Teardowns

Will the Real MacBook Pro (15-Inch) Please Stand Up?

The best things come in threes, and we saved Apple’s best for last. Arguably the most “Pro” of the lineup, the 15″ MacBook Pro (Touch Bar) comes with more pixels, more trackpad, and more negative money in your wallet than its tiny twin. But isn’t it what’s inside that counts? Join us for the stunning conclusion of our teardown trifecta to see for yourself!

15Teardown Highlights:

  • Just like its little brother, the 15″ variant features a plugged-up connector to nowhere. Based on our previous teardown, we’re speculating Apple included an access port for the integrated SSD. Not a bad idea when it’s impossible to physically salvage your data out of a damaged machine.
  • Compared to the merely Supersized trackpad in the 13″ MBP, the 15″ trackpad is a figurative Big Gulp. Apple threw in an extra Broadcom touch controller IC to handle all of that extra touchable glass.
  • Just like its smaller brothers, most of the 15″ MBP’s speaker grille holes are cosmetic and don’t go all the way through. Why the dimples? Survey says: weight savers so it goes faster when you put wheels on it.
  • Just like its smaller Touch Bar-wielding friend, the 15″ doesn’t have a removable SSD or upgradeable RAM. Also just like it, the battery is very solidly glued down, greatly inhibiting repair and recycling. This earned the 15″ MBP the same score as the 13″—a 1/10 on our repairability scale.
MacBook Pro trackpad
Check out the monster trackpad on this MacBook Pro.

PS, in case you missed it, here’s the complete teardown triumvirate: