LOOK INSIDE (PART 5): MacBook Pro with Retina Display

[mmadhankumar]

I am back with yet another LOOK INSIDE thread. Today we will see what's inside the recently launched MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It looked awesome from outside, but how it looks from inside?? Here we go....

For those who missed the previous parts:
1. HP Z1 AIO Workstation
2. Apple's New iPad 3 4G
3. Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.7 LTE
4. Samsung Galaxy S III

Inside Look of MacBook Pro with Retina Display​

Step 1 — MacBook Pro with Retina Display
What is it that's got everyone in the tech world buzzing?

• 15.4" LED-backlit Retina display with IPS with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 at 220 ppi
• Intel Ivy Bridge Core-i7 processor with Turbo Boost and Intel HD Graphics 4000
• 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1 GB of GDDR5 VRAM

Step 2

• A quick inspection of the side of the MacBook Pro with Retina display reveals loads of upgrades:
  1. MagSafe 2
  2. Two (!) Thunderbolt ports
  3. The first of two USB 3.0 ports
  4. A standard 3.5 mm headphone jack
• The right side of the MacBook houses an SD card reader, the second USB 3.0 port, and a full-size HDMI output.
• Both sides feature air induction vents for the new cooling system—but more on that later.

Step 3

• The new display assembly design left no room for the usual "MacBook Pro" logo on the slim bezel.
• There's plenty of room for the logo on the bottom of the computer, though. If no one believes that your computer is a real MacBook Pro, just pick it up and flip it over.
• All these upgrades earned this Pro a new model number: A1398.

Step 4
What does an Apple logo or Finder icon made up of 220 pixels per inch look like up close? A bunch of colored, square-ish dots, that's what.
All joking aside, the resolution of this display really is incredible. There's no doubt that the cost to manufacture the Retina display is a big reason for the new MacBook Pro's $2200 (starting) price tag.

Step 5
Unlike previous generations of MacBook Pros, the MacBook Pro with Retina display is guarded by Apple's proprietary pentalobe screws.

Step 6
The MacBook Pro's innards revealed for your pleasure.

Step 7
The new battery packs quite a punch: 95 Wh at 10.95 V compared to last year's puny 77.5 Wh.
Two things haven't changed, though: the 7-hour battery life and the pestering reminder that Apple doesn't think you're qualified to service your own battery.

Step 8
It's always a good idea to disconnect the battery when gutting your gadgets.

Step 9
Great news. The battery is no longer screwed into the machine.
Horrible News. Apple chose to use the glue.
We're going to move on to more accessible components first, and then come back to the battery.

Step 10

• Now we are getting to the good stuff, starting with the SSD. We found a 512 GB Samsung flash memory module.
• The chips are marked:
  RED: Samsung S4LJ204X01 3-core ARM SSD controller chip - revision seems newer than 830-series SSD
  ORANGE: Samsung 213 K9UHGY8U7A 20nm MLC NAND chips
  YELLOW: Samsung 201 K4T263140F 256MB DDR2-800 cache memory
• Proprietary flash memory is nothing new to Apple. It is, however, new to the MacBook Pro lineup.

Step 11

• At first, the AirPort card in the MacBook Pro looks very similar to the one that we pulled out of the Mid 2012 MacBook Air.
• Closer inspection, however, reveals otherwise:
  RED:Broadcom BCM4331 single-chip 802.11n dual-band wireless solution
  ORANGE:Broadcom BCM20702 single-chip Bluetooth 4.0 HCI solution with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support
  BLACKSkyworks 2xSE5515 Dual-Band FrontEnds, SE2598L 2.4GHz amp, SE5019T, SE5404,SE5405

Step 12
A bracket, some antenna cables, a few screws, and finally we get to the fan with asymmetric blade spacing.
Theoretically, the asymmetry spreads the noise produced over multiple frequencies, making it less noticeable.

Step 13
Next up is the I/O board that plays host to one of the two USB 3.0 ports and the SD card reader. this Pro has USB 3.0 ports on both sides. At last we resolved the issues of cables that are 12.5" too short and thumb drives, mouse dongles, and USB toys that are a centimeter too wide.
RED:The I/O board also plays host to a Broadcom BCM57100 memory card reader controller.

Step 14
The next piece out is the processor and GPU heat sink and exhaust air vent assembly. By pushing the air through a restriction before it gets to the outermost vents, you introduce an additional pressure drop (due to fluid shear stress at the walls) that accelerates the air and pushes it out of the computer faster.
With that last obstacle out of the way, the logic board comes out fairly effortlessly.

Step 15
Major players on the front of the logic board include:
RED:NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GPU
ORANGE:Intel Core-i7 3720QM 2.6 GHz processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz) with Intel Graphics HD 4000.
YELLOW: What appears to be an Intel E208B284 Platform Controller Hub
CYANHynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3L SDRAM
BLUEIntel DSL3510L Thunderbolt controller

Step 16
The back of the logic board revealed:
RED:Hynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3L SDRAM 2Gbit 1600MHz chips
ORANGE:Hynix H5GQ2H24AFR - 2.5GHz 2Gbit GDDR5 memory chips
YELLOW: Texas Instruments Stellaris LM4FS1AH microcontroller with integrated ARM core
CYANRenesas R4F2113 H8S series CISC MCU
BLUEMaxim MAX15119 Apple-specific IMVP7 CPU/GPU power controller
PURPLECypress Semiconductor CY8C24794-24L - a Programmable SoC

Step 17
The headphone jack is held in place pretty snugly, but that doesn't stop us. This is where you plug in headphones or speakers.

Step 18

• …and right on cue, out come the speakers.
• Apple claims that their custom speakers make the most of "every cubic millimeter" inside the MacBook Pro. For $2200, we sure hope that they wouldn't be plug-and-play.
• The dual DXEC02 bottom-port Knowles MEMS microphones (with Job Id/Tape Numbers) lie underneath (or on top of?) the left speaker assembly. They use an "adaptive beam-forming algorithm" to cancel out background noise to make it easier to talk to your computer make calls via Skype and improve the speech recognition performance.

Step 19

• A few cables and hefty display hinge screws hold the display assembly in place, but not for long.
• The Retina display LCD is situated in the display assembly, and it's not going anywhere. Chances are if anything related to the display goes bad, you'll be replacing the whole kit'n'caboodle.
• Don't forget that the display assembly also includes the iSight Camera, WiFi antennas, and Bluetooth antennas.

Step 20

• Someone really did not want the battery in the MacBook Pro to come out of the upper case.
• We tried valiantly to free the battery from its aluminum confines, but to no avail. Rather than risk puncturing a lithium-polymer battery cell, we left the power source in place.
• To complicate matters further, the TrackPad cable lies underneath the battery. Attempting to pry the battery off the upper case could easily sever the fragile cable, which would be bad.

Step 21

• Proprietary pentalobe screws prevent you from gaining access to anything inside.
• As in the MacBook Air, the RAM is soldered to the logic board. Max out at 16GB now, or forever hold your peace—you can't upgrade.
• The proprietary SSD isn't upgradeable either (yet), as it is similar but not identical to the one in the Air. It is a separate daughtercard, and we’re hopeful we can offer an upgrade in the near future.
• The lithium-polymer battery is glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it'll break during disassembly. The battery also covers the trackpad cable, which tremendously increases the chance that the user will shear the cable in the battery removal process.
• The display assembly is completely fused, and there’s no glass protecting it. If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire extremely expensive assembly.

Via iFixit

 

[ssparikshya]

good post

 

[Biswajit.HD]

Very good post

 

[M@zh@R]

Awesome Informative post
+repu for this work

 

[Vikram]

Very informative Post.....never View inside any notbook or pad, thanks For update here.

 

[Karthik]

good review.

 

[Gagan]

Very nice job Mr. Madhan. :tup

 

[mystic]

Very good share again by mmadhankumar :tup

Very informative Post.....never View inside any notbook or pad, thanks For update here.

:hehe I had replaced one part of my notebook by myself.

I opened it fully & reconnect everything back to normal.

 

[iS THAT ME]

Well, I'd say very nice and informative !
Infact, Thanks, u taught me some things above that I didnt know

Rep+