A1989 and A2159
MacBook Pro 13 inch from 2018 and 2019
This is the first 13 inch with the T2 chip, and that single chip changes everything about what happens to your files when the board gives up.
What the T2 chip changes
From 2018 a second chip sits next to the processor: the T2. It handles storage, security, booting and the microphone. Your files are encrypted on the memory chips, and the key lives in that T2.
In practice that means memory chips without their own T2 are unreadable. If the board is replaced, everything is gone. If the board is repaired, everything is still there. On no other part is the gap between those two outcomes this wide.
What we see most often on this board
- It boots to the Apple logo then restarts, over and over
- An error about the startup disk while nothing seems wrong
- The screen stays black but you hear the fan kick in
- Keys that double up or stick
- It will not charge, or only on one port
- Liquid went over it and it still worked for a while after
How this board differs from the 2016 and 2017
Apple made the display cable slightly longer in 2018, so flexgate is less common here than on the A1706 and A1708. Less common, not never: we still see it, mainly on machines that have been opened and closed a great deal.
What did arrive is the T2 with its own way of failing. A board that keeps restarting, or refuses to boot with a disk error, is here more often a power problem around the T2 than a genuine storage fault. That is good news, because power problems can be repaired.
The keyboard is the third generation butterfly, with a membrane underneath to keep dust out. Better than 2016, still sensitive, and still built into the complete top case.
Prices
What it costs on this model.
| Repair | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Logic board, light | Charging chip, one component, one trace | €149 |
| Logic board, heavy | Short circuit, IC replaced, several traces | €229 |
| Work around the T2 | Power rails and control circuitry for the T2 repaired | €299 |
| Flexgate | Display cable replaced and routed with slack | €169 |
| Liquid damage | Ultrasonic cleaning, corrosion removed, repair | €299 |
| Data recovery | Temporary repair, or chips moved along with the T2 | from €349 |
On this model we never swap a board for convenience. That would take your files with it, and that is exactly what you do not want.
Your files
Your files and the T2, without the detour.
As long as the memory chips and the T2 from your own machine stay together, your files are still there. That is why our first move is always to get the board to boot once, however briefly. Often that is a matter of one power rail.
If that fails, the memory chips and the T2 go onto a test board together. That is precise work and it takes longer, but it is the reason we recover files where others say it cannot be done.
One caveat: if the drive was ever wiped or reinstalled, the encryption was set up afresh and the old files really are gone. No technique gets round that.
Questions about this model
Apple says my data cannot be saved. Is that right?
You hear that a lot, and it is right for the method used there: the board gets replaced and the files leave with the old one. It is not right if the board is repaired or the chips are moved. We look first and talk after.
It keeps restarting. Is that the drive?
Usually not. On this board a restart loop is more often a power problem around the T2 or the processor. An hour of measuring rules it out, and it is a good deal cheaper than what you are dreading.
Does this model have flexgate too?
Less than its predecessor, because the cable is a little longer. But we still see it. If you recognise the pattern where the image drops out as you open the lid further, just have it checked.
Read on
The repairs that apply to this board.
Next step
Files on it you cannot lose?
Say so with your request. Then we put data recovery first and only start on the repair after that.