The M4 MacBook Pro’s speakers are a lot easier–and cheaper–to fix

Apple gets a lot of grief about its products being difficult to repair, but the company is showing a few signs of addressing the issue. The latest involves the MacBook Pro with Pro and Max chips. Apple now has available individual speaker parts for these laptops, which means that if the speakers break, they can be replaced without having to replace other components.

Macrumors reports that a memo distributed to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers this week says Apple is offering standalone speaker repair parts for the first time in nearly a decade. This should make repairs easier to do, cutting down on service time and costs. In MacBook Pro models before Apple silicon, the whole top case of the MacBook Pro had to be replaced if a speaker needed repair. That meant that a customer had to pay for replacing parts that didn’t need to be replaced, which made the repair expensive.

It’s not clear why Apple is only beginning to offer the new parts now since it doesn’t just apply to M4 MacBooks. Nor do we know if the new speaker assembly will come to the MacBook Air with its own M4 upgrade next year.

The speaker repair manual is available online, so third-party repair shops can do the fix, along with the Apple Store. However, the speaker repair is far from simple, so if you need to do this, you might be better off having a service technician do it.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4)

Price When Reviewed: $1,599 | $1,799 | $1,999

Best Prices Today: $1,399 at Amazon$1399 at Best Buy$1474 at Walmart Electronics

Read our full Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) review

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro)

Price When Reviewed: $1,999 | $2,399

Best Prices Today: $1,749 at Amazon$1749 at B&H$1799 at Best Buy

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Max)

Price When Reviewed: $3,199

Best Prices Today: $2,899 at Amazon$2899 at Best Buy$2929 at Walmart Electronics

Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro)

Price When Reviewed: $2,499 | $2,899

Best Prices Today: $2,199 at Amazon$2199 at B&H$2199 at Best Buy

Read our full Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) review

Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Max)

Price When Reviewed: $3,499 | $3,999

Best Prices Today: $2599 at B&H$2599 at Best Buy$2664 at Walmart Electronics