iBook HD Replacment Not Going Well...

[iMeowbot]

Part of Apple's design that really irks me is this discouraging of user upgrades. My brother's new (well, now a year old) 12" Dell laptop is ridiculously easy to upgrade RAM and HD. Those are the only two upgrades that I'm really interested in—the RAM isn't too bad to do...keyboard, airport, and RAM shield half to come out—but it's still too much. This hard drive upgrade is ridiculous.

Yeah, Apple like to go through stages with these things. They'll come up with one model that's ridiculously easy to service, then the next one is a nightmare. Lather, rinse, repeat, you never know if the designers or engineers will win each round.

 

[mkrishnan]

Yeah, Apple like to go through stages with these things. They'll come up with one model that's ridiculously easy to service, then the next one is a nightmare. Lather, rinse, repeat, you never know if the designers or engineers will win each round.

Is it true that all Dell notebook's HDs are easy to upgrade, including the compact notebooks like the 600m? The RAM on Mac notebooks is very easy to upgrade as well. I think that the difficulty in doing these upgrades is a tradeoff for the compact, smooth form-factor. The tradeoff of not being able to (easily) upgrade my HD is a good one for me in exchange for getting a computer that's as shapely as an iBook is.

 

[iMeowbot]

Is it true that all Dell notebook's HDs are easy to upgrade, including the compact notebooks like the 600m?

Beats me, I always went with ThinkPads on the PC side. The lengths IBM used to go to in order to make parts replacement easy was fascinating. Their desktops tended to be really good in that area too, it seemed to be a priority to take the FRU concept seriously.

The RAM on Mac notebooks is very easy to upgrade as well. I think that the difficulty in doing these upgrades is a tradeoff for the compact, smooth form-factor. The tradeoff of not being able to (easily) upgrade my HD is a good one for me in exchange for getting a computer that's as shapely as an iBook is.

It's good that they make it easy to get at (some of) the RAM across the board, but the HD and optical drives should be getting that consideration too since they're so prone to breakage. If they spent just a little more effort on routing cables and making them more comfortable lengths, planning the layering of fasteners and so on, they could make things so much easier without any serious difference in build cost or ruining Ive's precious little lines. They showed that they still know how to do that with the first iMac G5. They also showed that they still know how to screw it up with the new iSight models. Meh, I suppose it's better than the '90s when they couldn't seem to get any new products out the door.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Beats me, I always went with ThinkPads on the PC side. The lengths IBM used to go to in order to make parts replacement easy was fascinating. Their desktops tended to be really good in that area too, it seemed to be a priority to take the FRU concept seriously.

It's good that they make it easy to get at (some of) the RAM across the board, but the HD and optical drives should be getting that consideration too since they're so prone to breakage. If they spent just a little more effort on routing cables and making them more comfortable lengths, planning the layering of fasteners and so on, they could make things so much easier without any serious difference in build cost or ruining Ive's precious little lines. They showed that they still know how to do that with the first iMac G5. They also showed that they still know how to screw it up with the new iSight models. Meh, I suppose it's better than the '90s when they couldn't seem to get any new products out the door.

I'd like to see more user-serviceability, however I've seen MORE PCs need servicing than do Macs. Because the parts need servicing/replacing more often, they are designed to be serviced more often. That being said, with older Macs it is a pain to do some upgrades... the PowerMac 7100 is an example of this. (Remove motherboard to upgrade RAM)

 

[mkrishnan]

Beats me, I always went with ThinkPads on the PC side. The lengths IBM used to go to in order to make parts replacement easy was fascinating. Their desktops tended to be really good in that area too, it seemed to be a priority to take the FRU concept seriously.

Mmmm... sorry. The poster you had replied to had been talking about Dell computers.

 

[rosalindavenue]

All that being said, I'm pleased with how easy it is to work with the iMac G5s—my next HD upgrade will be there.

You can do this (I think) if you have a pre "built-in-isight" model. The new "built-in isight" revision abandons the user serviceability model: from the user manual:

Warning: Do not attempt to open your iMac G5. If your iMac G5 needs service, consult the service and support information that came with your computer for instructions about how to contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple for service. Your iMac G5 does not have any user-serviceable parts, except the memory.

To quote someone named Wade Smith, "User serviceability of the new iMacs has been almost totally eradicated- RAM is now the only user accessible part. Replacement procedures are also much more complicated, requiring a special new tool, a la the Mini."

I found this information here (scroll down)

So the laptop upgradability model has come to the imac g5-- just like the imac G4.

 

[lexfuzo]

Yeah, iBooks are obviously quite a bit more difficult to service compared with regular desktops, but that's just the nature of laptops.

Apple notebooks are especially unfriendly.
Did you ever service an IBM? - one screw to replace the RAM and three for the Harddisk.

 

[dblissmn]

I think Apple really needs to back off this thing with restricting access. My sister's Toshiba laptop makes it easier to switch the hard drive than Apple makes it to switch RAM. Changing a hard drive on her computer -- which, by the way, is about a 6.5 pound, 14.1 inch model and about four or five years old -- is based on the same principle as changing RAM on the Powerbook, only with fewer screws. You just open a hatch and pop out the hard drive, and pop in a new one.

I think it is especially important to make the hard drive accessible because it is probably the single most likely component to fail and making it a user-changeable part is an incredible convenience; letting you do in 10 minutes (plus, say, an hour and a half's worth of software installation) what you would have to wait three or four business days for the service tech to deal with. Bottom line, for me it is the difference between being able to use a laptop as your only computer, and not being able to. I can't afford four days of downtime. I'm fortunate in this respect in having a Digital Audio G4 that is super reliable and super easy to repair. When I kept blowing through hard drives on this machine when I first got it (due to Apple's phase of supplying incompetently refurbished IBM and Maxtor replacements that were the subjects of class action lawsuits), it was at least quick and easy to solve the problem.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I think Apple really needs to back off this thing with restricting access. My sister's Toshiba laptop makes it easier to switch the hard drive than Apple makes it to switch RAM. Changing a hard drive on her computer -- which, by the way, is about a 6.5 pound, 14.1 inch model and about four or five years old -- is based on the same principle as changing RAM on the Powerbook, only with fewer screws. You just open a hatch and pop out the hard drive, and pop in a new one.

I think it is especially important to make the hard drive accessible because it is probably the single most likely component to fail and making it a user-changeable part is an incredible convenience; letting you do in 10 minutes (plus, say, an hour and a half's worth of software installation) what you would have to wait three or four business days for the service tech to deal with. Bottom line, for me it is the difference between being able to use a laptop as your only computer, and not being able to. I can't afford four days of downtime. I'm fortunate in this respect in having a Digital Audio G4 that is super reliable and super easy to repair. When I kept blowing through hard drives on this machine when I first got it (due to Apple's phase of supplying incompetently refurbished IBM and Maxtor replacements that were the subjects of class action lawsuits), it was at least quick and easy to solve the problem.

This Sony PCG-F430 laptop that I'm currently working on is really not user-friendly... it isn't just Apple.

But you do raise good points. The PowerMacs, since the G3 B&W, have been fairly easy to work on their innards.

 

[iMeowbot]

Mmmm... sorry. The poster you had replied to had been talking about Dell computers.

Oh, I see what you mean now, we were kind of looking at different tiers. Maybe it's not fair, but I kind of expect Apple to compete with the good stuff instead of mass market average product.

 

[Marky_Mark]

As one of the previous posters alluded to, my work-issued Thinkpad just has a single large screw, not much smaller than the one Apple uses for the iBook battery, to undo and then the HDD just pulls out the side of the lappie. Take the caddy off and screw a new drive on...slide it all back in and voila - hot to trot.

This isn't difficult if you don't want it to be, so IMO it's definitely a conscious decision on Apple's part, and is probably to protect a very lucrative revenue stream - upgrades through service centres or simply new machines. Even my old Fujitsu Lifebook, which was the same footprint as my 12" iBook and about two-thirds the thickness, just had a panel on the underside for HDD and RAM access, so size doesn't have anything to do with it.

Apple have made a good job of the iBook battery flush-fit, there is no reason why they couldn't do the same with a HDD caddy on the other corner. RAM access I'm less concerned about, although if they'd thought things through, they might have put the RAM slot above the airport slot so you didn't have to remove one to get to the other.

 

[madmaxmedia]

I wonder if Apple is going to make their portable lines more end user servisable in the near future. The current lines of notebooks from Apple are manufactured in such a way it is very difficult to upgrade HD or replace optical drive. I saw PBFixIt website and by looking at the steps listed there, I hesitate attempting any upgrade/replacement by myself.

On the contrary, Ti PB was very easy to replace HD (just pop off the bottom case and I have an clear access to the HD and its cable).

The 15" AluBook is not too bad actually with the PBFixit.com directions (I have opened up TiBooks and AluBooks.) At least installing a new HD or optical drive is pretty easy...

 

[madmaxmedia]

I think it is especially important to make the hard drive accessible because it is probably the single most likely component to fail and making it a user-changeable part is an incredible convenience; letting you do in 10 minutes (plus, say, an hour and a half's worth of software installation) what you would have to wait three or four business days for the service tech to deal with.

That's a great point. I mean the other stuff (like being able to crack open the case to swap out a optical drive, etc.) is not a big deal, but having a simple slot for the HD to slide into makes good sense.

I recently upgraded the HD in my 15" PB, only to have the new HD fail! I am getting a replacement thanks to Newegg, but of course had to open up the PB again to remove the busted drive and (put in the new one.)

This isn't difficult if you don't want it to be, so IMO it's definitely a conscious decision on Apple's part, and is probably to protect a very lucrative revenue stream - upgrades through service centres or simply new machines.

I personally think the reasons are less nefarious. I suspect Apple is mainly designing for looks and to minimize size/thickness than anything else. I don't know about the other models, but in the 15" PB the HD is right under the trackpad, maybe they saved a little space on the mobo by doing it that way (just speculating though.) Typically the caddy-mounted HD's are on the side of the computer. Or otherwise they are somehow saving a small amount on costs, etc. So they're not necessarily going out of their way to make the HD non-user-replacable, but it's pretty low (or last) on their priority list.

It took me nearly two hours to replace my PowerBook HD. At the end of the ordeal, I walked away with a faster PowerBook and a sore back from being hunched over in some ungodly position.

Was that the 12"? On the 15" there are a few screws, but once you take off the top case/keyboard, the HD is right there.

 

[DanielNTX]

Ripped out my audio jack

I did the same thing when I upgraded my notebook. I ripped out the right speaker channel audio socket connector. I had to resolder it. Not much fun. Another guy also did the same thing... http://mac-forums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=164581&postcount=14