iFixit Not Impressed with Apple 15-inch MacBook Air Repairability

[T0@st]

iFixit has released their teardown and evaluation video covering Apple's brand new M2 MacBook Air model. This 15-inch screen variant was announced at WWDC 2023 and was released to retail soon after. The test unit has an A2941 model number and looks not too far removed from the 13-inch equivalent externally and internally, but the fifteen-incher is 22% heavier. Initial impressions are good thanks to more screen real estate, increased pixel density, large trackpad, a six-speaker sound system and smart battery tech. Things turn sour almost immediately upon starting disassembly—iFixit described their experience of disconnecting the internal battery as "miserable," and added that it was even more of a challenge to extract the laptop's logic board due to the force-canceling speakers/woofers getting in the way.

The team had to contend with plenty of connector brackets, ports, pentalobe + miscellaneous screws types and covers adding to their collective headache. The 66.5 WH-rated battery only becomes accessible at the tail end of a truly frustrating teardown process, although the reviewer notes that it was very easy to remove the cell assembly—only having to deal with "neato" pull tabs and clip-securing posts. These positives aspects are almost entirely negated by overcomplicated preceding steps. iFixit awarded a repairability score of 3 (out of 10) to the Apple M2 MacBook Air 15-inch model, and concluded that this premium laptop is "a heavy unrepairable beast (hidden) under (its) skin deep beauty."




iFixit's video description states: "The M2 MacBook Air has grown up and has a 15" summer bod to show off, with a hefty 22% more bulk, 26% more pixels, and a mere 0.2 mm increase in thickness. No butterfly keyboard, extra speakers, huge trackpad, and all-day battery life—plus speedy charging with a 65 W adapter—and you're ready for a day at the beach. But sand, as we all know, is rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere—so let's see just how repairable the MacBook Air 15" truly is."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Durvelle27]

Apple don't want their products to be repairable by consumers. So it makes since to make it as difficult as possible.

 

[eidairaman1]

Apple don't want their products to be repairable by consumers. So it makes since to make it as difficult as possible.

Just like cell phones today, throwables, planned obsolescence

 

[Wye]

not too far removed

force cancelling speakers

Was this translated using Google translate?

 

[N/A]

If you're still spilling coffee after all the warnings i don't know what to say. Why do people keep making the same mistake over and over again. Otherwise no worries. No repairs should be needed.

 

[Solaris17]

although the reviewer notes that it was very easy to remove the cell assembly

Damn that’s a step in the right direction older models had them literally glued to the inside. Getting those out after they were swollen sucked.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Apple should start calling their products iWaste.

 

[Lycanwolfen]

Of course they do not want you to repair it. They want you to buy a new one over and over again and again. For a company that says they are all for the enviroment and helping save it they certainly are making a lot of waste.
My desktop PC one im on right now is from 2012 and still working fine core i7 3770K 32 GB ram I upgraded to some more SSD space but still runs like a champ.

 

[Durvelle27]

If you're still spilling coffee after all the warnings i don't know what to say. Why do people keep making the same mistake over and over again. Otherwise no worries. No repairs should be needed.

Not just coffee

Juice
Tea
Pea


My favorite was I accidently ran it over but some reason it won't come on

 

[persondb]

If you're still spilling coffee after all the warnings i don't know what to say. Why do people keep making the same mistake over and over again. Otherwise no worries. No repairs should be needed.

People drink coffee near their machine. Accidents sometimes happen.

Do you always go away as far as possible to the machine when drinking something?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Of course they do not want you to repair it. They want you to buy a new one over and over again and again. For a company that says they are all for the enviroment and helping save it they certainly are making a lot of waste.
My desktop PC one im on right now is from 2012 and still working fine core i7 3770K 32 GB ram I upgraded to some more SSD space but still runs like a champ.

I have 2 Mac Pros, a 2010, and a 2013, and they both work just fine too. Granted, the 2009-2012 Mac Pro was the pinnacle of Mac design. The 2013 was cool, but not practical. Still, I bought one a few months ago for $300 and spent another $25 on the 12C CPU, and then another $30 for 64GB of RAM. Fortunately, a $12 NVME adapter exists to use standard storage modules, so 1TB was easy. It's my daily driver for photo editing. Runs CaptureOne 2023 perfectly fine, with decent GPU acceleration out of those old Tahiti GPUs.

In regards to the battery replacement, I wonder how many people actually do it or want to do it in modern laptops. We've had a Lenovo for 6 years now, and we've never replaced the battery, and at this point it's so damn slow it's not worth the trouble. At least with Apple, you can trade it in towards your next upgrade. Even if it's broken and worthless, they'll recycle it for free.

 

[mb194dc]

Planned obsolescence, granted more f the phones than other products.

I'm amazed people still que up to be taxed by Apple for the rest of their digital lives. I put it down to there being no really tough times since 2009...

You can do the same without the apple logo and pay half or even less.

 

[AsRock]

Apple should start calling their products iWaste.

maybe they should dump the i like intel has and use eWaste.

 

[AusWolf]

If you want to fix your things yourself instead of leaving hundreds at your Apple repair shop, then don't buy an Apple product, ever. This has been common sense since the beginning of computers.

If you're still spilling coffee after all the warnings i don't know what to say. Why do people keep making the same mistake over and over again. Otherwise no worries. No repairs should be needed.

What about the battery?

 

[N/A]

Warranty exists. Every possible scenario has been considered. Until then, the consumer will try not to spill the milk and there will be nothing to clean up and fix the broken.

 

[KrazyT]

There are so many tutorials on the internet today, you can probably fix everythings !
But it needed for most some real skills :/

 

[Chrispy_]

People who buy Apple don't care about repairability; Value for money and environmental impact aren't even concepts they understand.

 

[bug]

Apple should start calling their products iWaste.

Yeah, non-repairability has been at the core of the hardware division for over two decades now. But with world taking stock of e-waste, it may force them to change sooner rather than later. Already the EU has mandated USB-C and user-replaceable batteries are soon to follow.
But otherwise yes, only Apple could sell people this "oh no, the F key doesn't work anymore... you'll have to pay for a full motherboard replacement". And have their customers be smug about it.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

People who buy Apple don't care about repairability; Value for money and environmental impact aren't even concepts they understand.

I’m using Apple hardware from 10-12 years ago as my daily drivers, and I bought them used at cheap prices. There’s some Apple hardware that’s not in the landfill that I didn’t pay full price for. And people think Apple buyers are snobs…

 

[Chrispy_]

I’m using Apple hardware from 10-12 years ago as my daily drivers, and I bought them used at cheap prices. There’s some Apple hardware that’s not in the landfill that I didn’t pay full price for. And people think Apple buyers are snobs…

The Apple you know has changed. Apple 10-12 years ago weren't the anti-consumer, anti-competitive, anti-planet arseholes they are now.
They were all of those things still, but only to the same extent that other big players like Intel/AMD/Nvidia are today.

The Apple of today is ten times worse. Go and watch some Louis Rossman videos, or look at how Apple are butting heads with congress, the EU, and various other governing bodies for profit above rational societal benefit.

 

[Wirko]

Was this translated using Google translate?

Force-canceling speakers are real, they cancel any force that tries to disassemble the Macbook.

 

[bug]

I’m using Apple hardware from 10-12 years ago as my daily drivers, and I bought them used at cheap prices. There’s some Apple hardware that’s not in the landfill that I didn’t pay full price for. And people think Apple buyers are snobs…

Survivorship bias - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

The Apple you know has changed. Apple 10-12 years ago weren't the anti-consumer, anti-competitive, anti-planet arseholes they are now.
They were all of those things still, but only to the same extent that other big players like Intel/AMD/Nvidia are today.

The Apple of today is ten times worse. Go and watch some Louis Rossman videos, or look at how Apple are butting heads with congress, the EU, and various other governing bodies for profit above rational societal benefit.

Survivorship bias - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You both miss my point entirely. The original premise was that anyone who uses an Apple product doesn't care about the environment or repairability. It's an arrogant and inflammatory statement, and you're simply doubling down on it. I don't insult you for your buying choices, so why are you insulting me for mine? Are you actually trying to make a convincing argument, or do you just want to feel good about yourselves? Last I checked, Microsoft obsoleted a crap-ton of perfectly good hardware with Windows 11, but we don't believe that everyone who buys a Windows machine loves everything Microsoft does, do we? None of these companies care like we think they do. I'm not defending Apple. I agree that their current hardware path has closed the door on repairability and even more importantly, upgradability. Things like the Mac mini are small and use little power, but it would be an even better product if they made higher base configs than a paltry 8GB/256GB. Go visit a place like Macrumors, and you will find a lot of Apple customers who have the same stance. It's a very tired argument that all of Apple customers love everything the company does. They are often Apple's harshest critics.

 

[bug]

You both miss my point entirely. The original premise was that anyone who uses an Apple product doesn't care about the environment or repairability. It's an arrogant and inflammatory statement, and you're simply doubling down on it. I don't insult you for your buying choices, so why are you insulting me for mine? Are you actually trying to make a convincing argument, or do you just want to feel good about yourselves? Last I checked, Microsoft obsoleted a crap-ton of perfectly good hardware with Windows 11, but we don't believe that everyone who buys a Windows machine loves everything Microsoft does, do we? None of these companies care like we think they do. I'm not defending Apple. I agree that their current hardware path has closed the door on repairability and even more importantly, upgradability. Things like the Mac mini are small and use little power, but it would be an even better product if they made higher base configs than a paltry 8GB/256GB. Go visit a place like Macrumors, and you will find a lot of Apple customers who have the same stance. It's a very tired argument that all of Apple customers love everything the company does.

First of all, this is not personal, I don't know why you're feeling singled out.

It's a fact that Apple has made a series of choices that strip away customer's right to repair and they have integrated many parts that technically should not be integrated for no reason other than to circumvent the ability to repair.

And back to you, while I'm sure you care about the environment (what sane person doesn't?), the choice to support Apple is not, imho, a testament to that.

They are often Apple's harshest critics.

They aren't. Like you said, Apple isn't listening anyway. The harshest critic is the one that stops buying. The rest are either sheep (and I don't use this term lightly) or forced to use Apple hardware somehow.

 

[mechtech]

I have 2 Mac Pros, a 2010, and a 2013, and they both work just fine too. Granted, the 2009-2012 Mac Pro was the pinnacle of Mac design. The 2013 was cool, but not practical. Still, I bought one a few months ago for $300 and spent another $25 on the 12C CPU, and then another $30 for 64GB of RAM. Fortunately, a $12 NVME adapter exists to use standard storage modules, so 1TB was easy. It's my daily driver for photo editing. Runs CaptureOne 2023 perfectly fine, with decent GPU acceleration out of those old Tahiti GPUs.

In regards to the battery replacement, I wonder how many people actually do it or want to do it in modern laptops. We've had a Lenovo for 6 years now, and we've never replaced the battery, and at this point it's so damn slow it's not worth the trouble. At least with Apple, you can trade it in towards your next upgrade. Even if it's broken and worthless, they'll recycle it for free.

The recycling fee is included in the original MSRP tag. No one notices the couple bucks hidden in the 1000's of $$