iFixit: New Macbook Pro is Least Repairable Notebook to Date

iFixit has dubbed the new Retina Display MacBook 'the least repairable laptop' they've ever taken apart.

T'was just the day before yesterday when Apple announced the launch of a brand new Retina Display MacBook Pro, but same-day availability means many people already have the new notebook sitting on their desks. Among those is the crew at iFixit. However, rather than use the computer for, you know, computing, our reliable friends have torn it apart. What did they find when they ventured inside? All the things they hate. Apparently, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display is a repairman's worst nightmare.

" [...] even though it packs lots of gee-whiz bells and whistles, we were thoroughly disappointed when we ventured inside," the site said in an emailed statement. "This is, to date, the least repairable laptop we've taken apart. Apple has packed all the things we hate into one beautiful little package."

With Pentalobe screws and its RAM soldered to the logic board, the new 15-inch MacBook Pro shares a few features with the MacBook Air. Considering the MacBook Pro is now nearly as thin as the MacBook Air, this makes a lot of sense, but the MBP also has some unique assembly features that we haven't seen before. Chief among them is the display assembly, which is is completely fused with no glass protecting it. If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire assembly. Yikes.

Leaving aside the fact that the laptop is literally glued together and the RAM and SSD aren't upgradable, iFixit found the following major chips inside: Nvidia's GeForce GT 650M GP, an Intel Core-i7 3720QM 2.6 GHz processor, what appears to be an Intel E208B284 Platform Controller Hub, Hynix H5TC2GB3CFR DDR3L SDRAM, and an Intel DSL3510L Thunderbolt controller.

Check out iFixit's full teardown for more pictures and a total rundown of how they came to score the new MacBook Pro a 1/10 on the repairability scale. Ouch.

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