What's inside Apple's new MacBook Air?
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An iFixit teardown of the new MacBook Air gives us a peek at the engineering that goes into Apple's new ultraportable. So, what's new on the inside? Well, a lot.
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First off, while the Air is in no way upgradable (the processor, RAM, and storage are all crammed onto one mainboard, along with most of the other silicon), Apple's put a bit of thought to repairability.
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A bit.
For example, the external ports are on two separate logic boards, which means if you cause some damage by being careless, the repair should be a lot cheaper than it would be if you have to replace the mainboard. This is always a nice touch, especially as now the MacBook Air draws power from a USB-C port, and not the breakaway MagSafe connector.
The new MacBook Air also has a fan. While Apple has shifted to a fanless design for its other lightweight laptops, the new Intel Core i5 processor must output more heat than a fanless cooling system can cope with, and as such requires some airflow to get it out of the case and into the atmosphere.
Another nod to repairability is the stretch-release adhesive strips used to hold down the battery, which make removing the battery easier, and a whole lot safer since you don't have to go prying at it and risk rupturing the unit.
But there are some repair headaches too. Repairing a damaged trackpad will involve removing the mainboard, while damaging the keyboard will result in a full teardown since it's integrated into the top case.
Even replacing the battery will mean having to dig out the mainboard and speakers.
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The bottom line is that the new MacBook Air is a little more repairable than some Macs, but that doesn't really mean that much. While it's a nice touch that the ports are modular, upgradability and repairability is clearly not a high priority for Apple.
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