Steps 1–24: Teardown
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Page 3 of 3
Step 17
The logic board with all connectors removed.
Remove the following eight screws:
Six 3 mm Phillips from the logic board
Two 7.2 mm Phillips from the MagSafe board
Second image: removing logic board.
Step 18
Top of logic board.
The speakers are mounted on the left next to the ports.
The heat sink covers the two NVidia chipsets and the processor.
This machine has 512 MB video memory for the NVidia 9600M. The 9400M chipset shares 256 MB of system memory. You have to log out to switch between graphics chipsets.
Step 19
Removing the black heat sink and heat conduit.
Second image: The processor and two NVidia chipsets revealed!
Intel processor: Intel 5831C024 SLGEL AV80576T9550 2.66 / 6M / 1066
No surprises there: 2.66 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz bus, just as advertised.
Step 20
We removed the heat sink thermal compound so you can see the die markings.
Left image: Intel processor. No die markings!
Middle image: NVidia L901B138 0902B3 PB9487.000 MCP79MXT-B3
Right Image: NVidia 50N3BF 0850C1 NK6791.S1W NB9P-GS-W2-C1
Step 21
Left: 15" Unibody logic board
Right: 17" Unibody logic board
What's different? The biggest difference to you is the additional USB port. Oh, and $800.
The low-end 15" board that we took apart in October only has 256 MB video memory (Samsung RAM soldered onto the board). The high-end 15" and this 17" have 512 MB video RAM.
High-resolution photo of the logic board.
Step 22
The most famous upper case in the world, Apple's 'brick' CNC-manufactured Unibody case.
The second shot shows the speaker placement. We took the speakers out and put them on top of the case in the same position and orientation that they are internally.
Step 23
We removed the display assembly.
This photo is the 13", 15", and 17" MacBook displays stacked together. High resolution.
Step 24
Clockwise from top left: Logic board, heat sink, display, unibody upper case, battery, hard drive, speakers. Fans, RAM, and optical drive are in the center.
There you have it! Be sure to check back often for more first looks, guides, and quality parts!
Page 3 of 3
It looks like they weren't so messy with the thermal paste this time. ;)
Are both speakers only on one side of the MacBook Pro?
the second set of speakers should be under the DVD burner, the disassembly doesn't show It for now.
iFixit Staff
We added a photo on step 22 showing the speaker positioning.
Any idea what the two components labeled with stickers ('Mac', 'Screen') are? They are to the left of the smaller gpu in the logic board shot.
What revision is the Firewire chip? They used rev: 6 of the bad Agere/Lucent one. I have read Apple has aknoweledged that there are some problems, and that there are a rev: 7 of the chip already out in some external cards. This could be very important for some firewire audio interfaces e.g. like the RME FireFace 800.
Hi, is there a way to change out the nvidia 9400/9600 for a different chip, say a 8800 or 9800?
this is probably a really noob question but I had to ask
iFixit Staff
Unfortunately, the video processor is soldered to the logic board and much too hard to replace without mechanized soldering tools.
Hey is there a way to remove and put more ram on your logic board? Is that too difficult?
Can you power the logic board w/o the power button?
is that cpu soldered on?
iFixit Staff
Yes, unfortunately the CPU is soldered to the logic board. Apple hasn't offered a laptop with the CPU on a separate board since the G3 Pismo in 2000.
What are the dimensions of the logic boards on the 17" and 15"?
iFixit Staff
The 17" Unibody board is about 5.5" by 9.5" (14 cm by 24 cm). The 15" Unibody board is the same height, but only about 8.25" wide (21 cm).
Do you guys have apple tv repairs done yet? They all have the same glitch lately that they keep restarting over and over again and my apple provider here in Iceland is saying it's not apple's fault.
I need to buy a new one they say!
Thank you so much for this web page and very professional work. I enjoy coming here every day reading!
Looks like the 17" has ekstra space for more video RAM, 4 more spaces on the same side as the CPU and GPU's are... So is it possible to "installe" 512MB ekstra video RAM?
Which brand and model of LCD panel is used in the unibody 17" MacBook Pro?
and how is the full screen black overlay and mask attached to the dislay? Optical bonding?
Hiya, Is it physically impossible to dismantle the display section? As yet, I've not seen any images posted by anyone, not even yourselves.
iFixit Staff
The glass front panel is glued firmly to the rear panel. We haven't tried to liberate it. It is possible that heat might loosen the adhesive, but it's just as possible that the heat will smoke or break the glass. As far as I know, there isn't a feasible way to get in there.
What if dust particles get between the glass and the LCD panel? Would there be no way to clean that out? This part concerns me.
Thanks
What type of connector is used on the display assembly to connect to the logic board.
As far as i can tell from the descriptions of the manufacturing i have come across, the panels are sealed so dust shouldn't be an issue.
Can anyone confirm this?
iFixit Staff
We don't know yet. If we disassemble the display further we'll let everyone know.
Can you please disassemble the LCD so we can see the LED backlight?
thanks that would be much appreciated
keep up the great work!!!
iFixit Staff
citing Ben above:
The glass front panel is glued firmly to the rear panel. We haven't tried to liberate it. It is possible that heat might loosen the adhesive, but it's just as possible that the heat will smoke or break the glass. As far as I know, there isn't a feasible way to get in there.
Does anyone know how to take the display assembly further apart? I want to add a Wacom tablet pad behind? How bad an idea is that now with the glass-enclosed displays of the Unibodies?
This is clockwise, not counterclockwise :)
iFixit Staff
Thanks ^_^
Love you guys at iFixit !
One thing :
why it's so hard to find Apple Service Manuals ?
( i really appreciate that you do Teardown but Service Manuals are in a lot more details !).
Iran