iFixit has completed its third teardown of the new MacBook Pro models, following the entry-level and Touch Bar 13-inch units with the top-of-the-range 15-inch version. The tl;dr is that the machine’s innards are almost identical to the 13-inch model.

One interesting find, also present in the smaller version, is a ‘connector to nowhere’: a port on the logic board that isn’t connected to anything. Comments on the previous teardown speculate that this might be to pull data from the soldered-in SSD …

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I don’t generally bother with AppleCare. My usual view is that, like any other extended warranty, it offers poor value for money. You’re paying a lot of money upfront for coverage you’ll likely never need.

Most Mac faults are going to make themselves known well inside the first year of standard Apple warranty coverage. The likelihood of a major fault occurring in the interval between the standard warranty expiring and AppleCare doing the same is very low. (There’s an additional factor at play in the EU, which I’ll get to later as it won’t be relevant to U.S. readers.)

But I am opting for it this time. Because the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is not only non-upgradable, but also pretty much non-repairable …

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Apple’s new design book ‘Designed by Apple in California’ is now on sale for $199/$299 at Apple Stores in a handful of countries — and it has already become the joke of Stephen Colbert’s late night TV show. In the fake Apple ad, the video mixes real shots of the actual book and shots of mock Apple executives, creating a pretty hilarious parody.

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Seemingly neglected with the latest round of Mac refreshes are Apple’s desktop offerings. While the MacBook Pro was dramatically overhauled this year with a new design, faster internals, an all-new Touch Bar, and more, the desktop offerings, specifically the Mac mini and Mac Pro, were left untouched.

In fact, while the iMacs were last updated a little over a year ago, it has been since 2014 when the Mac mini saw even a speed bump and you have to go back over 1000 days to 2013 when the Mac Pro was updated with Apple VP of Marketing Phil Schiller rather ironically saying “can’t innovate anymore my ass.”

Apple’s inattention in this area has left many to question whether or not either standalone Mac has a future or if Apple could push the less lucrative desktop business into the hands of another company. Doing so could keep Apple’s customers happy and offer significant time and monetary incentives for Apple…

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Apple today has launched a new repair program for iPhone 6 Plus users affected by the widely reported on “Touch Disease” hardware flaw. This flaw centers around an iPhone’s display becoming unresponsive and displaying a thin gray flickering line along the top.

As part of the new repair program, Apple will repair affected devices for a flat service price of $149.

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Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has slowly been making its way into the hands of consumers gradually over the past week and many have already started to offer up their opinions on the new machine. While the new Touch Bar models first hit retail stores earlier this week, they are now available for pickup in store via Apple’s website, as well.

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Upthere is a relatively new cloud service created in part by ex-OS X chief Bertrand Serlet, and the company has a special promotion kicking off today. The company is partnering with ScanMyPhotos.com to give away 1000 free 4×6 photo scans for Upthere customers.

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Target Disk Mode isn’t a new technology, but the fact that you can now transfer files using Thunderbolt 3 is new. Target Disk Mode allows you to quickly share files between two MacBook Pros using Thunderbolt 3. Watch our video walk-through as we guide you through the process step-by-step. more…

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Wondering what adapter or cable you need to connect your display to your new MacBook Pro’s USB-C ports? Apple this afternoon published an updated support document offering specifics on requirements for connecting 4K and 5K external displays to its new MacBook Pro models, including supported adapters and cables for Thunderbolt, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, and other connections.

Apple notably unveiled new LG UltraFine monitors alongside its new MacBook Pros that use USB-C to connect to the new machines. But we’ve been getting a lot of questions from users about specifics on requirements for cables and adapters necessary to drive certain displays at 4K and 5K resolutions at 60 Hz refresh rate.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Apple has just shared a new TV commercial to its YouTube page, called ‘Bulbs’. The ad shows a series of lightbulbs exploding around the world, ending with a tag line ‘Ideas push the world forward’ and a few short shots of the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

The ad highlights human inventions like fire, harvesting, woodwork, trains, transport, television, robots and space travel, finishing with a few glimpses of Apple’s newest MacBook Pro which it calls “a tool for all the ideas to come”. Watch the minute and a half spot after the jump …

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