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iFixit Lauds Apple's New Self Service Repair Program, Calls It a 'Remarkable Concession'
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Can’t even do those things on a Mac anymore anyway these days! Although I hope this means that people can purchase replacement SSDs to be soldered on, even if they aren’t technical enough to perform the replacement themselves.A big win for those who are willing and capable, but I pretty much stop at upgrading RAM and adding/swapping out a hard drive. So I pretty much do nothing to my computing devices anymore
Pretty much.
I had an iMac a couple of years back who's logicboard frazzled at 13 months (No Applecare). The cost of having it replaced in Authorized service center: $600 including labour and 6 months warranty. The cost to buy a second hand logic board on ebay was $450 at the time.
So while Apple will sell you the parts, they will most likely be marked up by a large degree in order to allow Authorized service centers a decent margin and encourage people to keep buying Applecare (which I really should have done).
I guess we'll see on that and the OEM question over the next while.
why insane? I thought this is what the America consumer ask for? to last longer, like a car. They only announce FL and big change after few years, each model can last about 10 years gap normally.
with this policy, the mobile phone company still can sell their phone as usual. but there is no needs to refresh every year. BTW, it will reduce a lot e-waste, make the parts more available etc.
This is an AMAZING step in the right direction...
Now they just need to stop soldering everything, and gluing too.
Now they just need to stop soldering everything, and gluing too.
Just speaking the truth.
I have done my fair share of independent repairs myself for people. And a lot of them were repairing things other independent repairers has entirely shafted.
It was fun trying to open that Sony android phone the repairer had used two part epoxy on and the screen was bent and so low quality that half of it stopped working after a week.
I am more concerned about the prices of the repair tools then the parts...I worked 2 years as an Apple Repair Technician and the machines/tools that you need are waaay more expensive then all device parts counted together. I can't imagine that Apple will give you (just 1 simple example) their Display Removal Tool/machine for the iPhone 12 and 13, if you like to replace the display for yourself. That machine alone cost around $2000.
I curious how Apple will solve this...(or not). We will see.
I curious how Apple will solve this...(or not). We will see.
Proper tools cost a lot of money. Most people don’t ever see that when the market is saturated with garbage. Even some of the higher brand stuff like Wera / Wiha is relatively disposable pricing.
I was an RF engineer. $120 for some pliers that last a couple of months. $900 on a spanner to torque SMA connectors. $3500 for soldering and rework tools. $300,000 for a VNA. That stops people whining about tools being expensive. They’re not!
Your display fixture is quite cheap when you consider the volume they sell them in.
That’s why i wondering why we cheer this decision as a normal consumers? We get nothing benefit us at all. If the 3rd party dealer provide free workmanship, then that’s different story.
Ya right? They should learn from Huawei xiaomi and sony, also give back our external card option + removable battery option too.
Volume wise, yes. But for a standard person that will do a repair maybe 1 or 2 times, it wil not. People are so focused about the repairparts prices only, and totally forget that repair tools are need as well. I mean, it's good that Apple makes them available for everyone, but I think the repaircost will be more expensive if you will do it yourself. It doesn't surprise me as well that Apple hasn't told anything about that yet...
This is exactly why I think “right to repair” is a self sacrificing benefit for manufacturers cheered on by moronic consumers sold an ideology rather than an actual benefit.
Note the people standing up for this right loudly are independent repairers who were on the brink of losing their business, not consumers as a whole.
Personally I think manufacturers should be forced to provide long term warranties on their products and fixed price workmanship. If the product fails and they can’t repair it then they have to buy it back off you for a proportionate value without question.
This should be across ALL consumer goods which are not consumable. Even kids toys that inevitably end up half in landfill within a month.
Right to repair is a poor solution to terrible consumer protection laws. It’s barely even half a step in the direction of environmental responsibility, support, customer care and social responsibility.
People who cheer for it normally the one who get benefit. Usually they are businessman. I don’t think they really care about my rights like Apple do. They just want some cut from Apple, otherwise they will sue Apple for monopoly. Tim sweetney is one of this kind.
He is software seller, he can’t speak on behalf of consumers!
they will be the same as the prices listed when you take it to apple for the parts.
Apple doing this may be a trojan horse... they give you all the tools and parts to repair/replace something, but what if the caveat is that, if you mess it up, they are under no obligation to fix or repair your device themselves and simply say... "Sorry... you chose to try and fix it yourself and ruined it... buy a new one". I can see Apple doing this. Afterall, "Apple will do, what Apple will do."
I'll be curious to see the new 27" (or bigger?) iMac next year. You can still swap out/add RAM on the Intel models. I wonder if that will be an option on the new ones. My guess? Probably not.
Yeah sure, they’ll fix anything and everything. But as you know that Apple users are obsessed with perfection, a few of us would never even consider anything that is not genuine aka perfect and obsessiveness never leads to practical financial decisions and I’ve seen people going the 550$ route, or they realise that’s expensive and get a new iPhone for 800$ wanting something perfect.
200$ Although way expensive than what they do for in China, would still be relatively more practical, cheap and sensible for the few obsessive ones among us.
LMAO, asians have been doing things better than Americans for a long time. What do you expect?
I’ve seen a lot of peeps who don’t care about cracked screen and keep using the iphone / ipad until it breaks and those aren’t poor people. I guess there are 2 types of people: the ones who see phones as tools and the ones who see phones as fashion accessories
Ironically this will kill iFixit's primary business of selling repair kits. I'm not necessarily unhappy about that, my only experience was spending an hour installing a battery that failed a few days later, then sending it back and replacing with a good one from a local shop. But their beautiful online teardowns will be missed.
So if my Intel MacBook Pro's battery dies I still can't do jack about it. What's preventing them from selling parts for computers that were purchased 2 months ago? I guess Intel chips automatically glue in the battery or something?
It seems to me that this again is marketing so that you buy their new stuff, rather than support for those who already own and use Apple products. Repairs should be support, not marketing. And those who paid a very significant fraction of their yearly earnings to buy your products only to not get more than 1 year of warranty should at least be able to buy parts from you if they want to to repair what is most often your design mistakes.
I guess Louis Rossmann will be right again: this is just to shut people up about right to repair without solving the issue in practice. They will only sell complete assemblies (a MacBook is made up of three parts: top case, bottom case, display assembly), and it will be priced in such a way that getting someone else to do it won't be more expensive. And Apple will get to say "See, you wanted us to make repairs possible, we did, and you're not taking advantage of it!".
It seems to me that this again is marketing so that you buy their new stuff, rather than support for those who already own and use Apple products. Repairs should be support, not marketing. And those who paid a very significant fraction of their yearly earnings to buy your products only to not get more than 1 year of warranty should at least be able to buy parts from you if they want to to repair what is most often your design mistakes.
I guess Louis Rossmann will be right again: this is just to shut people up about right to repair without solving the issue in practice. They will only sell complete assemblies (a MacBook is made up of three parts: top case, bottom case, display assembly), and it will be priced in such a way that getting someone else to do it won't be more expensive. And Apple will get to say "See, you wanted us to make repairs possible, we did, and you're not taking advantage of it!".
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Typical example of no matter what Apple does, many people would just be imposible to please.Make money on parts and then will ask you to visit the Apple store. Charging you with service fee now