MacBook Air less difficult to repair than MacBook Pro

The new Apple MacBook Air is less difficult to repair than the most recent MacBook Pro models. The battery and the USB-c ports, among other things, are relatively easy to replace yourself, but upgrades of, for example, memory and storage are impossible.

In addition to the USB-c ports, the 3.5mm jack is also easy to replace, because the ports are not attached to the motherboard, but have their own boards, iFixit writes in its teardown. Unlike other MacBooks, the speaker attachment is secured with pull tabs for easy speaker removal.

The battery is also secured with the same pull tabs, which makes replacing it relatively easy. If the keyboard is defective, there is a bigger problem, because it requires the removal of the entire lower part. As with the most recent MacBook Pros, it is a Butterfly keyboard, now of the third generation.

The processor in the Air is an Intel i5-8210Y, a dual-core with a clock speed of 1.6GHz and a boost to 3.6GHz with a TDP of 7W with a UHD Graphics 617 from Intel as the GPU. The motherboard also contains the Apple T2 chip for authentication, control of the cameras and video encoding.

Apple introduced the MacBook Air last week. The main changes from the previous version are the new design, the higher resolution screen, the fingerprint scanner in the keyboard and the replacement of USB-A ports, SD card slot and MagSafe charger for USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3.