MacBook Buyer Beware

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(Last Updated On: March 21, 2019)

Stunned by the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro? Thinking about buying one for yourself or a loved one? Don’t rely on the only hit to your wallet being just the exorbitant one upfront.

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iFixit, a website known for their “teardowns” of new electronics, just released their dismantling of the 15″ MacBook Pro. This model, along with the 13″, scored a 1 out of 10 on their scale of “repairability.” Issues brought up included direct soldering of the RAM to the logic board and the proprietary solid-state drive. Upgrading your performance or storage is practically impossible, so you’ll want to be sure to buy the model with the optimum specs for your daily use. Also, the newfangled Touch Bar is stunningly easy to break during repair, being held down by a ridiculous amount of glue (iFixit’s experienced teardown techs accidentally destroyed it on both builds). The power button also doubles as a Touch ID sensor, and is thus connected directly to the logic board; this might mean that swapping out a faulty power button will require replacing the logic board (!).

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If a MacBook Pro is in your buying future, we strongly recommend purchasing an AppleCare plan with it. While it seems pricey ($349 for the 15″ MBP) it’ll definitely pay off if something goes wrong. iFixYouri is currently in talks with suppliers about parts for the new models, but we can tell you right now that they won’t be cheap to repair. Save yourself a lot of money and a huge headache by thinking ahead of time. The total price goes up to $2,750 (before dongles) but if you can comfortably pass the $2,000 mark for a laptop, you shouldn’t be worrying much.

If you own a current or older model of MacBook Pro, and your screen is giving you issues or battery life isn’t what it used to be, give us a call. iFixYouri does all sort of repairs for Apple laptops, from one Air to seventy Retina MacBooks for corporate clients, with quick turnaround and excellent customer service.