The technology surgeons at iFixit put tools into hands on the new MacBook Pro 2012 with Retina Display, and the results of their teardown were shocking in more ways than one.
Apple's latest MacBook Pro may be a thing of beauty both inside and out, but good luck getting one fixed down the road.
An iFixit teardown of the notebook reveals very little in the way of user-serviceable parts, with RAM soldered to the motherboard and battery packs glued into place.
In fact, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display received a mere one out of 10 on iFixit's Repairability Score, making it the least repairable notebook the company has ever laid their hands (and tools) upon.
A surprise inside
iFixit techs not only got a nice shock while tinkering with the MacBook Pro's sealed 95Wh battery packs, but also discovered that future RAM upgrades will be impossible - so choose wisely when purchasing.
Worse yet, the display assembly is fused together with no outer glass protecting it - an engineering and design marvel to be sure, but one that will require replacing the entire assembly should the display ever fail.
On a more promising note, the solid-state storage may not be upgradeable quite yet, but iFixit notes that it's at least on a separate daughtercard, providing hope that the company may be able to offer an upgrade "in the near future."
