Senior technical writer, photographer, and tinkerer at iFixit HQ in San Luis Obispo, California.
Like many folks here, I’ve been fixing things most of my life—cars, computers, time machines. (Wait, sorry—that last thing happens later.)
I joined iFixit in 2013 as a technical writer, working mainly on repair guides and teardowns. I later co-wrote a lot of the instructions for iFixit’s university technical writing project, and helped coach a few thousand engineering students from over 50 universities through their technical writing coursework. I’ve enjoyed being a guest lecturer and attending academic conferences on technical writing, and helped teach a few of iFixit’s in-house workshops for technical writing instructors.
If working at iFixit sounds awesome, that’s because frequently, it is—I’m grateful to have been at the right place and time to collaborate on some world-class projects with this team. Because of iFixit, I’ve helped Greenpeace create its guide to greener electronics, consulted on repairability for some of the world’s top hardware engineers, and written repair guides for Patagonia.
My wife Zan, seen here in a rare photograph that I’m allowed to share with the internet.
I’m naturally an introvert and prefer to stay behind the camera rather than in front of it, but sometimes accidents happen. My talking head has appeared on a few broadcast programs and podcasts, like that time we tore down a Magic Leap One. I’ve also appeared briefly in at least one VICE documentary, wherein I badly needed a haircut and hadn’t slept since two dinners ago.
VICE News chased us to Australia for our teardown of the iPhone X.
I do enjoy anonymously sharing my photos though, and they frequently pop up in the tech press. That’s one of the really fun aspects of this job—you never know when your work might help a technology journalist explain a battery problem, solve a waterproofing mystery, or break down a new laptop design.
In my free time I enjoy scuba diving and formulating trenchant ripostes that would have come in really handy when I needed them yesterday.
@gadgetuser The non-Touch Bar version has been reworked into what you see in this teardown—Apple reconfigured it and added a Touch Bar. In other words, all MacBook Pros now come with a Touch Bar. If you want a Touch Bar-less notebook computer new from Apple in 2019, the Retina MacBook Air is your only option.
That’s what the photos are for—providing a visual example. There are a million different implementations of ZIF connector out there, so it’s not possible to provide specific instructions for each one in a single guide. For that, you need to search for the guide for your specific device. Unfortunately, looking at your post history, it appears you attempted to do that, but the guide you were following (Nexus 6) mislabeled the battery connector as a ZIF connector. I’ve corrected the guide. Sorry for the trouble!
@br0k3nilluzion If your new display didn’t come with a front camera frame, you can (and should) remove the old one from your broken display and transfer it over. Use heat and careful wiggling/prying to remove it—and if it’s stubborn, add a few drops of isopropyl alcohol. Hope this helps!
@linx7 Make sure the speaker spring contacts are intact and clean. Give the four circular contacts on the ribbon cable a wipe with some IPA and try not to leave any skin oils on them. Double and triple-check to make sure the flex cables are connected and seated properly and that the sockets are clean. Double-check the insulating tape as explained in this step. If none of that works, something is damaged or defective—replace the entire sensor/cable assembly and try again. Good luck!
@mac_medic You definitely don’t want the power coming on while the board is wet. In your case, I think powering on the machine to disable Auto Boot would do more damage than it prevents. I agree, skip this step and be prepared to disconnect the battery quickly if the laptop automatically powers on. Good luck!
@lingerling The adhesive strip was introduced on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus (one model year later than what’s shown on this page). Guides specific to each model can be found here—be sure to use the correct one for your particular phone. And yes, just adhesive, no wires. ;)
As stated in the banner at the top of the page, these are not instructions and should not be used as such. If it’s instructions you’re after, we have those over here.
Discharging the battery all the way to zero does shorten the battery life slightly, but it’s necessary for a proper calibration. Without calibration, the 2% reading is kind of meaningless, since the system can’t get an accurate % reading until after calibration (that’s the whole point of calibration). I’d follow the iFixit instructions (which are also Apple’s instructions) and ignore whatever that battery vendor sent you. You can find more background on calibration here.
@pkansa Yes! Please take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler. Depending on where you live, local electronics or office supply stores may also accept old batteries for recycling.
@nick_transier The printed cards are a little out of date in that regard. The instructions in the guide are correct. (The printed version has been updated, but some kits were already packed with the old cards. Sorry about that.)
Sayfa 1 / 73
Sonraki