Repair firm iFixit on Friday completed its dissection of Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which boasts upscaled components and extra hardware not found on its smaller 13-inch sibling.
Though the overall internal design is similar to the 13-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro, complete with "mustache" logic board, the 15-inch Pro features two —larger —fans, larger speakers, a revised battery layout, and extra components to power the much larger Force Touch Trackpad.
Much to the chagrin of aftermarket upgrade purveyors, the 15-inch Pro sports the same soldered-on SSD module design, meaning users are hard pressed to change out the drive without authorized help. Further, iFixit discovered a connector that has no readily apparent purpose. Though not confirmed, the component, also seen on the 13-inch model, is thought to be an SSD diagnostics port.
Also of note is MacBook Pro's gigantic Force Touch trackpad. With the 15-inch model, Apple had to incorporate a second touch controller to handle the extra surface area.
Other notable findings include a faux speaker grille with through-holes limited to a small round section just above the two up-firing speakers, improved heatsink and an Apple APL1023 343S00137 chip thought to be the Touch Bar's T1 controller. Interestingly, Apple might have mislabeled the T1 chip in a product promo video aired during last month's special event. It turns out the silicon highlighted by Apple is a Texas Instruments chip also present in the 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar, suggesting the actual T1 controller is a larger, Apple-branded component positioned just below the T1 part.
Though the overall internal design is similar to the 13-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro, complete with "mustache" logic board, the 15-inch Pro features two —larger —fans, larger speakers, a revised battery layout, and extra components to power the much larger Force Touch Trackpad.
Much to the chagrin of aftermarket upgrade purveyors, the 15-inch Pro sports the same soldered-on SSD module design, meaning users are hard pressed to change out the drive without authorized help. Further, iFixit discovered a connector that has no readily apparent purpose. Though not confirmed, the component, also seen on the 13-inch model, is thought to be an SSD diagnostics port.
Also of note is MacBook Pro's gigantic Force Touch trackpad. With the 15-inch model, Apple had to incorporate a second touch controller to handle the extra surface area.
Other notable findings include a faux speaker grille with through-holes limited to a small round section just above the two up-firing speakers, improved heatsink and an Apple APL1023 343S00137 chip thought to be the Touch Bar's T1 controller. Interestingly, Apple might have mislabeled the T1 chip in a product promo video aired during last month's special event. It turns out the silicon highlighted by Apple is a Texas Instruments chip also present in the 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar, suggesting the actual T1 controller is a larger, Apple-branded component positioned just below the T1 part.
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