Neo-Classic: iFixit Crowns the MacBook Neo the King of Repairability
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While Australian YouTube channel TECH RE-NU beat iFixit to the punch by being the first to tear down the new MacBook Neo, that doesn’t make iFixit’s opinion about the new entry-level MacBook any less valid. iFixit has finally posted its teardown video and repairability analysis of the new MacBook.
We’ve seen several reports over the last week or so about the repairability of the new MacBook Neo. In addition to TECH RE-NU, several do-it-yourselfers and right-to-repairers have been optimistic about the the MacBook Neo’s repairability, using sources such as Apple’s official Neo repair manual.
Late last week, iFixit published its own teardown and repairability analysis of the MacBook Neo, and reported that the new budget-priced laptop is “the most repairable MacBook in fourteen years.”
From the get-go, iFixit was impressed that the Neo’s lower case is easily opened by hand, thanks to being held on by eight pentalobe screws, requiring no prying at all.
Once the MacBook Neo was opened, its internal components are easily visible and quite accessible. iFixit noted that the Neo offered easy access to the internal components, with the battery, speakers, trackpad and the USB-C ports all being easily accessible.
On most modern laptops, at least one of those parts is buried under something else. Here, Apple actually lets us see the stuff we need to.
iFixit was impressed by the easy removal of the battery in particular, noting that while other MacBooks’ batteries were either glued down or held in place by adhesive release strips, the Neo’s battery is screwed down to a tray — albeit with 18 screws. While the change in the battery mounting is mostly due to the EU’s upcoming battery regulations, which requires batteries to be user replaceable by mid-2027, it’s still a feature to be appreciated.
As iFixit’s teardown moves forward, working its way through removing multiple components such as USB-C connectors, speakers, and the logic board, iFixit remains pleased with the ease of the disassembly process.
Admittedly, when it came time to disassemble the keyboard, it required the removal of 41 screws to free it from its chassis bondage. However, iFixit is still happy about the ease of removing and replacing the keyboard, which can finally be done without changing out the entire top case.
The iFixit video also points out the similarities between the logic board of the MacBook Neo and the logic board in the iPhone 16 (the laptop is built on an A18 Pro, a mobile chip first used in the iPhone 16 Pro).
iFixit also points out that the Apple repair manual mentions an “an ambient light sensor cable” that isn’t actually present in the Neo, along with the mechanical design of the Neo’s trackpad, which appears in place of the Force Touch trackpad Apple has pushed since 2015.
Once iFixit completed that teardown voodoo that they do so well, it awarded the MacBook Neo a score of 6 out of 10 on its repairability scale (likely losing points for its remaining non-replaceable elements, like storage and RAM), making it “the most repairable MacBook in fourteen years.” You can watch the full video below.
