This article from 2012 sheds some light on the issues/tradeoffs related to glued batteries: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/recyclers-disagree-on-i...
Re:Retina Macbook 2015 Teardown
by ghshephard on Friday April 17, 2015 @03:04PM
(#9396489)
Thanks - I recall reading that originally when it came out (though I seem to recall one of the Apple recyclers getting in trouble for complaining about Apple's glued-in system - not in this article though.)
You'd wonder if it's really that difficult to add a strap, instead of glue to secure a battery.
Re:Retina Macbook 2015 Teardown
by ghshephard on Friday April 17, 2015 @03:03PM
(#9396476)
Thanks - I watched the videos - it's more about the Unibody Aluminum design. I'm wondering why the memory and flash components are no longer modular, and if that's going to be the trend for everyone.
The reason is the same: space. Not having standard physical interfaces to plug hardware in represents a huge gain in space.
For instance, if the MacBook had a standard SSD, it would need the following:
- A SATA controller chipset on the motherboard
- The physical connector on the motherboard
- The physical connector on the SSD
- A SSD controller designed for SATA
- Maybe even a plastic enclosure on some laptops
Instead, Apple can use a lower-level interface, embed the flash controller and directly put the NAND cells on the motherboard. That's two chips.
Here is a video featuring Jony Ive about the unibody design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJx6cF-H__I
Specific explanation regarding the unremovable battery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6sh9purb0
Original page about the unibody design: https://web.archive.org/web/20100414070055/http://www.apple....