MacBook Pro’s glowing Apple logo has a costly secret
Apple‘s first touchscreen MacBook Pro has undergone a detailed teardown by iFixit, revealing how the company redesigned its display, revived the illuminated Apple logo and made several changes to internal components.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR features a tandem OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 2,000 nits. Despite adding touch controls, Apple has reduced the laptop’s weight to 1.38 kg, around 170 grams less than the standard M6 model.
One of the biggest mysteries was the glowing Apple logo, which disappeared from MacBooks years ago. Older models used light from the LCD backlight to illuminate the emblem, but the new OLED screen has no such backlight.
Instead, Apple installed four small LEDs behind the display. A reflective layer and diffuser spread their light evenly across the logo, which has a mirror-like finish when switched off.
Getting to those LEDs proved considerably more difficult. The iFixit team damaged the OLED panel while trying to separate it from the lid, suggesting that repairing the illuminated emblem alone could be expensive.
How repairable is the new MacBook Pro?
The laptop received five out of 10 points for repairability, one point more than last year’s MacBook Pro M5.
Replacing the entire display assembly is relatively straightforward, and iFixit successfully swapped the motherboard between two devices without losing touchscreen functionality or Touch ID. The previous generation had encountered fingerprint sensor calibration problems during similar testing.
However, replacing a faulty cooling fan or USB-C port still requires removing the motherboard. The HDMI port, SD card reader, memory and storage are soldered in place, limiting repair options.
The teardown also revealed how Apple reduced the laptop’s weight. Its aluminium lower chassis shed 92 grams, while the display assembly became 101 grams lighter. Battery capacity remains close to the standard model at 72.6Wh.
Under a microscope, the researchers found that the OLED panel uses larger blue subpixels than red or green ones. This design can reduce stress on the blue emitters, which generally wear out faster.
The MacBook Pro PROLED XDR starts at $2,899 internationally.
