Magic Trackpad dissected; repair infeasible

July 30, 2010 · Print This Article

The good folks at iFixIt have taken apart the new Apple Magic Trackpad to see what makes it tick, or should I say “go?” In the process they observed that Apple’s obsession with thin designÂ doesn’t translate well to “user serviceable,” noting that the Magic Trackpad has few parts that can be replaced without potentially destroying the whole device.

Yes, the device was sacrificed in the name in science, but the conclusion is a raft of photos that show the inner workings of one of Apple’s most interesting accessories since the Magic Mouse. In addition to the teardown, they’ve plus postedÂ a video slideshow.

Some observations:

Repairing the components might be infeasible
They were impressed by everything Apple’s engineers managed to stuff into the Trackpad.
This is one of the few Apple products where the battery is user serviceable.
The battery screw has square ths! While square ths have the highest mechanical efficiency of all lead screws, their difficulty of manufacturing makes them prohibitive for most applications. Kudos, Apple, for sweating the details.
After a good amount of quasi-non-destructive prying, the inner spacer can be removed from the trackpad. that spacer prevents the highly unlikely event of squeezing the lower panel against the logic board hard decent to damage it.
The ribbon cables are ridiculously

thin and are stuck to the underside of the touch pad. whether you plan on servicing your Trackpad, proceed with caution.
After using a heat gun to warm up the adhesive, the touch pad can be carefully pried off the aluminum chassis. that step is not for the faint of heart. A copious amount of heat, guitar picks, and plastic opening tools were needed to form the touch pad budge.
The Magic Trackpad has a rare way of triggering the mouse button. As you press down on the top surface of the pad, the two rubber feet near its front edge push on a plate attached to the chassis. The plate squeezes the electronic mouse button switch, producing the characteristic “visit.”
At the heart of the Magic Trackpad’s logic board lies a Broadcom BCM2042 for Bluetooth connectivity — the same chip used by the Magic Mouse.
We plus found a Broadcom BCM5974 touch screen controller chip that provides multi-touch functionality. that is the same chip you’ll find in the iPhone, iPod Touch, and MacBook Air.