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Apple Businesses Hardware

PowerBook 15" and 12" Disassembly 180

Posted by CmdrTaco from the violating-your-warranty dept.
questamor writes "The ever gadget-driven among us are at it again, with a Japanese site disassembling a brand new 15" PowerBook. Of interest is dual blowers. Quite a good deal packed into that sleek Al case. An older photo article on the same site details a 12" takeapart. That's stunning for barely an inch thick. Kudos to Apple's designers for a machine that looks as well designed in as out, and to the guys willing to unscrew the screws on a machine barely 5 days into warranty."
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PowerBook 15" and 12" Disassembly More

PowerBook 15" and 12" Disassembly

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  • new design (Score:5, Informative)

    by catwh0re ( 540371 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @08:14AM (#7017023)
    the new design allows for a more rigid feeling laptop, as well as cheaper production costs.

    the down is that the keyboard isn't removable (for those that liked swapping it out for a touch sensitive board), it's to allow for the backlit keys which are fed light from the built in display.

  • I can't read Japanese (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 21, 2003 @08:16AM (#7017033)
    You insensitive clod!
  • Uh-oh .. there here goes his warranty .. I wonder how much extra parts did he have after putting it back together ;-)
    • Yarr! I've still got a tray full of tiny screws from putting a new hard drive in my iBook. Now this! No!

      {Wanders off muttering, "I will NOT take apart my powerbook... I will NOT take apart my powerbook... I will NOT take apart my powerbook..."
  • some karmawhore really should do a mirror.

    that said, there's not much in them to see, i guess if you can't figure out how to get it open otherwise the pics would help.

  • Obligatory Short Circuit Quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by FunWithHeadlines ( 644929 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @08:24AM (#7017067) Homepage
    "PowerBook 15 is alive. No disassemble!!"

  • Yeah!

    with Moz, I get "The document contains no data"!

  • Great (Score:5, Funny)

    by cca93014 ( 466820 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @08:31AM (#7017099) Homepage
    Good to see the very same dissassembled laptop being used as a web server as well...

  • Is the new 12" still hot? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cras ( 91254 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @08:45AM (#7017138) Homepage
    Has anyone tried the new 12" powerbooks yet? I have the old one and it's a bit annoying that it gets quite hot after a while. I don't think the 15" and 17" models were nearly that hot. How about the new 12" one? Should I bother buying it or maybe switch to 15"?
    • My original 17" gets warm but definetly not hot. I had a toshiba laptop that got a 3x as hot.
    • The new 12" is not out yet.

      Anecdotal claims are that the 1.25Ghz G4 15" runs cooler than the 1.0Ghz G4 (new motorola chip, smaller fab). This would suggest that the 1Ghz G4 12" would run cooler than the 867Mhz 12"
    • It still gets very hot. I played with one at the Paris Apple Expo, and picked it up to feel the underneath of the laptop. It was scorchingly hot. The palm rests were also uncomfortably hot. Using metal as the enclosure is probably not a good idea since it conducts heat so well.
      • Actually, that *might* be an intentional part of its design. Using the metal shell as a heat conductor probably helps save the innards from as much heat stress as you'd have otherwise. It may be unsettling as a user to get constant "feedback" on how hot the system is running - but I'd rather have that than a system burning up inside that feels fine on the outside.

    • Re:Is the new 12" still hot? (Score:5, Informative)

      by orpheus2000 ( 166384 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @12:07PM (#7018272) Journal
      Remember that the hottest part of the 12" is not where the processor is (top center, near the screen), but where the left palm rests and the underside of it. This is exactly where the HD is, and is usually the source of the heat. If they've started using cooler HD's, then I'd be asking if the thing ran cooler, not the proc.
  • Jane Barbe has taken hiatus from her eternal slumber to give their webserver an appropriate message:
    "We're sorry, your call could not be completed. Would you please try your call again?"

  • Non-removable keyboard (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mwongozi ( 176765 ) <slashthree&davidglover,org> on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:15AM (#7017252) Homepage
    The fact that the keyboard isn't removable is interesting. I have the old model 1GHz 15" PowerBook, and I've always wondered whether someone would make replacement keyboards for it, perhaps silver, or backlit.

    I guess not, now.

    • Re:Non-removable keyboard (Score:5, Informative)

      by questamor ( 653018 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:24AM (#7017312)
      The keyboards for 15" TiBooks are replaceable. There was a rather odd shaped one out only a few months ago - in a shalsdot story even. I don't know of any others, but they're there.

      The nonremovable keyboard in the new 15" is only nonremovable from the outside. Once you're in it's screwed down into the chassis and can be removed as easily as a screwdriver can be wielded. It's this screwing down that gives it its intense stiffness, which makes it a DREAM to type on compared to any other laptop I've used.

      Not quite a nonremovable keyboard - just a harder-to-remove keyboards, and probably not a consumer-swappable part like it used to be.

      • It's this screwing down that gives it its intense stiffness, which makes it a DREAM to type on compared to any other laptop I've used.

        I own a IBM A31 and it's got a damned nice keyboard as well... The feel is wonderfully precise with great response and with a very stiff back that doesn't allowthe keyboard base to flex like other laptops... cough compaq cough and its not as frustratingly compacted as other laptop keyboards, including the new Apple laptops. But, with a body at 13in in width, it's not for

      • Yes, and it's worth noting, some folks are doing little "mods" to popular PC laptops to get more keyboard stiffness out of them, too. I recently saw a web site where they had instructions on taking out the keyboards of some Dell Inspiron laptops and inserting double-sided foam tape "pads" on the bottom, center portion of them, and re-installing, to eliminate annoying "flex" when you press on keys near the center.

        I don't know why manufacturers ever skimped on reinforcing the notebook keyboards in the first
    • FingerWorks [fingerworks.com] made a TouchStream replacement keyboard for the older PowerBooks (see here [fingerworks.com]). Does this mean that these no longer work with the new PowerBooks? Damn!
    • You know, I've always liked the removable keyboard on the Powerbook G4, simply because it amazes people when you lift the keyboard up to show the insides (while it's on, of course)... They ooh and they ahh, regardless of how much they hate Apple. It's really a great experience. :^)
    • in the lifetime of the TiBook I saw two replacement keyboards.

      one was a touch pad style keyboard, so you tapped on letters instead of clicked on keys, the other was a keyboard modification service, that would install a number of leds under your keyboard effectively backlighting it (the keys have always been transparent in the lifetime of the TiBook)

  • taking them apart. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 21, 2003 @09:43AM (#7017384)
    Taking Apart the 12" and the 15 isnt as much of a bear as one might thing. Granted, its always exciting when someone does it at home and posts a site about it in japanese. However, the machines have been available in the U.S. for a while, and people have been breaking them for a while. What does this mean? All of us Portable Certified Techs that work for Apple Specialists have been taking the damned things apart for months. They're gorgeous on the outside, but a pain to crack open.
    Figure this.

    There's tons of screws, none of them magnetized, all of them small. Its like keeping track of ants.

    The top case is flexible so there's the possibility of bending it or damaging it when removing or reinstalling it.

    The innards arent really designed from a repair perspective. On the 12" powerbook, the retainer tabs for the optical drive are UNDER the logic board. So, to remove the cd-r, you much gut the machine.

    There are about a dozen tiny phillips head screws that hold the keyboard in place on the 17" they are stamped metal, not polished and finished like all the other screws on the box. the bottom of the top case is unfinished as well. SO, the screws get turned into place by a machine, and then are almost unremovable after the fact. You go after them with a small phillips and they strip like butter. then you have to bust out the screw extractor and waste 20 minutes, only to have the one next to it do the same thing.

    when the systems first shipped, the rubber feet were not classified as a seperate part. They were part of the bottom case. SO, if you lost your rubber feet, you would have had to order a new bottom case. Luckily, they fixed that

    So, now that I'm done ranting, you all know what I found wrong with the new powerbooks. if anyone wants photos, I might be enticed to post them on www.modyourmac.com, but someone is still gonna have to ask.
    • From what I can tell, doing routine repair on the 12" powerbook (such as replacing the hard drive) looks about a million times easier than working on the current iBook. What a nightmare that is. Believe me, I know.
  • Kudos [...] to the guys willing to unscrew the screws on a machine barely 5 days into warranty.

    Can Apple (or any other manufacturer, for that matter) tell if the laptop has been opened before; possibly by someone who wasn't supposed to do that? Unless there are any labels over the screws, that you would need to break, how could they?
    • Can Apple (or any other manufacturer, for that matter) tell if the laptop has been opened before; possibly by someone who wasn't supposed to do that? Unless there are any labels over the screws, that you would need to break, how could they?

      I used to work in a shop where I was (maybe still am) warranty authorized on all IBM, Toshiba, Compaq, and Apple desktop/server/laptop/printer equipment. None of it, with the exception of some of the Compaq consumer desktop models, have any stickers or other physical
    • I don't know about apple, but I had an HP printer that they were serious when they said opening the case voided your waranty. Apparently they had dye packs in the case. Lots of fun.
  • It looks a lot like the manual on how to hook up my VCR!

    William

  • Here's a translation (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:09AM (#7017507)
    Here's a quick translation of the Japanese captions on the four pages of pictures:

    PAGE 1

    * The smallest and easiest to obtain model, the PowerBook G4.
    * Required tools: cross-slotted #00 screwdriver and 1/16" (1.5mm) hex wrench. An anti-static guard and a corner-beam (the small angled tool in the picture) are also good to have.
    * First, remove the battery. It's the same as the iBook's battery.
    * Unscrew the memory model's panel.
    * Remove the memory card. Be careful of static electricity.
    * Unscrew 8 screws from the side of the PowerBook.
    * In order to remove the screws beneath the keyboard, remove the F1, F2, F11 and F12 keys. It's best to use tweezers to pry the keys out from the bottom.
    * Peel off the seal concealing the screw.
    * Unscrew the two screws holding the keyboard in place.
    * The keyboard can now be removed, but be careful of the ribbon cable. The iBook and PowerBook G4/15 are the same in this regard.

    PAGE 2

    * Underneath the keyboard, top of case. The internals of the computer are still completely obscured, but there's an interesting magnet secured with electrical tape.
    * Peel off the aluminum tape and remove the keyboard connector. As in previous models, the keyboard is not meant to be removed easily by the user.
    * Remove the keyboard connector and the attached ribbon cable. Don't worry, the ribbon cable won't separate from the connector even if you do it wrong.
    * Peel off aluminum tape from two places and remove three connectors. If you neglect to do this it's possible you might break some wires when removing the top of the case later.
    * Remove screws in order: first, the 12 +-slotted hex screws. The screws are of different sizes, so be careful.
    * The top and bottom sections of the case are fastened with claw latches on the front left and right corners. Slide a credit card through the gap between the top and bottom sections and carefully unfasten the latches.
    * The latches securing the top and bottom sections. The picture shows the two places near the battery slot. The latches are made of resin and attached to the aluminum so they break easily.
    * A picture with the top case removed. You can see something resembling the iBook DualUSB port apparatus. The tape securing the cables casts a bit of doubt on the product quality...
    * Once disassembled to this point, it's possible to exchange the hard drive. It takes a while to get to this point, though.
    * The hard disk is secured with two screws so exchanging it is easy. All you need to do is remove the left and right hard disk fasteners and you're done.

    PAGE 3

    * Made by Toshiba.
    * The modem can be removed, but the cabling is a bit convoluted so just leave it as is.
    * Remove the huge heatsink. The spring-loaded fastener screw makes it a bit of a struggle! Must have been a missed deadline in manufacturing...
    * Heatsink and cooling fan. The cooling pipe is well-connected to the fan so the cooling efficiency should be really good.
    * Now we've gotten to the motherboard. The wiring here is especially tricky and convoluted.
    * Removing the frame from above the motherboard. Be careful of the differences in screw sizes.
    * The frame is removed.
    * The motherboard is attached to the bottom of the case by 3 screws.
    * Remove the motherboard by pulling diagonally.
    * Remove the cable coming from the back of the LCD from its connector.

    PAGE 4

    * The front of the motherboard.
    * The back of the motherboard.
    * The bottom of the case and the combo-drive. The construction here makes it very difficult to completely disassemble everything. Too bad...
    * The power supply is on a separate circuit board. It fits the design of the motherboard well. One difference from the iBook is the four screws securing this board.
    * The heatsink and fan are attached to the motherboard by five screws. The middle two are special spring-loaded screws.
    * The power-saving mode circuit.
    * The back of the top of the case. It's eas

  • Yikes (Score:4, Interesting)

    by joel8x ( 324102 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @10:16AM (#7017542) Homepage
    I'm not crazy about the fact that the hard drive is directly under the trackpad - some people like to tap the pad instead of using the button. I can imagine that taping while the drive heads are reading/writing could turn out disastrous!

    Then again, I'm sure they put some sort of safeguard in place to prevent that from happening (I hope).

    • Dude, it's a laptop hard drive... how hard are you tapping that poor trackpad?
    • How hard do you "tap"??
      • I don't enable clicking on the trackpad, I just know people who do, and just like people who slam on the enter key when they are either angry or showing off, there are people who tap hard. These are the same people who slam on elevator buttons relentlessly even though its already lit. In fact, the guy who sits in the cube next to mine killed his Thinkpad's hard drive because Windows locked up and he kept slamming the space bar to get it to work. The thing blue screened and never booted again. We sent it

    • Re:Yikes (Score:2, Informative)

      by bash_jeremy ( 703211 )
      The 15" TiBooks also have the hard drive under the trackpad, so I don't think it has been much of a problem.
  • He said dual blowers. Huh huh, that's pretty cool.

    Whoa! Heh heh. Yeah.

  • Nothing to do on Sunday? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You got the perfect strip dance for geeks! Would you like a lap dance from an IBM Z990?

  • g5! (Score:2)

    by simpl3x ( 238301 )
    open up a g5 case... it's amazingly clean! it looks like a lab or a ferrari engine compartment. i love the lian-li cases, but these put everything else to shame. as with all things mac, ymmv.

  • Mirror (Score:3, Informative)

    by Door-opening Fascist ( 534466 ) <skylar@cs.earlham.edu> on Sunday September 21, 2003 @01:23PM (#7018842) Homepage
    The server looks like it's getting slow. Herer's some mirrors:

    Mirror #1: HTML [dhs.org] PDF [dhs.org]

    Mirror #2: HTML [earlham.edu] PDF [earlham.edu]

    Mirror #3: HTML [earlham.edu] PDF [earlham.edu]

  • ...it was spelled Japanese. Note the capital, too.

  • processor details (Score:2, Informative)

    by madbeaner ( 568435 )
    MacRumors [macrumors.com] notes that Kodawrisan was able to identify [macrumors.com] the G4 as a 7447 (despite Apple hinting at it being a 7457). It seems the only difference between the two is that the 7457 supports an L3 cache (which was noticeably absent from the new PowerBooks and attributed to a new architecture)

  • iMac internals. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Oscar_Wilde ( 170568 ) on Sunday September 21, 2003 @11:43PM (#7022122) Homepage
    Bah! Packing square parts into square cases isn't all that interesting.

    Putting square parts into dome shaped cases [yumimac.com] is more exciting.

    Why is all the good step-by-step disassembly stuff in Japanese?
  • someone's field stripped and reassembled a laptop. Woohoo!

    If this was an Intel-based machine, no-one would give a toss...

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