Apple now offers parts and self-repair manuals for M4 Mac lineup

AppleInsider

If you're the type who prefers to take their repairs into their own hands, Apple now offers the parts and manuals required to repair the M4 MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini.

Self-repair enthusiasts can now order parts for M4 Macs, like the Mac mini

In April 2022, Apple launched its self-repair program, after years of encouraging customers to seek out professional, authorized repairs. While the program wasn't well received by right-to-repair advocates at launch, it still gives owners the option to try their hand at repairs.

This week, Apple has added the M4 Mac lineup to its repair page, spotted by MacRumors. Apple includes an exploded view and a list of part numbers in the repair page manual for each device.

It also includes a list of tools one should have on hand before they attempt the repair. While some of these tools are fairly standard, there's a fair chance that for some Macs, like the MacBook Pro, customers may need to order or rent some of the more specialized tools.

Ordering parts and tools can be done via the Self Service Repair Store. Apple is keen to point out that this store is operated by a third-party provider authorized by Apple to sell genuine parts and tools.

If a part is being ordered from Apple following a user's self-diagnosis, the customer places the order for the parts and tools using a special online store. Consumers will have to return "core" parts the same as repair shops do, to receive a credit towards the initial part purchase price.

The complexity of repair work, and the high cost of the parts, means that Apple's Self Service Repair program remains not practical for most individuals. As expensive as going to an authorized Apple repairer can be, that will remain the most economic route in terms of cost, time, and the risk of damaging devices further.

Macs aren't the only thing you can repair, either. Apple has offered repair documentation for iPhone starting with the iPhone 12 lineup through current models.

Visiting the self-service repair hub page also shows that Apple has provided repair documents for the Apple Studio Display, as well as the 2024 Beats Pill. Currently, there are no repair documents for accessories like the Magic Keyboard, Trackpad, or Mouse. Apple also does not provide documentation or parts for the Apple Vision Pro.



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suntanironman

Oh, cool. Just out of curiosity I looked at the repair manual for the 2024 Beats Pill. Looks simple enough. The battery is a bit on the expensive side though. I have no need to replace the Beats Pill battery anytime soon, but its good to know that it’s fairly-easy to do so (when the times comes). Doubly good to know because I’ve been considering whether or not I should purchase a second Beats Pill (for that “Amplify Mode” and that split audio “Stereo Mode”). Knowing that I can do the battery replacement myself in the future might be enough of a push to get me to buy that second one.

Seems to be a small mistake in the battery replacement instructions of the 2024 Beats Pill though. Part 4 says to “Remove the bottom cover to access the battery cover. Save the bottom cover for reassembly.” But the Part 4 picture instead shows someone scraping-off some adhesive (but the Part 4 text makes no mention of that).

Hopefully there aren’t any similar mistakes in the more-complicated Mac-related repairs. (More-complicated and more-costly if you do something wrong while following the instructions.) Despite the mistake in the Beats Pill text though, the pictures makes it clear as to what you should be doing.

Edit: Just contacted someone at Apple. Very helpful person. Maybe that’ll get fixed soon.

edited February 6

eriamjh

Sites like iFixit should be downloading for reference.   Too bad there’s not an all-in-one PDF (but I didn’t look too hard).  

yp101

Why bother to keep old machine. Apple products should be recycle every 3 years or so. 
If you Mac conntect to UPS for irregular electric flucuation, within 3 years there should be no problem.
Every 3 years Mac mini upgrade should give you 20-35% CPU bump. Perhapes Apple might bump SSD size to 512GB as base model.
I replace my M1 mini to M4 and Apple trade in pay me $300. So I pay only $299 for base model.

apple4thewin

YP101 said:

Why bother to keep old machine. Apple products should be recycle every 3 years or so. 
If you Mac conntect to UPS for irregular electric flucuation, within 3 years there should be no problem.
Every 3 years Mac mini upgrade should give you 20-35% CPU bump. Perhapes Apple might bump SSD size to 512GB as base model.
I replace my M1 mini to M4 and Apple trade in pay me $300. So I pay only $299 for base model.

Um, most people buy a product to last them 5+ years. Others will keep it until it can no longer run what they are using. So, in other words, they spend less in the long run.

suntanironman

YP101 said:

Why bother to keep old machine. Apple products should be recycle every 3 years or so. 
If you Mac conntect to UPS for irregular electric flucuation, within 3 years there should be no problem.
Every 3 years Mac mini upgrade should give you 20-35% CPU bump. Perhapes Apple might bump SSD size to 512GB as base model.
I replace my M1 mini to M4 and Apple trade in pay me $300. So I pay only $299 for base model.

You didn’t recycle your M1 for $300. You sold it (/traded it in) for $300. And the company (the company that is partnered with Apple) that bought your M1 for $300 did so because it expects to sell it to someone else for more than $300.

If everyone felt the way you do, there is no way you would have gotten $300 for your “old machine”. Why would anybody bother buying your old machine for $300, right?