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I have a working 24-inch iMac (yes from back when they made those) and I can still do work on it, so I don't get how it's "obsolete" aside from it not having the latest version of High Sierra. Or is Greenpeace just complaining that Apple doesn't do EVEN MORE to support their users aside from years-long software support, great service with repairs, and an entire recycling system?



This. This. 1000 times THIS.
One broken 4 dollar fan, and the whole machine is garbage after void warranty. Because you can buy a similar second hand machine with the money you'd give to the maintenance company.
 
Translation:

Members of Greenpeace basically want to repair their own phones on the cheap rather than pay an Apple technician :p
 
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I miss the days when these guys would chain themselves to trees.

A blog score of products just isn't as revolutionary freedom fighter.
 
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Since when does lack of repairability mean planned obsolescence?

I mean they definitely have a direct link. I have much older macs that I've upgraded ram and storage to SSD, and they run great still.

Imagine if you could buy a laptop, and then 2 years later add more ram or just easily swap out a harddrive! Ground breaking I know, but that takes a lot of courage.

I'm not going to rail on Apple and expect everything to be easily replaced, but ram, harddrives, and batteries should be easy to swap out or upgrade at a minimum.
 
That's not necessarily planned obsolescence. Your device is older while technology and software are improving, eventually newer software versions that are designed to take advantage of the improvements on newer devices will become too much to handle. It's happened to me as well but can't blame a manufacturer for making more powerful devices.

If Apple provided security updates for the older device instead of forcing to update to a slow, next gen iOS, maybe so. But because they wont, and they kind of guide people to update their devices... to an update that practically cripples the device.

I learned my lesson and will backup the every device always before an update. Just in case, if it holds a poison pill from Apple.
 
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But Apple showed plans to recycle every once of e-waste they generate, how about the other companies?
But if you didn't have to recycle those parts so often if Apple (and others) did not build planned obsolescence into their products
 
If Apple provided security updates for the older device instead of forcing to update to a slow, next gen iOS, maybe so. But because they wont, and they kind of guide people to update their devices... to an update that practically cripples the device.

I learned my lesson and will backup the every device always before an update. Just in case, if it holds a poison pill from Apple.

This is fair, I give you that. Ultimately iDevices have become more than entertainment and as some markets require older devices at lower prices Apple has gotten better with this lately. Whether that's because the base chips of say an iPhone 5S are now better in comparison to a then 3-4 year old phone or purely out of financial interest is up for discussion. Might well be a bit of both.

And yeah as you said, backing up is always a good idea regardless of whether an update will run fast or not. Can always go wrong somewhere.
 
These kinds of reports are good as they show people still care about upgrading their hardware some years down the road when it starts to get a little slower, instead of replacing it completely - especially at a time when hardware is kept for longer than ever (or sold, used again by someone else).

I think Apple is starting to correct some of the moves made in a planned obsolescence direction; for example, the soldered CPU & RAM in the 2015 21.5" iMacs which brought no consumer-facing benefit whatsoever. Really hoping the 2017 Mac mini makes a return to upgradable RAM as well.
 
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The simple truth is that most people use their electronics until they break and then they buy new ones. When your phone is 4 years old you might sell it if it still works but when it breaks you just buy a new one because for the price of a repair you could get a much better new phone. Same with laptops and most consumer electronics.

That top spec 5 year old laptop will have a rubbish processor, ram, hd and gfx compared to a new entry level laptop. Either you know how to repair it yourself and spend the time, money and effort to repair it or you send it off for someone else to do it. Is that worth doing or do you just replace it?

Yes there are plenty of people making a 10 year old mac work for them but they aren't serious users or they wouldn't be satisfied with and outdated OS on a slow machine.
 
It would be really great if Greenpeace could get back to ocean oriented activism. The amount of plastics in our oceans will soon be greater than the amount of fish. Meanwhile, we go through 5 billion plastic straws, branded plastic cups from Starbucks McDonald's, plastic bottles from all supermarkets. Come on Green branded plastic cups from Coke Starbucks McDonald's, plastic bottles from all supermarkets. Come on green Peace. Don't piggyback on the best of all electronics companies when it comes to recycling. There are polluting brands that have a lot to answer for, that do a lot of actual immediate harm. Apple just happens not to be one of them.
 
Meanwhile I just replaced the battery (which was also a replacement from the original) in my father in law's iPhone 3GS. Yes the 3GS, still runs iOS 6 quite nicely and does everything he wants it to do. I have a 3GS still in part time use as well and when maintained they still run just like the did back in the day. Just saying.
 
I mean they definitely have a direct link. I have much older macs that I've upgraded ram and storage to SSD, and they run great still.

Imagine if you could buy a laptop, and then 2 years later add more ram or just easily swap out a harddrive! Ground breaking I know, but that takes a lot of courage.

I'm not going to rail on Apple and expect everything to be easily replaced, but ram, harddrives, and batteries should be easy to swap out or upgrade at a minimum.

1000x this.

I can't believe Apple is selling Macbook Pro 15" 2017 at $2399 with soldered 256GB SSD.

A Pro machine with soldered storage that you can't upgrade when it fills up fast. If that's not planned obsolescence I don't know what is.
 
And no word about the software. Every obsolete iToy has been crippled with an software update, and therefore became pain to use. I was a happy iPad 3 user with 7.1 version, but after 8.xx and especially 9.xx it became so slow that it wasn't pleasant to use anymore. And if you didn't backup your device with the older iOS, there's no way back. That is planned obsolescence.

What about posting proof of that?

APFS, for example, introduced in iOS 10.3, and the vast majority of users said there were speed improvements, and more free space.

When I had my Pentium III 800Mhz back in 1999/2000 with a 5400rpm HDD, I though that thing was fast as hell. The perception of "speed" changes with times.
 
Beware of Greenpeace’s bias against Apple. It seems like their higher-ups have an agenda specifically against Apple. Years back, I was a regular contributor to their cause, with an automatic monthly amount taken from my bank account… until it became evident that they were unfairly targeting Apple above all other companies. That’s when I called them to cancel my automatic donations.
 
Yeah, right.
As if nothing had improved over the years.
"..while consumers keep them for just a few years": People keep their stuff much longer today than they did only a couple of years ago. Consumer electronics have reached a level of only incremental updates, where it doesn't matter so much anymore if you have the latest and greatest or a still working and fast device from a couple years back.

So attacking Apple is not right in this case.
Problem is, Apple is a prominent target.

Couldn't agree with you more, especially about people keeping their stuff much longer these days. Ref the list of devices I still use in my signature block. Some are pushing 8 and 9 years! My iPhone is closing in on 4 years!
 
Whats the purpose of this, its not going to change how Apple or Microsoft builds their products, it'll just show other manufactures that its ok to produce them this way. It also doesn't help me as a consumer, I'm still going to buy what I want, and if I was the type of consumer that repairability was a deciding factor, then I would be the type of consumer to do my own research into the device.

And as far as recyclability goes, Apple has a whole system for recycling their products and is one of the best for environment.
I assume the purpose is to prevent people who still don't have a strong opinion on the matter from developing one like yours. :) aka. making people understand that repairability matters.
 
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Conversely, the brands abiding by Greenpeace's repairability mantra included Fairphone, Dell, and HP, which all had products rated at 10/10 on the campaign's scale.

Ahahahahhaha!

Fairphone 2 has Android 6.0, which is 2 years old. Completely outdated operating system, with HUNDREDS of secruity holes.

Tell me, Greenpeace, how am I supposed to use a phone that is completely insecure, and can have access to my photos, my precise location, my work files, my e-mails, my credit card number, my eBanking software, etc?

If it doesn't have security updates, it is obsolete, and it doesn't work, I'm not going to call an Uber, or use E-mail in a device that can have malware and send my credit card number to criminals!

I could go on and on for the other manufacturers.

While an iPhone 5s, will still go on updated for another year, and currently, there are currently exactly Z-E-R-O (0) publicly known vulnerabilities for it!

This is plain ridiculous, they just want money to shut up!
 
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I would guess many people here have never actually tried to do repairs or looked at what makes ifixit unhappy with repairability. It has little to do with thinness. Apple likes to glue everything together; especially displays. There is no reason screws couldn't be used. Regular screws, not weird pentalobe screws.

The next stupid thing Apple has done is soldered SSD to the board. Dumb. Really really dumb.
 
Greenpeace upgrades their computers all the time. I'd introduce pot to kettle but it's Greenpeace. They're on everyone's case while never looking at their own actions.
 
This is the foolhardy hypocrisy of all these mega-corps who pretend to care about the environment. Though repairability is important to some, it is hardly the real issue behind planned obsolescence. The true culprit is the incremental micro-updates that are put out along with minute design changes coupled with marketing plans intended to make people think their devices, appliances, autos, etc., are no longer what they should be, leaving people with the feeling that if they are going to 'measure up' in this world, they need the latest and greatest. The 'gotta-have-more' mentality has infected most of us, and it's marketed to us on a minute-by-minute basis.
 
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