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> iFixit praises the M1 MacBook Air service manuals by saying “they’re in-depth, mostly logical, and well worth an additional repairability point,” This is th

> iFixit praises the M1 MacBook Air service manuals by saying “they’re in-depth, mostly logical, and well worth an additional repairability point,” This is the service manual you're referencing. The one they're complaining about it is the M1 MacBook Pro. Here's the actual manual referenced: https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/macbookpro-14-2021-07300326A-repair.pdf https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/mac... And here's iFixIt's actual complaint: > it’s not 162 pages because Apple has changed where batteries sit in the MacBook Pro. It’s that long because the manual says that to replace the battery, you’ve got to replace the entire top case. At the time of writing, Apple will not sell you a replacement MacBook Pro battery. They sell you a “Top Case with Battery and Keyboard.”

dkonofalski 4y ago
So it's a temporary situation to do it this way until they can get enough stock and work their supply chain to provide additional batteries? What a non-story.
- smoldesu 4y ago
  What's your source for Apple planning to provide individual batteries?
  - dkonofalski 4y ago
    I know that you're a weird anti-Apple contrarian but it literally says this in the article that we're discussing here.
- wlesieutre 4y ago
  I don't see anything to suggest that this policy will change in the future, they probably don't want to risk someone burning their house down while trying to remove a glued in pouch battery and then blaming Apple for it. Incidentally on the flip side of this, I got a free new battery out of the keyboard replacement program because they replace this whole top case assembly for keyboard replacements as well. I hoped that whole keyboard warranty extension fiasco would encourage Apple to stop gluing everything together so much and design for individual components to be replaced again, but I guess not.
  - ezfe 4y ago
    They do say on the website they're planning on selling the batteries individually in the future.
    - wlesieutre 4y ago
      Whoops, so they do. That's a repair I wouldn't want to touch by myself but good luck to anybody who does! The last Mac laptop I did repairs on was a snapped hinge and man that a painful process. Similar boat with having to take the entire computer apart (including the screen assembly). These days I'd be much happier to pay someone to deal with that, but doing it yourself is certainly the affordable solution and I'm glad that self repair continues to be an option.
      - tomxor 4y ago
        It doesn't have to be hard if they design it reasonably. XPS is similarly "thin" and you only have to undo 4 screws to replace the battery.
  - robmccoll 4y ago
    I replaced the glued-down baggie-cell batteries in the laptop I'm currently using. It was a giant PITA, and I was very wary of burning my house down the entire time. It would absolutely be worth the cost difference to secure and protect the batteries in any other way.
- mdoms 4y ago
- chris_wot 4y ago
  They sell the top case and battery already. What supply chain issues are you referring to?
vimy 4y ago
It’s always been like that. Bring your macbook to an Apple store for a battery replacement and they will replace the top case.
- avisser 4y ago
  I purchased a battery (just a battery) for my 2013 MBP. It was a pain to replace, but I replaced it with the help of an iFixIt guide. I believe it's that kind of guide people expected Apple to publish. So you may be right that it's always been Apple's policy, but the point was that the self-repair program is falling short of expectations. iFixIt set a standard and Apple has fallen short.
  - tpmoney 4y ago
    Why would anyone expect the self service process setup by Apple to be anything other than the same processes they have for their own repair people though? I don’t expect a car manufacturer to release parts and instructions they wouldn’t have their own service people follow. It’s reasonable to debate the merits of having the battery tied to the top case on the whole, but if it’s what Apple directs their own repair personnel to do, that’s what I would expect their self service to do too.
    - the_third_wave 4y ago
      A car manufacturer which claimed you needed to replace the whole front end of the car to replace the battery would be ridiculed by everyone and soon be out of business. The fact that those batteries are glued down is not a valid reason to replace the whole top as is shown by the multitude of mobile devices with glued-down batteries which can be replaced without problems. They either have some strip you can pull to loosen the battery or a set of instructions on where to push a thin piece of plastic underneath the battery to lift it. Apple can do this as well but they don't want to
      - tpmoney 4y ago
        You’re probably in for a nasty surprise when you look up the process for replacing the battery pack in an EV, which is a more apt comparison than the standard hunk of lead and acid in an ICE car. Just like Apples laptops, EVs are trying to cram batteries into every possible space to maximize capacity, meaning that replacement will involve some substantial disassembly. And yes, Apple can do it and has even said they’re going to do it. So at this point, it’s just a matter of guessing for why they don’t do it now. And that could be any number of reasons, including easier manufacturing or in a surprise twist maybe easier repair. Look at the ifixit instructions and look at the spacing available to access the pull tabs for the adhesive around the various frame parts. It’s entirely reasonable to think that Apple did some math on battery repair frequency; on that fact that even when an M* systems battery is at the 80% mark where it’s eligible for repair that it will still be near or over 100% of the old intel laptop runtimes when new; evaluated the chances of those adhesive tabs breaking or having the battery or top case damaged while removing one or the other and decided that bundling the two together and eating the cost on battery repairs was the easier option for their repair people. Because ultimately Apple’s priorities likely are ease of manufacture first, ease of store based repair second and ease of user based repair third. Because even with really easy user based repair, I would venture to say close to 90% of people will still have Apple do it for $200. And I say that based both on the fact that Apple used to offer various DIY repair options for older models* and people have their mechanic or AutoZone replace their car batteries for them even though that’s literally just 2 bolts. * I worked for an Apple authorized repair place in the G5 iMac days, in which for example the power supply was “user replaceable” and for which Apple offered customers DIY repair options on them. I can count on one hand, with fingers to spare, the number of customers who took us up on the option to order the part and do it themselves, even if having us do it meant longer turn around times. On the whole people don’t DIY repairs for things, and so engineering and manufacturing for that use case is probably a worse decision than engineering and designing for your own people and while those people might benefit from DIY friendly features, if that makes manufacture harder or more expensive, then that’s still likely a net negative trade off.
Spooky23 4y ago
Modern flat lithium batteries are fairly hazardous and Apple is very conservative in their approach to handing them. They never want a Samsung like situation where the airport announcer says “No MacBook Pro 14” on the plane”. Additionally, because it’s Apple, there would be a media shitstorm if that happened.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  They'll sell you just a "modern flat lithium battery" for one model but not another. It isn't about the hazardousness of the batteries.
- bioemerl 4y ago
  The Samsung situation was because they shipped batteries that exploded without being modified in any way. I don't think that's a fair comparison.

dkonofalski 4y ago

So it's a temporary situation to do it this way until they can get enough stock and work their supply chain to provide additional batteries? What a non-story.

smoldesu 4y ago
What's your source for Apple planning to provide individual batteries?
- dkonofalski 4y ago
  I know that you're a weird anti-Apple contrarian but it literally says this in the article that we're discussing here.
wlesieutre 4y ago
I don't see anything to suggest that this policy will change in the future, they probably don't want to risk someone burning their house down while trying to remove a glued in pouch battery and then blaming Apple for it. Incidentally on the flip side of this, I got a free new battery out of the keyboard replacement program because they replace this whole top case assembly for keyboard replacements as well. I hoped that whole keyboard warranty extension fiasco would encourage Apple to stop gluing everything together so much and design for individual components to be replaced again, but I guess not.
- ezfe 4y ago
  They do say on the website they're planning on selling the batteries individually in the future.
  - wlesieutre 4y ago
    Whoops, so they do. That's a repair I wouldn't want to touch by myself but good luck to anybody who does! The last Mac laptop I did repairs on was a snapped hinge and man that a painful process. Similar boat with having to take the entire computer apart (including the screen assembly). These days I'd be much happier to pay someone to deal with that, but doing it yourself is certainly the affordable solution and I'm glad that self repair continues to be an option.
    - tomxor 4y ago
      It doesn't have to be hard if they design it reasonably. XPS is similarly "thin" and you only have to undo 4 screws to replace the battery.
- robmccoll 4y ago
  I replaced the glued-down baggie-cell batteries in the laptop I'm currently using. It was a giant PITA, and I was very wary of burning my house down the entire time. It would absolutely be worth the cost difference to secure and protect the batteries in any other way.
mdoms 4y ago
chris_wot 4y ago
They sell the top case and battery already. What supply chain issues are you referring to?

vimy 4y ago

It’s always been like that. Bring your macbook to an Apple store for a battery replacement and they will replace the top case.

avisser 4y ago
I purchased a battery (just a battery) for my 2013 MBP. It was a pain to replace, but I replaced it with the help of an iFixIt guide. I believe it's that kind of guide people expected Apple to publish. So you may be right that it's always been Apple's policy, but the point was that the self-repair program is falling short of expectations. iFixIt set a standard and Apple has fallen short.
- tpmoney 4y ago
  Why would anyone expect the self service process setup by Apple to be anything other than the same processes they have for their own repair people though? I don’t expect a car manufacturer to release parts and instructions they wouldn’t have their own service people follow. It’s reasonable to debate the merits of having the battery tied to the top case on the whole, but if it’s what Apple directs their own repair personnel to do, that’s what I would expect their self service to do too.
  - the_third_wave 4y ago
    A car manufacturer which claimed you needed to replace the whole front end of the car to replace the battery would be ridiculed by everyone and soon be out of business. The fact that those batteries are glued down is not a valid reason to replace the whole top as is shown by the multitude of mobile devices with glued-down batteries which can be replaced without problems. They either have some strip you can pull to loosen the battery or a set of instructions on where to push a thin piece of plastic underneath the battery to lift it. Apple can do this as well but they don't want to
    - tpmoney 4y ago
      You’re probably in for a nasty surprise when you look up the process for replacing the battery pack in an EV, which is a more apt comparison than the standard hunk of lead and acid in an ICE car. Just like Apples laptops, EVs are trying to cram batteries into every possible space to maximize capacity, meaning that replacement will involve some substantial disassembly. And yes, Apple can do it and has even said they’re going to do it. So at this point, it’s just a matter of guessing for why they don’t do it now. And that could be any number of reasons, including easier manufacturing or in a surprise twist maybe easier repair. Look at the ifixit instructions and look at the spacing available to access the pull tabs for the adhesive around the various frame parts. It’s entirely reasonable to think that Apple did some math on battery repair frequency; on that fact that even when an M* systems battery is at the 80% mark where it’s eligible for repair that it will still be near or over 100% of the old intel laptop runtimes when new; evaluated the chances of those adhesive tabs breaking or having the battery or top case damaged while removing one or the other and decided that bundling the two together and eating the cost on battery repairs was the easier option for their repair people. Because ultimately Apple’s priorities likely are ease of manufacture first, ease of store based repair second and ease of user based repair third. Because even with really easy user based repair, I would venture to say close to 90% of people will still have Apple do it for $200. And I say that based both on the fact that Apple used to offer various DIY repair options for older models* and people have their mechanic or AutoZone replace their car batteries for them even though that’s literally just 2 bolts. * I worked for an Apple authorized repair place in the G5 iMac days, in which for example the power supply was “user replaceable” and for which Apple offered customers DIY repair options on them. I can count on one hand, with fingers to spare, the number of customers who took us up on the option to order the part and do it themselves, even if having us do it meant longer turn around times. On the whole people don’t DIY repairs for things, and so engineering and manufacturing for that use case is probably a worse decision than engineering and designing for your own people and while those people might benefit from DIY friendly features, if that makes manufacture harder or more expensive, then that’s still likely a net negative trade off.

Spooky23 4y ago

Modern flat lithium batteries are fairly hazardous and Apple is very conservative in their approach to handing them. They never want a Samsung like situation where the airport announcer says “No MacBook Pro 14” on the plane”. Additionally, because it’s Apple, there would be a media shitstorm if that happened.

meragrin_ 4y ago
They'll sell you just a "modern flat lithium battery" for one model but not another. It isn't about the hazardousness of the batteries.
bioemerl 4y ago
The Samsung situation was because they shipped batteries that exploded without being modified in any way. I don't think that's a fair comparison.