anymore.no option left except regular data backup

You know what one of the most common problems for a huge host of issues with laptops was before soldered RAM and SSDs? Poorly seated connections. By soldering these things in, Apple has saved themselves millions on repair time and costs.

SSD quality is great these days. Failure rates are low. Replacing a couple logic boards is a fine tradeoff for the huge payoff of killing all the support issues due to having to reseat RAM or hard drives.

 

[boojoo007]

What about the Macbook Pro 15" with no touch bar?

 

[oneMadRssn]

If anything goes wrong with the SSD, the entire logic board will have to be replaced, which won't be cheap.By soldering the storage to the board, if anything else goes wrong on the logic board you will also lose all your data. You can't simply remove the SSD and recover the data anymore.no option left except Backing up your data on a regular basis

Everyone should be backing up their data on a regular basis regardless of whether the SSD is removable or not.