New 13-inch MacBook Pro teardown finds improved battery and non-upgradable SSD

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Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro has been given the teardown treatment over at iFixit, with some interesting revelations concerning the battery, keyboard, SSD and more.

We’re talking about the new entry-level MacBook Pro which witnessed some impressive upgrades, including the introduction of the Touch Bar – which wasn’t previously on the base 13-inch model – and a more powerful 8th-gen Intel quad-core processor (as well as True Tone tech for the Retina display, plus Apple’s T2 security chip).

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So when you hear that the battery inside this refreshed machine is bigger than the previous entry-level MacBook Pro, with a 58.2Wh capacity compared to 54.5Wh, you probably won’t be surprised. Because those hardware upgrades like the Touch Bar are going to sap more power, and Apple needs to maintain the same (claimed) 10 hour battery life.

Indeed, iFixit notes that this battery is actually just a tad more capacious than the 58Wh effort in the more expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro, which has a beefier processor still to drive.

The teardown also confirmed that this refreshed laptop now carries the same improved third-generation butterfly keyboard seen in the more expensive models of the MacBook Pro 2019, as we already reported.

Soldering on…

Good news aside, a blow for those who like to consider upgrading their notebook comes with the fact that the SSD is now soldered in, whereas in the previous non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro, it was removable.

On the plus side, at least the speakers are removable, as is the modular Thunderbolt board (although that’s not really full compensation for the SSD – but it’s better than nothing).

A further interesting point to note is that Apple has trimmed a little bit off the heat pipe to fit in the Touch ID sensor alongside the Touch Bar. This leads iFixit to speculate about whether this chipping away at the cooling solution on the laptop is really a wise idea (given that these ultra-thin portables can potentially struggle more on the heat management front, given the power packed into a very slight frame).

As for the overall ‘repairability’ score iFixit awarded the new entry-level MacBook Pro, well, it was predictably low: 2/10. The laptop was marked down for the fact that the battery is glued in with copious amounts of adhesive, as ever, as well as the soldered down RAM, and the now also soldered in place SSD.

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Via Mac Rumors

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