Macbook Pro 13 Retina Display Early 2015 Heat Sink Replacement Repair Guide

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

                          10 minutes - 1 hour

Sections

Lower Case
3 steps
Battery Connector
3 steps
Heat Sink
4 steps

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BackMacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015
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Introduction

Don’t forget to follow our thermal paste application guide after you have removed your heat sink.

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case

Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
Two 2.3 mm P5 Pentalobe screws
Eight 3.0 mm P5 Pentalobe screws
Throughout this repair, keep track of each screw and make sure it goes back exactly where it came from to avoid damaging your device.

Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:

Two 2.3 mm P5 Pentalobe screws

Eight 3.0 mm P5 Pentalobe screws

Throughout this repair, keep track of each screw and make sure it goes back exactly where it came from to avoid damaging your device.

1024

Step 2

Wedge your fingers between the upper case and the lower case.
Gently pull the lower case away from the upper case to remove it.

Wedge your fingers between the upper case and the lower case.

Gently pull the lower case away from the upper case to remove it.

Step 3

The lower case is connected to the upper case with two plastic clips near its center.
During reassembly, gently push down the center of the lower case to reattach the two plastic clips.

The lower case is connected to the upper case with two plastic clips near its center.

During reassembly, gently push down the center of the lower case to reattach the two plastic clips.

Step 4

              Battery Connector

If necessary, remove the plastic cover adhered to the battery contact board.

If necessary, remove the plastic cover adhered to the battery contact board.

Step 5

Use the flat end of a spudger to lift the battery connector straight up out of its socket on the logic board.
Be sure you lift up only on the connector itself, not the socket, or you risk permanent damage to the logic board.

Use the flat end of a spudger to lift the battery connector straight up out of its socket on the logic board.

Be sure you lift up only on the connector itself, not the socket, or you risk permanent damage to the logic board.

Step 6

Bend the battery connector up out of the way to prevent accidental contact with its socket during your repair.

Bend the battery connector up out of the way to prevent accidental contact with its socket during your repair.

Step 7

              Heat Sink

Carefully remove the rubber fan bumper from the edge of the heat sink.
The fan bumper wraps around the heat sink and fits into slots in the fan duct. During reassembly, be sure to fit the tabs into the notches in the fan duct.

Carefully remove the rubber fan bumper from the edge of the heat sink.

The fan bumper wraps around the heat sink and fits into slots in the fan duct. During reassembly, be sure to fit the tabs into the notches in the fan duct.

Step 8

Use the flat end of a spudger to peel the four foam stickers off of the heat sink screws.

Use the flat end of a spudger to peel the four foam stickers off of the heat sink screws.

Step 9

Remove the following screws securing the heat sink to the logic board:
One 2.7 mm T5 screw (silver)
Four T5 screws (black)

Remove the following screws securing the heat sink to the logic board:

One 2.7 mm T5 screw (silver)

Four T5 screws (black)

Step 10

Remove the heat sink from the laptop.
When reassembling your computer, follow our thermal paste application guide to reapply the thermal paste.

Remove the heat sink from the laptop.

When reassembling your computer, follow our thermal paste application guide to reapply the thermal paste.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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                                                                                      53 other people completed this guide.

Author

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                    Andrew Optimus Goldheart

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Walid Shraim - Jun 15, 2018

what part should i purchae to get the rubber fan bumper?

Merlin Calvez-Martinez - Apr 23, 2020

Bonjour !

Merci pour ce tutoriel de qualité ! Pour la pâte thermique, j’ai opté pour la Grizzly Kryonaut… Un peu overkill pour un MBP 13” de 2015, mais cela devrait contribuer à sa longévité !

Une remarque cependant : sur mon modèle, la vis en ROUGE de l’ETAPE 9 n’était pas une Torx T5, mais une Y00 ! Cela ne m’a pas posé de problème car j’avais le kit complet de tournevis, mais cela l’aurait été si je n’avais acheté qu’un P5 et un T5 ! Faites attention !

Bonne continuation !

PS: si certains doutent de leurs capacités à réaliser cette opération, sachez que je suis grand débutant en informatique et que je n’ai eu AUCUN problème. La partie la plus ardue étant le retrait du connecteur de la batterie !

Ming Lee - Aug 26, 2020

Used this guide to pop the heat sink and scrape off the old thermal paste. Cleaned and re-applied with new paste, hopefully leading to better thermal performance. One thing I noticed is that the heatsink doesn’t cover the second module (presumed to be the integrated GPU) next to the CPU? Perhaps this is why thermal performance is so abysmal on these little guys.

Daniel Korzhenevich - Aug 19, 2021

In my MacBook Pro, the screw in step 9 that is farthest away from the CPU is a Philips screw, rather than T5 Torx.

I bought my MacBook Pro in 2016, over a year after it came out, so this might be different depending on when yours was manufactured.

rick - Oct 7, 2021

What is the 4 screw size of heatsink? mine are stripped, need to buy new 4

Introduction#

What you need#

Team#

Introduction

What you need

Team