Apple makes no attempt to have MacBook Pro models easy to repair. The ones released just a few days ago are no exception. We all have to hope that the redesigned key mechanism fixes the previous problems because the keyboard is solidly glued to the battery and speakers. And that’s just the most obvious way that Apple frustrates the do-it-yourself crowd.
But the news isn’t all bad. At least one version of the 2018 MacBook Pro boasts a major battery improvement.
Apple made potential buyers of the new MacBook Pro models very nervous when it said no effort had been made to fix the problems plaguing the keyboards in earlier versions. Happily, it turns out the company was fibbing.
Taking apart this just-released Mac laptop shows that Apple definitely modified its butterfly keyboard mechanism to make it less likely to jam.
Apple only just got done introducing the new iPad at its recent education-themed event, and already the folks at iFixit have gotten hold of a unit and broken it open.
Their findings? That the device is virtually identical to last year’s iPad, albeit with a few cheaper touches like not laminating the screen. The most notable part is that, despite the new focus on the education market, the new iPad remains next to impossible to repair. Tsk, tsk!
iFixit’s HomePod teardown reveals a veritable tank of a smart speaker that’s incredibly durable but virtually impossible to get inside. Unless you fancy using a heat gun and saw to open up your brand new Apple speaker, that is!
You wouldn’t dare crack open your new iMac Pro, the one you paid $5,000 for, just for a peek under the hood.
But the teardown team at iFixit happily and fearlessly disassembles devices just to sate your curiosity and maybe entice you to fix or upgrade your own machines. The wiki-based repair resource wasted no time in the new year to tear open Apple’s long-anticipated and rather expensive next-generation iMac.
Still looking for the perfect wallpaper for your new iPhone X? The folks at iFixit have come up with a new set of that takes advantage of Apple’s new edge-to-edge display to make it look like your iPhone X doesn’t have a screen at all.
Now you don’t have to pry your screen open just to get a look inside.
Two battery cells and a “mystery chip” are some of the surprises under the hood of the iPhone X.
iFixit added the new Apple flagship handset to its teardown database and disassembled one to give users a glimpse of the X’s inner magic.
The new fifth-generation Apple TV 4K brings impressively sharp ultra HD video to Apple’s set-top box, but what changes has Apple made the internals of its latest Apple TV model?
To answer that question, our friends over at iFixit have carried out a complete teardown of the new device to find out what makes it tick. Or, in this case, quietly whir.
Apple Watch Series 3 may look identical to its predecessors on the outside, but it’s a different beast under the hood, with powerful new hardware, new chips, and LTE connectivity.
A customary teardown by iFixit has also revealed a bigger battery, and one very minor design alteration to make room for new components.
Most people haven’t even laid their hands on one yet, but the good folks at iFixit have already gotten hold of a new iPhone device and cracked it open to see what its insides look like.
While the new handset is very similar to the existing iPhone 7, it does include a few notable differences, which can be described as follows:
If your Retina MacBook Pro dies too quickly in between charges, you likely need a new battery. You can either pay Apple a small fortune to install a new one for you, or you can do it yourself with this new kit from iFixit.
Greenpeace has launched a new campaign, seeking signatures to push Apple and other device makers to make more repairable, longer-lasting products to cut down on electronic waste.
In partnership with our friends over at iFixit, the campaign casts a critical eye over 40 different devices made between 2015 and 2017, and then assesses them according to how repairable each one is.
Apple’s new 4K 21.5-inch iMac is slightly more repairable than its predecessor, a new teardown by iFixit reveals. But there’s one big surprise buried in the computer’s guts: Both the CPU and the RAM can be swapped out when it’s time to upgrade.
While it’s still not an easily repairable computer, that’s still a change of direction for a company whose products regularly get dinged for lack of upgradeability.
Want to save a ton of money on a new iPhone? Try building your own.
Using a bunch of replacement parts bought at a marketplace in China, an ingenious YouTuber proves it’s entirely possible to build your own iPhone 6s. It turns out buying the parts is way cheaper than getting an iPhone 6s directly from Apple, as long as you’re cool assembling the tiny parts on your own.
Owners of the new 2017 iPad may be able to cannibalize their old iPads to fix busted components, depending on what breaks on the new tablet.
After discovering that the new iPad is mostly just an updated original iPad Air, the repair gurus at iFixit decided to test whether old iPad parts are compatible with refreshed iPad. Surprisingly, a number of crucial parts from the iPad Air 1 and Air 2 like the digitizer, battery, rear camera and microphone all work perfectly fine.
Update: “We put the new iPad through more tests,” iFixit notes. “The display on the iPad 5 has ~44% greater luminance than the LCD in the Air 1.” Well, we guess that answers that!
Apple claims that its latest iPad boasts a “brighter 9.7-inch Retina display” than its predecessors.
However, our friends over at iFixit call that claim into question with their teardown of the device — which prompts them to ask, “Brighter than what?”
Apple’s swanky new AirPods are finally shipping, which means the teardown experts at iFixit have pulled them apart to give us a glimpse at their internals.
The AirPods themselves are filled with tiny components and copious amounts of glue, while an X-ray scan of their charging case could reveal the reason behind the lengthy shipping delay.
Apple now offers two different 13-inch MacBook Pro options — one with function keys and one with a fancy Touch Bar. You might think they’d be almost identical internally, but they couldn’t be more different.
Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar have arrived, and our friends at iFixit have already dutifully taken one apart to reveal what’s lurking under the surface.
The most interesting revelation? The laptop’s new speaker grilles don’t house new speakers, but may instead exist purely for design purposes.
A teardown of the new entry-level MacBook Pro reveals it to be one of Apple’s least upgradeable laptops.
The good news? Even the Touch Bar-free model includes some nifty upgrades. The bad? From proprietary pentalobe screws that make opening the case unnecessarily difficult to the RAM soldered to the logic board, this isn’t a laptop you’ll be able to upgrade easily.
Despite the high prices, iPhones seem to be designed for replacement on a specific schedule. After a couple of years, the battery life starts to fade (and that’s assuming you didn’t drop the phone and crack the screen before then).
Even Apple’s extended warranty only covers two years. Do you have to pay $649 — at least — for the latest iPhone every two years just to be sure you have a phone that still works? Not necessarily!
iFixit’s iPhone 7 teardown involved 30 people in three countries, an X-ray machine and lots of sleepless nights. Thanks to iFixit’s hard work, iPhone teardowns have become a tech-culture phenomenon. Millions of fans eagerly await details of the internal components of Apple’s latest devices.
A lot of this has to do with Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, the second-biggest supplier of Apple parts after Apple itself, and publisher of the huge and amazing iFixit repair wiki.
In this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk with Wiens about all the work that goes into making the iFixit teardowns for a massive global audience, and the hardware secrets of the iPhone 7.
The new Apple Watch Series 2 is more repairable than Apple’s original wearable, according to the first teardown to pry open the new device.
Apple Watch Series 2 looks exactly the same as its predecessor on the outside. On the inside it’s an entirely different story, as Apple’s engineers have refined the internals and made it a bit easier to work with.
A strange flaw in the design of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has begun to plague a growing number of users, according to a new report that claims third-party repair experts are swamped with requests to fix what the Genius Bar can’t.
Leaving your damaged phone, computer, or other device at the shop is a guarantee you’ll be wasting a bunch of your cash and time, but we’re left with little choice. Electronics these days are built to be hard to repair, unless you’ve got the right tools. That’s what the DIY-repair revolutionaries at iFixit are offering with this 64-bit Driver Kit, the toolbox you need to get your own gadgets back up and running. Right now you can get it for $34.95 at Cult of Mac Deals.
