Considering it’s 10 steps to remove the battery and barely a two page proces. I would say they have a point. Then again apple tend to design their computers as unrepairable as possible.
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iFixit Says Apple's DIY Repair Program Makes MacBooks 'Seem Less Repairable'
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Hardware manufacturers (Apple included) purposefully make it so certain hardware repairs require software to complete the repairs (and then those manufacturers withholding third-parties access to that software). These are repairs that would otherwise work perfectly fine if not for the deliberate software lockout.
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That's quite the weasel wording there OP trying to deflect from exactly what Apple is doing
I'll bet you don't even know where your car battery is located.
You are able to replace your Mac battery. You jus' don' lik'um the cost.
Buy an Android.
Article clearly explained how sending the product in for repair actually costs less sometimes depending on the part, a battery for example.
I have done both. I do most of the maintenance and some repairs on my vehicles. I've opened several iMacs, MacBook Pros and iPhones. They all still worked when I got done.
Very odd comments.
You would lose the car battery bet.
I have had a very good Samsung phone for the past three years. No need to buy another Android yet.
Day one. We want light computers.
Day two. We want repairable computers.
Day three. We want to repair our own computers.
Day four. We want you you to make it easy enough for a one eyed blind crack smoking monkey with $10 in his wallet to repair it.
Day five. We want …. ?
I got off this train a long time ago.
Day two. We want repairable computers.
Day three. We want to repair our own computers.
Day four. We want you you to make it easy enough for a one eyed blind crack smoking monkey with $10 in his wallet to repair it.
Day five. We want …. ?
I got off this train a long time ago.
Completely inane analogy. A better comparision would be a flashlight that requires you to disassemble the bulb in order to change out the battery.Imagine if Telsa sends you a DIY Repair kit and instructs you to change the lithium battery of your car.
The bottom line is that much of the service industry today has gone with this approach to make it as difficult as possible or to discourage the end user from performing the repair. The car business is a big example of this because with the advent of the Internet, buyers typically now know what a car really costs so Dealers make the bulk of their profits on parts and service.
YouTube then became the thing for people showing others how to do the repairs. So companies countered by designing things in such a way where the end user looks to attempt the repair and gives it to either the manufacturer or to an authorized service center. We can all agree that repairs should be as easy as possible but we now live in a world where the economy functions by replacing one device, appliance, car, TV etc with another one. To hell with the landfills.
I'm not taking Apple's side on this but they are not the only ones who have gone to great lengths in designing their products to discourage end user repairs.
YouTube then became the thing for people showing others how to do the repairs. So companies countered by designing things in such a way where the end user looks to attempt the repair and gives it to either the manufacturer or to an authorized service center. We can all agree that repairs should be as easy as possible but we now live in a world where the economy functions by replacing one device, appliance, car, TV etc with another one. To hell with the landfills.
I'm not taking Apple's side on this but they are not the only ones who have gone to great lengths in designing their products to discourage end user repairs.
Day one. We had user repairable computers.
There, I fixed it for ya. 😊
Since the early days of PowerBooks, it was easy to just push a button, and swap out the battery. Good thing, too, since the 5300's kinda were notorious for catching fire and exploding...
Even up to the point that Apple started making it impossible to remove the MB battery, it was not in any way difficult to swap out a battery. Just needed the torx driver for the screws Apple used. Open case, disconnect, pop out battery, pop in replacement, connect, close case. Didn't take any engineering degree to accomplish - so easy, even a one eyed blind crack smoking monkey could do it. 😉
That's not actually even remotely true. We have never had user repairable computers. I spent the last 40 years repairing people's computers who were users. I go right back to the days of having to poke things with a scope and logic analyzer. That was a nope for users because the tools cost 6 months salary for the average person. Then there was the mid level integration. That was a nope for users because there were very few if any replacement parts available. Then there was the period from the late 1990s to today where nearly all the repairs you can do on any consumer electronics mean frankenstein jobs of reverse engineering and replacing modules from other things that were dead in a different way.
All of these outcomes are beyond 99% of the end users
The reason we don't have replaceable battery modules are as follows:
1. Lithium polymer batteries are incredibly dangerous when bent, deformed or punctured. This is actually why they goop them to the chassis - it's very difficult to bend them there. If you make them removable then they require a lot of rather large protection around them so that some numpty doesn't stick it in their bag, sit on it, bend it and set their house on fire.
2. Most customers don't actually ever replace the battery. I used to buy and recycle literally hundreds of new unused discarded Lenovo batteries which were EOLed because the customers never bought them. Lenovo used to pride themselves on removable and replaceable batteries but it turns out it wasn't a real customer requirement.
3. As above the replacement batteries actually have a shelf life so they are really expensive and a financial risk to actually have sitting around ready to ship to customers as they get to a point where they become unsafe to recharge due to self discharge.
4. There was a drive to make things thinner and lighter and any extra protection and battery connector hardware means more weight and bulk to hide in the chassis.
5. Finally and this is the big one, people wanted more battery life so they filled the entire chassis up with weird shape batteries where they would fit. This makes it really difficult to build removable modules.
Of course there's safety. Do you really want users with this going up in their faces?
Yeah some will never be happy. Eventually they'd want to be paid for doing the self repair.
Sounds like you got off this train, logically at least, around day 3.
Also, replacing a dead battery is a repair. Apple laptop batteries were user replaceable at one point. Therefore, Apple computers were repairable. To say it is not “remotely true” that they were repairable is more illogical than that particularly nonsensical (and unwitty) monkey comment.
This battery fiasco is simply a case of Apple being the greedy, spoiled corporate child they have become. At least until the EU tells them they have to change. Or China. Lord knows they’ll listen to China.
Sounds like you got off this train, logically at least, around day 3.
Also, replacing a dead battery is a repair. Apple laptop batteries were user replaceable at one point. Therefore, Apple computers were repairable. To say it is not “remotely true” they were repairable is more illogical than that particularly nonsensical (and unwitty) monkey comment.
This battery fiasco is simply a case of Apple being the greedy, spoiled corporate child they have become. At least until the EU tells them they have to change. Or China. Lord knows they’ll listen to China.
(It's worth noting that Apple is now a competitor to iFixit in this area of business.)
Is it really though? Like are the two actually even remotely comparable? Maybe when it comes to thinking of things in terms of repairs, I'll buy that for almost a dollar. But when it comes to buying affordable replacement parts? Or supplying helpful guides and fostering a community of people repairing their stuff? Apples and Oranges, honestly.
Imagine if Telsa sends you a DIY Repair kit and instructs you to change the lithium battery of your car.
Kind of hyperbolic. The cheapest Tesla is a good 30 times more expensive than even the most expensive configuration of computer supported by this program. Also, a LOT easier to gut a 2016-2020 era design of Mac to replace a top case than it is to replace the lithium battery of any hybrid or electric vehicle. But okay!
More apt. But that's MacBook Pro top-cases circa the retina through the 2020/2 iterations of Touch Bar MacBook Pro for ya. The Unibody always had the keyboard integrated with the chassis on the repair part. From retina onwards, it became all one part. Blame the folks that praised that crap in 2012 as being futuristic. Had enough people complained back then, Apple would've reversed course. But, in typical Apple fan fashion, it was lauded as an "improvement".
If you believe that this is the reason why Apple glued in their batteries (a consumable component, mind you), then I have an island to sell you for the low low cost of a decked out Mac Pro!
The decision making process was one wherein making custom batteries allowed them to make a thinner machine AND force consumers to have to replace the computer sooner and/or pay for an out of warranty top case replacement. If you're Apple, how is that not an obvious win-win?
Man, I can only imagine how difficult high school English was for you.
Actually, no. If it was mandatory that the battery be replaceable, then all other engineering objectives would have to align with that mandate. However, again, Apple had no incentive to do this and almost every incentive NOT to do this. iPads and iPods have always had glued in batteries. Makes it impossible to repair and easier for the consumer to just decide that it's time to replace. How this is seen by you as an "engineering" decision and not an obvious "business" decision is beyond me.
Seems to me you may have missed their mission statement. Incidentally, if you read between the lines, iFixit is 10000% right.
The stuff in bold is not how reality works.
$480 to replace a laptop that starts at between $999 and $1300? Not sure how that logic flies. Then again, anyone who purchased these Macs with AppleCare has nothing to gain by not having Apple or an AASP do the repair, which is the entire reason why this program only serves to get legislators off of Apple's back.
I seriously had this exact same thought! Both the M1 and M2 Airs as well as the 2021 14" and 16" MacBook Pros all have pull-tab batteries. It's only the M1 and M2 13" MacBook Pros that don't. So, why make it a full top case repair for everything when it's only one Mac that has a difficult-to-remove battery?
Your argument is sound and makes sense in the context of the 14" and 16" models, but not in the context of the 13".
The amount of blind pro-Apple nonsense here is kind of intense.
All of you are the same people that were excited, and happy that Apple was finally going to let third parties buy parts, and tools for their products. Apple didn't say that it would be cheaper, and Apple didn't say their products would suddenly become more repairable. They always intended to offer the same parts, and tools, that Apple employees use to repair Apple products. If you thought otherwise, you're naive.
“Battery fiasco”. Please, elaborate. Perhaps with a bit less sinophobia?
iFixit is simply hoping to partner with Apple like they have with Google and Samsung. They’re a parts retailer, this is a marketing campaign.
that has nothing todo with "pro-Apple" nonsense. It simply wat i realised with iFixit.as long they can make of money of "Right to Repair" by customers buying parts from them and not the Manufacturer they are happy. Now they can buy directly from apple and iFixit will loose customers so they say suddenly its bad.
Just because you are mechanically incompetent doesn't mean others are too. I would service my car. I probably been fixing my car and my computer longer than you existed on this planet.I wouldn’t dream of opening up any Mac to repair it , I wouldn’t service a car why on earth would I do the same for a computer ?
Somethings are best left to the experts
( I'm referring to the date / time backup battery btw not the actual internal battery or replaceable in old powerbooks etc , thx for the neg reps
I fix my friends and family’s computers and cars. The idea that a complete manual is somehow a bad thing (the purpose of this thread) is utterly ducking ridiculous.
I can check the entire Volvo removal procedure for a radiator directly from the software the dealerships use. I can also use the one page print-off that comes with a new radiator. Or I can use my eyes, because I’m not an idiot.
Part of working on things is being able to parse information. Is 168 pages *necessary* for the repair? No. Is it awesome that Apple is providing that level of in depth information? Yes, yes it is.
Those saying they’re scared off by that level of detail wouldn’t be doing the damn repair in the first place.
My uncle was killed by someone who thought he could fix his car. The person in question had been doing bad jobs of fixing cars for 40 years.
Not everyone is capable of identifying if they’re doing a good job or a bad job of the work being done.
There be dragons so to speak.