Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro does not like to be taken apart

Apple's first touchscreen MacBook Pro received mixed reviews from iFixit's teardown experts. While the easily replaceable lid received praise, the placement of fans, USB-C ports, and other components proved challenging to access. The PROLED XDR display, featuring dual organic light-emitting pixels, introduced touch capability to the MacBook line for the first time. Despite Apple's recent improvements in repairability, the new model still falls short.

The lid comes off relatively easily, resembling those on the M6 14-inch MacBook Pro, and streamlined display cable brackets simplify removal. The Repair Assistant tool successfully handled a full system board swap during testing. However, replacing the panel alone is not feasible, as the glass delaminated when separated from the lid, causing damage to the OLED and touch-sensitive layers beneath.

Under the bottom cover, the PROLED shares a similar internal layout to previous MacBook Pro models, with fans, board, speakers, and trackpad in the same locations. This leads to recurring annoyances. While the MagSafe power connector can be removed via two screws and a bracket, the USB-C ports cannot be extracted easily due to the logic board obstruction. The headphone jack, fans, HDMI port, SDXC card reader, and storage/memory are also soldered to the board and require system board removal.

The battery pack proved difficult to remove, although it is still removable compared to many thin-and-light laptops. The MacBook Pro weighs 1.38 kg or about 3 pounds. For these reasons, iFixit awarded the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display a 5 out of 10 repairability score, marking a one-point increase from the M5 MacBook Pro. The Apple logo's illumination relies on a strip of LEDs behind the display, making repair nearly impossible if the panel fails.

The PROLED XDR display's blue subpixel is notably larger than the green and red ones, requiring replacement if damaged during removal.