iFixit

Great news. The battery is no longer screwed into the machine.

Horrible News. Apple chose to use the dreaded g-word: glue.

We're going to move on to more accessible components first, and then come back to the battery.

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:

• Samsung S4LJ204X01 3-core ARM SSD controller chip - revision seems newer than 830-series SSD
• Samsung 213 K9UHGY8U7A 20nm MLC NAND chips
• 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.

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:

• Broadcom BCM4331 single-chip 802.11n dual-band wireless solution
• Broadcom BCM20702 single-chip Bluetooth 4.0 HCI solution with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support
• Skyworks WiFi Block

  • 2xSE5515 Dual-Band FrontEnds
  • 2.4GHz SE2598L and 5GHz SE5019T transmit power amps
  • 2.4GHz SKY65405 and 5GHz SKY65404 reception low-noise amps

A bracket, some antenna cables, a few screws, and finally we get to the crème de la crème, the fan with asymmetric blade spacing.

• We jumped at calling the fan inside the Mid-2012 MacBook Air 13" "asymmetrical," but when compared to the fan inside this MacBook Pro, the Air's fan is definitely more periodic.

Theoretically, the asymmetry spreads the noise produced over multiple frequencies, making it less noticeable.

This fan has been mentioned in almost all press on the MacBook Pro with Retina display. We are surprised at how much attention a minor blade spacing change is getting. It is never the less a testament to how much attention Apple puts on minor details overlooked by the rest of the industry, all for the comfort of the end user.

Next up is the I/O board that plays host to one of the two USB 3.0 ports and the SD card reader.

• We love that 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.

The I/O board also plays host to a Broadcom BCM57100 series Gigabit Ethernet + Memory Card reader controller. The Ethernet controller is accessible through the separately-sold Thunderbolt adapter.

ParadeTech PS8401A HDMI Jitter Cleaning 3 Gbps HDMI repeater

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.

Major players on the front of the logic board include:

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GPU
• Intel Core-i7 3720QM 2.6 GHz processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz) with Intel Graphics HD 4000.
• What appears to be an Intel E208B284 Platform Controller Hub
• Hynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3L SDRAM
• Intel DSL3510L Thunderbolt controller

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