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Apple describes its new Retina MacBook as "the future of the notebook." Its all-new design certainly has us intrigued. The whiff of aluminum in the air and the whisper of screws unwinding to reveal the mysteries within can only mean one thing: The teardown has begun. Join us as we expertly dismantle the Retina MacBook 2015.
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            Since it was announced on March 9th, we've been eager to get our hands on the sleek new MacBook. Before we tear inside this beauty, we take a glance at its specs: 
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            12-inch, 2304-by-1440 pixel (~226 ppi) IPS "Retina" display 
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            1.1 GHz or 1.2 GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor (optional 1.3 GHz processor available) 
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            8 GB of 1600 MHz LPDDR3 memory 
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            256 GB or 512 GB flash storage 
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            Intel HD Graphics 5300 
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            Single USB-C port 
 
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            While we want to commend Apple for adopting the new USB Type-C standard, they've done so in a way that makes it impossible to use old adapters on new devices. The MagSafe and Thunderbolt ports of old are gone. The new MacBook has one USB-C to rule them all. 
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            For comparison's sake: 
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            10-watt iPad USB adapter (left) 
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            29-watt USB-C power adapter included with the MacBook (middle) 
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            60-watt MacBook Air Magsafe 2 (right) 
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            Hopefully users will benefit from the standardization, and not trip over their cables too often. 
 
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            The new MacBook is less than half the thickness of its 2009 ancestor, measuring 0.52 inches at its thickest point. 
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            At 1.08" thick, the 5 pounds of polycarbonate-swathed 2009 MacBook dwarfs our 2.03 pound Retina MacBook. 
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            Apple probably shaved off a lot of that weight in removing ports. Back in 2009 we had MagSafe, ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, 2x USB, audio, and a security slot. 
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            We'd also remind you to say goodbye to your optical drive, but that ship has pretty much sailed. 
 
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            Those are pretty short keys. Bursting from its cocoon is Apple's newly-designed keyboard, equipped with a butterfly mechanism. Let's see if this keyboard will go twice as high as the traditional scissor-switch mechanism. 
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            We zoom in on the Retina display, described by Apple as the thinnest, most energy-efficient Retina display ever on a Mac. The pixels themselves have a larger aperture, enabling more light to come through, resulting in greater energy efficiency without compromising brightness. 
 
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            We make a quick note of the newly-minted model number—A1534—before moving forward. 
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            This may be the future of laptops, but Apple has stuck to their tradition of using tamperproof 5-point pentalobe screws for the new MacBook. Le sigh. 
 
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            Time to rip off that boring, plain ol' aluminum lower case, and get to the good— 
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            What is this new devilry? Cables!? A battery and logic board in the lower case? 
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            The standard pop-open-at-the-hinge practice still holds, but then the cables go taut. Then you have to hinge the case back forward to access the connectors and open the case. 
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            What is this, a mid-gen iPhone? 
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            The standard plastic clips of old are replaced with futuristic pegs and weird spring clips. 
 
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            Reminiscent of the Macbook Pro 13" Retina released in March, this MacBook comes equipped with the fancy Force Touch trackpad. We disconnect the trackpad/keyboard cable for a little more maneuvering room. 
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            With the springy trackpad/keyboard cable disconnected, we can fold the whole enchilada flat on the table. Time to survey the field and see what we're up against this time. 
 
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   crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Battery Blocker$3.99- 
                     
            Wait, this is a notebook, right? Where's the battery connector? 
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            At a loss, we play with this little yellow button for a bit. Boop. 
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            We've seen something like this before—in the iPad, Apple loves to hide the battery connector under the logic board. This is the first time we've seen it in a laptop, so it looks like it's time for... 
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            Our newly-minted battery isolation pick turns out to be just the trick we need to keep the juice away from the logic board's spring contacts. 
 
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   crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Flexible Extension$6.99- 
                     
            In our quest to begin the Great Cable Disconnect of 2015, we find a tri-wing screw! 
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            We finally disconnect the 3-in-1 display/power/I/O port cable that runs to the MacBook's lone USB-C port. 
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            It's funny because while there are three functions, there's only one port, and no I/O board. 
 
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            We guessed that the thinnest Retina display ever would come with some other changes—but this is one weird display connector! 
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            We tweeze away the "audio board" connector that ties in the headphone jack and dual microphones. 
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            Finally, the two halves are free to fly. Now it's time to get to that logic board! 
 
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            We carefully lift the lovely logic board from its aluminum nest. 
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            Apple's use of the new Intel Core M processors allows for smaller form factors and fun little heat sink covers. 
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            The heat sink is nicely machined to provide multiple points of contact on the logic board—perhaps even to cool the reverse side of the logic board a bit. 
 
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            It's time to put the chips on the table! Let's see what this logic board has to offer: 
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            Elpida/Micron FB164A1MA-GD-F 8 GB LPDDR3 Mobile RAM 
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            Toshiba TH58TFT0DFKLAVF NB2953 128 GB MLC NAND Flash memory (+ 128 GB on the reverse side for a total of 256 GB) 
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            NXP 11U37 microcontroller; 128 kB flash, 10kB SRAM 
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            SMSC 1704-2 Temperature Sensor 
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            Texas Instruments SN650811 (probably power converter related to SN6501) 
 
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            Humming a logical tune, we peruse the back side of the most logical of boards: 
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            Intel SR23G Core M-5Y31 CPU (Dual-Core, 1.1 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 2.4 GHz) with Intel HD Graphics 5300 
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            SK Hynix H9TKNNN4GDMRRR-NGM 4 Gb (512 MB) LPDDR2-SDRAM 
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            Toshiba TH58TFT0DFKLAVF 128 GB MLC NAND Flash 
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            Elpida/Micron J4216EFBG-GNL-F DDR3 SDRAM 
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            Broadcom BCM15700A2, appears to be a wireless networking chipset 
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            Murata 339S0250 (Likely an iteration of the 339S02541 Wi-Fi module found in the iPad Air 2) 
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            Texas Instruments/Stellaris LM4FS1EH SMC Controller (Replacement codename for TM4EA231) 
 
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            In 2011, Apple acquired Anobit, an Israeli flash memory controller designer. 
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            Four years later, it looks like they might now have something to show for it—thanks to Anandtech's report that the MacBook's SSD looked a little unusual in the system profiler, we took our heat gun to the SK Hynix SDRAM to see what was hiding underneath. 
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            Where we expected to see something by Samsung or Toshiba, we found an unbranded chip with a very Apple-esque part number: 338S00055. 
 
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            It was too much to hope that the battery would be secured with a few screws, MacBook Air-style. Time to break out the heat and the cards. 
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            We had hoped this would have provided room for a few screws, or some of those fancy little clips we saw on the case. Apparently not. 
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            iOpener on a lower case? This just feels weird... 
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            Scrape, peel, scrape, peel. Look at all that nasty adhesive. 
 
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            Ugh! Even the center cell of the battery is glued down, and we had hoped the sticky cells we found in the new 13" MacBook Pro wouldn't be a trend... 
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            To complicate the procedure, the battery sits down in a well; the only safe place to pry is over this aluminum wall. 
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            Well, it's finally out—in all its multi-segmented glory. 
 
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            In order to power this slender gadget, Apple produced this form-fitting 7.55 V, 39.71 Wh, and 5263 mAh battery. 
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            According to the specs, this is just a hair more than you get from this year's almost-pudgy-by-comparison, 5100 mAh MacBook Air 11"—though Apple touts equal battery performance of up to nine hours surfing the net, or ten hours of iTunes video playback. 
 
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            We've struck gold! ...Or maybe just a dielectric coating on aluminum. 
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            The treasureantennas sit in channels routed into each speaker assembly.
 
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            Finally, we reach one of the most talked-about trackpads in town. As we could expect, the Force Touch trackpad in the Retina MacBook looks like a slimmer, daintier version of the one we found in the 13" MacBook Pro. 
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            Once we cut away the bracket, we get a clear view of the Taptic Engine. 
 
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            Only four strain gauges? Seems unlikely... Time to hunt around. 
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            Ahah! Some strange rubbery glue was holding a cable over the second half of each strain gauge pair. 
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            As we found previously in Apple's Force Touch, the strain gauges on this trackpad sense pressure from your fingers without really moving. 
 
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            Another tri-wing bites the dust, and the USB-C port cable turns out to be an interconnect cable. 
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            And the dang port is trapped by the display hinge! How rude. 
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            We'll come back for you later, USB-C. 
 
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   crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0P2 Pentalobe Screwdriver iPhone$11.99- 
                     
            Well at least the audio assembly is modular, allowing easy removal of the audio jack board. But that means the dual microphones are left behind. 
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            Behind the keyboard that is—curses! 
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            Wait, are those screws? No rivets? We can actually get in? Nice! 
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            To be fair, that screw you see in the corner is a pentalobe—a P2. That's an iPhone-sized screw. Apple doesn't really want to let us in. 
 
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            Three pentalobes later... 
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            ...and 10 Phillips screws with weird sloping spacers, allowing them to secure the keyboard at an angle... 
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            ...and finally two screws that fit into the case clips (throwback to step 6). 
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            We can't complain too much, I mean screws are better than adhesive—oh my goodness. 
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            The adhesive backing (a kind of layered tape) is stuck to the keyboard, and barely holds together upon peeling. 
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            Under the blanket of tape is a field of disheartening stars. Two pentalobes per key, plus a row at the top and bottom, for a total of 83, plus the three from before. 
 
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            Daunted by the pentalobe-packed rear panel, we opt for frontal access. The keys pop off easily enough and seem to simply snap in place. 
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            With very few moving parts inside, is it possible that this plastic butterfly mechanism might actually be a repair win? 
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            The bracket is held in with tiny little clips; so cute. 
 
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            Now to remove the display and get to that pesky multipurpose port! 
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            Ahh, USB-C! This lil' guy combines charging, data transfer, and video output into a single port. 
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            USB-C supports a top speed of 10 Gbps (this port maxes out at 5 Gbps), bi-directional 20V/5A power, and a reversible design aimed to solve all of your USB woes. 
 
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            Apple has opted to transition from using a row of LEDs with a light guide panel, to installing individual LEDs beneath each key. 
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            And behind those keys, we find: 
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            An array of four Texas Instruments TLC5951 PWM LED Drivers 
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            A pair of NXP PCAL6416A I/O Expanders 
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            PCB maker Compeq reports increased revenues for March. 
 
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            The MacBook 2015 Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair) 
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            Proprietary pentalobe screws continue to make opening the device unnecessarily difficult, and new cable routing makes the procedure even trickier. 
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            The USB-C port is secured by tri-wing screws, and buried under the display brackets, complicating replacement. Also, being the only port, it will experience more use and wear than a typical single-purpose port. 
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            The battery assembly is entirely, and very solidly, glued into the lower case. 
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            The Retina display is still a fused unit with no separate, protective glass. If the display needs replacing, it'll cost a pretty penny. 
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            The processor, RAM, and flash memory are soldered to the logic board. 
 
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crwdns2947412:024crwdne2947412:0
Hello,
Have you checked the content of the power adapters?
Le commentaire. As you say, pentalobe is tamperproof, and surely most of us now have a screw driver set? About time we forgave Apple, and it's good for your merchandising business ;-)
Yeah I'm thinking the same… I vaguely got the point behind the complaints when iPhone 4 came out, but that is now five years ago, and I am sure that anyone trying to fix the MacBook has ordered some part for one of the *last five iPhone models* and gotten the pentalobe screwdriver with it, so… And then the tri-wing screws just get a quick mention, although tri-wing screwdrivers are far less common by now, which just isn't fair :D
About the battery in the lower case, I think it's a rather good idea (the MacBook Air way would have been better), you can just replace the bottom case. At least it's a compromise
I could not find - what sound chip is used inside?
