MacBook & iMac repair
Won’t turn on, screen, battery, keyboard, liquid damage, SSD and RAM upgrades.
Mac laptop · 2020
Repairing a MacBook Air M1 in Barcelona: soldered memory and data
Apple’s first Mac with its own processor was also the one that shut the door on upgrades for good. It is worth understanding what that means before you need to.
4,6 out of 5 · 138 reviews on GoogleRepair quirk
The memory is not on the board: it is in the chip
On the M1, what Apple calls unified memory sits inside the same package as the processor, right beside the chip itself. It is not soldered to the board the way it was on Intel Macs: it is part of the processor. The eight or sixteen gigabytes you chose at purchase are what that computer will have for as long as it exists.
Storage is separate but just as closed: the flash memory chips are soldered to the board and paired with the secure part of the M1. The consequence is the same as on T2 Macs: if the board dies, the files stay inside and the only route is getting it to boot again just long enough to copy them.
None of this makes the M1 a bad computer; quite the opposite, it ages very well. What changes is where the risk sits: not in wear, but in accidents. A glass of water over the keyboard has bigger consequences here than on a laptop from ten years ago.
Where all this comes from
What we see most on this model
Liquid over the keyboard
The most serious failure on this model, because it hits the board where everything lives. Come in as fast as you can, without powering it on or charging it, and there is far more to save.
Broken or stained display
A knock on the lid or something left inside when it closed. It is a contained repair that touches neither the board nor the storage.
It runs out of drive space
There is no internal upgrade, so the answer is an external USB-C drive and a tidy-up of the photo library. We point you in the right direction at no cost.
Before you bring it in
Time Machine, better today than tomorrow
It is the dullest advice and the most profitable on a machine like this. A cheap external drive is worth every data recovery we might not be able to perform.
You choose the memory exactly once
If you are thinking of buying one second hand, check the memory first: it is the one spec on the machine that can never be changed.
The service this belongs to
This page digs into one specific model. If you want the full picture of what we do with this family of devices, start here:
Similar models with their own page
MacBook Pro 13″ (Intel) 2018–2020
With the T2 the SSD is soldered and encrypted, and Apple dropped the port that rescued data.
MacBook Air 13″ (no Retina)
It is the last MacBook Air with a socketed SSD: it can genuinely be upgraded.
Frequently asked questions
Can the memory on an M1 be increased?
No, and it is not a question of tools: the memory sits inside the same package as the processor. Anyone offering to expand it is offering to change the whole board, which is a different thing.
What if it got wet and still turns on?
Switch it off and bring it in anyway. Liquid keeps working under the components for days, and plenty of machines that were still running arrive too late because someone waited for a complete failure.
Can data be recovered from a dead M1?
It depends on whether the board can be revived, because the storage is soldered and tied to the secure part of the chip. We open it, measure it and tell you the odds before you decide to go on.
Shall we take a look?
Tell us what’s wrong and we’ll tell you what it is, what it costs and how long it takes. No obligation, and the initial diagnosis is free.
4,6 out of 5 · 138 reviews on GoogleCarrer de Fontanella, 14, bajos · 08010 Barcelona — or drop by Fontanella 14, next to Plaça Catalunya