Gadgetory

Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina display is one of the most powerful and portable laptops on the market and it screens pretty nice too but in today's episode of cracking open I'll show you why it's also nearly impossible to upgrade a real pain to work on and lacks what many consider an essential Pro feature there's a lot to like on the retina MacBook Pro it's thinner and lighter than the traditional MacBook Pro it has two USB 3 ports and a full size HDMI port it sports an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor and an Nvidia GT 650 M graphics chip and as its name implies it has a gorgeous 2880 by 1800 resolution Retina display unfortunately as I mentioned in the intro all of these positives are offset by some serious negatives for starters this is the first MacBook Pro with pentalobe case screws you know those annoying tamper resistant screws used on the MacBook Air and iPhone 4s Apple doesn't want you inside this machine and once I popped off the back cover that's all why unlike the standard macbook pro which is designed to be upgraded and serviced by you should you so choose the retina macbook pro isn't how so let's start with the battery instead of being a single removable unit each cell is glued to the machines case this makes the battery nearly impossible to remove without damaging it or the components underneath it also means you can't get to the components under it like the trackpad the situation doesn't really get any better when we look at the motherboard there's a proprietary solid-state drive which means you won't be able to swap it out for a larger third-party one and the RAM is soldered to the motherboard so you won't be upgrading that either and if all this wasn't enough Apple also dropped two features that set the MacBook Pro apart from the thinner but less professional MacBook Air and Ethernet port and optical drive now I don't think losing the optical five will angered mini Pro fans I have an optical drive on my 2011 pro and can't remember the last time I used it but the Ethernet port is another matter when I asked tech Republic members if they or their co-workers still needed machines with an Ethernet port a resounding 88 percent said yes sure you can use a thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter but that's one more thing you need to buy and carry honestly this new machine is more like a MacBook Air than a MacBook Pro and as such you'll need to plan your purchase carefully it may be pricey but make sure you buy all the RAM storage and processing power you'll need for the life of the machine now as of this taping Apple still sells traditional 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros Ethernet ports optical drives and all but I can't imagine they'll keep both pro lines around for very long once the price of solid-state drives and the Retina display are low enough all MacBook Pros will probably look like this one at least until all that hardware will fit into an air for more information on the retina macbook pro including performance and battery life benchmark tests check out Dan Ackerman's full CNET review and to see more teardown photos and remind full hardware analysis go to TechRepublic comm forward slash cracking / i'm build that wallet thanks for watching