it's only been a couple months since the
last refresh of Apple's MacBook Pros but
today we have a brand new entry-level
13-inch model this MacBook Pro is the
first entry level 13-inch model to
feature a touch bar touch ID and it's
even got an upgraded 1.4 gigahertz
quad-core eighth generation Intel Core
i5 processor has anything else changed
below the space grade case there's only
one way to find out and that's to tear
it down if you'd like to know what tools
we use during this teardown we'll have
them all listed in the description below
spoiler alert if you have one of our pro
tect tool kits you'll have everything
you need to disassemble your macbook pro
we open up this macbook pro using the
same process as previous versions remove
the panel of screws securing the back
panel release the clips holding it in
place and finally slide it back and off
getting our first look at this machine
we can see that it resembles its
predecessor you know the one with the
useful function keys this assembly for
this machine remains the same as before
with the first step being to disconnect
the screwed down battery press contact
to get the logic board out we first need
to disconnect several cables held in
place with brackets including the
headphone jack hid assembly the trackpad
cable the Thunderbolt io port assembly
the touch bar cable and finally the
Wi-Fi antennas the logic board only has
four screws in one hex nut left holding
it in place but wait there's one more
cable at the top that needs to be
removed before we can lift it out
removing the heatsink reveals the 1.4
gigahertz quad-core Intel Core i5
processor and elsewhere on the board we
can see the Apple t2 coprocessor the 64
gigabytes of flash storage with another
64 gigabytes on the other side and the
four gigabytes of the lpddr3 ram also
with another four gigs on the other side
unfortunately but not surprisingly both
the SSD and RAM are integrated into the
logic boards so there's no hope for
future upgrades there the speakers and
fan are thankfully just screwed in place
making them easy enough to remove and
then we're left with the headphone jack
and touch ID sensor which are equally
easy to get up it's nice to see that at
least a few modular and easily
replaceable components remain in this
model but then there's the battery which
is still glued firmly in place we've
seen Apple use adhesive pull tabs on
many different kinds of devices before
so why they're so stuck on gluing these
things to the machines upper case
remains a mystery this battery is rated
at 50 8.2 watt hours which slightly
exceed
the old function key model which came in
at 50 4.5 watt hours lastly we take a
quick peek underneath the key to see
that this MacBook Pro did in fact get
the updated butterfly mechanism we saw
in the MacBook Pros released in May we
did a deep dive into what we think makes
this version better than the last and
included some materials analysis so if
you haven't seen that we'll post a link
in the description below
while this updated 13-inch MacBook
simplifies the MacBook Pro line making
all of them have a touch bar it doesn't
do anything to improve us repair ability
or upgrade ability so with that in mind
we scored the mid-20 19 13 inch MacBook
Pro a 2 out of 10 and here's why on the
upside the trackpad can be removed
without disturbing the battery but on
the downside proprietary pentalobe
screws continue to be hostile to repair
the battery assembly is still very
solidly glued into the case complicating
replacement of a consumable soldered
down ram limits the upgrade ability and
longevity and finally the SSD is no
longer replaceable but as it was
previously a proprietary drive the newly
soldered storage has about the same
effect for the average fixer