Apple’s MacBook Pro with the M2 chip is essentially the same laptop as its predecessor, the 13-inch MacBook Pro M1, a teardown of the new notebook showed – not that this is a surprise.
Of course, the similarities are obvious and certainly from the outside it looked like with the external design unchanged between the two generations of laptops, the only real difference was upgrading the M1 SoC to an M2 and giving the option to select more system RAM. (24 GB if needed).
But now, courtesy of an iFixit teardown, we know that inside, the M2 MacBook Pro is virtually identical to the M1 version, with the same chassis, screen, Touch Bar and internal layout, save for a few tweaks.
Essentially, Apple took the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1, removed that SoC, and put in an M2 to replace it, with just a few minor upgrades to other, smaller internals.
iFixit’s video of the teardown makes it clear that all cables, spacers, screws, ground studs and so on remain the same – there’s just a different logic board and some tweaks to the heatsink (it has square corners instead of rounded as seen in version M1).
So really, there’s hardly any change, although something different is a downside, unfortunately. That is, storage on the base model MacBook Pro M2 is actually slower than the MacBook Pro M1, due to a different configuration for the SSD (this is only true for that base model, though, not for any higher level versions) .
In theory, you should be able to put the M2 card in the M1 MacBook Pro, and iFixit went ahead and successfully made that switch – except the laptop didn’t work, or specifically the trackpad, keyboard, and Touch ID sensor. no longer worked post-swap.
In short, iFixit concludes that this is a “blatant attempt to block repairs and replacements through software locks” by Apple.
Analysis: Overshadowed and a missed opportunity in general?
It’s disappointing that, as iFixit pointed out, Apple didn’t take advantage of a situation where better repairability and sustainability in design could have been leveraged with the M2 MacBook Pro.
As a result, this new 13-inch laptop looks rather uninteresting and distinctly retrospective, a situation not helped by the fact that the other notebook was unveiled alongside it at WWDC recently – the MacBook Air with M2, which should hit pre-orders imminently – is highly anticipated by many and represents a complete redesign for the notebook.
Interestingly, at WWDC, Apple referred to the 13-inch MacBook Pro as its second best-selling laptop, positioned behind the MacBook Air as the company’s best-selling – and given that, it seems rather strange that so little effort seems to have gone to waste. placed to launch a new model here.
Perhaps this is linked to supply chain issues – certainly, we’ve previously theorized that the MacBook Air arriving after the 13-inch Pro, which is already available, could be due to issues on the production side (pertaining to the recent lockdowns in China). But whatever the case, the placement of the new MacBook Pro M2 and the design issues surrounding the machine are certainly causing more than a few heads to scratch.
Through MacRumors (opens in new tab)
