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.
The teardown experts at iFixit have now pulled apart both machines to provide us with a close look at their insides. Apple made some interested decisions with the Touch Bar model — like adding seemingly useless speaker grilles — but that’s not all.
[contextly_auto_sidebar] As noted by iFixit’s Kyle Wiens, the two variants are totally different internally. “It’s almost like they designed one first and got it completely ready to go. And then decided to start over and design another one.”
The differences are obvious when you place photos of the machines side-by-side. The Touch Bar model has two fans instead of just one, while the more affordable model with function keys has nicer speakers, which are fixed in place with vibration dampening screws and not glued down.
You will also notice that the speakers on the cheaper model are located beneath its speaker grilles, whereas the speakers on the Touch Bar model sit alongside its battery towards the front of the case, and appear to direct sound out of the air vents in the laptop’s side.
Photo: iFixit
“We really like the speaker design on the function key model with vibration dampening screws,” Wiens adds. “Whereas the Touch Bar model has fake speaker grills and an unnecessarily glued down speaker.”
Another big difference between these MacBook Pros is the way Apple has fitted the SSD storage drives. On the Touch Bar model, it’s soldered to the logic board, making it impossible to upgrade. In contrast, the SSD inside the function key model can be removed.
The two models are so different that iFixit says it will have to write two different repair manuals for them. It also means the two machines don’t share the same components; even the trackpad is designed differently, despite being exactly the same size on the outside.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
13 responses to “Cheapest MacBook Pro is radically different from its big brothers”
It’s been 1 yr since I decided to abandon my old work and it was a best decision i made in my life… I started working from home, for this company I found on-line, for several hours /a day, and I make much more than i did on my old job… Pay-check i got for last month was for Nine thousand bucks… Awesome thing about this job is that now i have more time to spend with my family… CHILP.IT/8d93f4b
jhk
I just don’t get it. Why is it glued down on the touch bar when it is unnecessary?
Why is the touchpad designed differently on the non touch bar?
LOL. Don’t mean to be rude but you sound like a kid at the why?! questions stage.
I don’t mean to be rude but you didn’t answer my questions ;)
Well I guess they wanna keep the refurbish program in the house. The glue part is similar to iPhone. Regarding the different design I doubt its by choice since its more expensive to make different parts for basically *almost* the same product.
1 year ago I decided to resign from my previous job and i couldn’t be happier now… I started doing a job at home, for this company I discovered over internet, for several hours a day, and I make much more than i did on my old job… My paycheck for last month was for $9k… Great thing about this gig is the more time i got to spend with my family… SECURE84.COM
Obviously different design teams with different philosophies were working on the two models. The glue is certainly a cheaper means of affixing the speakers to the machine than the screws (less labor-intensive). Glue is certainly not unnecessary when there has to be some means of attaching the speakers to the unit. They probably should have gone with glue on the cheaper model as well if they were trying to cut costs on the cheaper model as well.
Clearly Apple has had to make a myriad of changes in order to accommodate the new touch bar. Perhaps testing revealed that the components on the touch bar made an odd noise or vibration that needed a more secure, solid system. If anything, this teardown reveals that there are far too many first-gen decisions made to warrant an upgrade if you’re already on a 2013/2014 model MacBook Pro w/ retina display.
“You might think they’d be almost identical internally, but they couldn’t be more different.”
Actually, they could be a lot more different.
Surprised about the second fan. That’s a lot of space. Why is it needed (other than, uh, cuz it’s got a touchbar – that’d be quite a price to pay, yuk, yuk, yuk ;) ?
Dedicated GPU maybe?
Another reason to call them MacBook.
There’s too much Pros
But there is a Macbook already and its way under powered compared to this. They could call it Macbook Air to make a difference.