Apple’s new MacBook Neo isn’t just the most affordable MacBook by far — it’s also the most repairable MacBook in “about fourteen years,” according to an in-depth teardown by the how-to website iFixit.
The “big story,” in iFixit’s view, is the battery. While older MacBook batteries are supposedly glued into place, the Neo’s battery is held by a tray secured with 18 screws. That’s a lot of screws, but iFixit declared that “screws still beat adhesive every time.” In fact, this new arrangement — which should make it much easier to replace your MacBook battery — “sent cheers across the iFixit office.”
Other changes that reportedly make the MacBook Neo more repairable: a flat disassembly tree, the fact that Repair Assistant appears to accept replacement parts without complaint, and an easier-to-replace display and keyboard.
Ultimately, iFixit still had enough concerns — like soldered RAM and storage — that it only gave the Neo a repairability score of 6 out of 10. But it said that for a MacBook, “that’s a strong score.”
In 2012, Apple announced a redesign of its MacBook laptops with its new Retina Display MacBook Pro. The change was part of a push to move Apple device repair in-house, or to Apple-authorized repair shops, and removed a lot of the DIY repairability that previous models had. Many of the new MacBook parts, including memory cards and battery, were glued down; iFixit gave that model a 1 out of 10 score for repairability.
Since then, Apple has faced criticism for opposing some right to repair laws in states and creating so-called parts pairing barriers that limited or stopped devices from working with non-manufacturer parts. Laws allowing people to repair devices in states including Oregon then pushed the company to lift restrictions on repairing iPhones using older parts.
Memory and storage are still soldered in the new MacBook Neo, making it hard to upgrade. “But the parts that fail first are easier to reach than they have been on any MacBook in a long time,” iFixit said. “The battery is screwed down instead of glued in. The ports are modular. The display is easier to replace. The internal layout is unusually sensible.”
