Popular YouTuber Says Apple Won't Fix His iMac Pro Damaged While Disassembled

[Non-Polar]

Linus Tech Tips is a junky tech tuber. His "team" just consists of bunch of teenagers and young adults who don't know how to handle electronics properly, nor know the terminologies that encompass them. They're handled as an advertisement group by multiple companies like AMD, NVIDIA, RAZER, etc.

You really think they're well-prepared and well-handled to open an iMac Pro? No. All they know how to do is read a script given to them by companies. Not to mention that their audience is a bunch of high schoolers who proclaim themselves to be PC connoisseurs because they watch people like Linus.

Given that, am I surprised that Apple doesn't want to serve an iMac Pro that was already opened up? No. What if they were to fix one problem, but then another problem that was unaddressed because of the broken-state of the iMac Pro shows up? Or Linus and his team does an experiment where they splash water onto the iMac Pro and then bring it in again?

That being said, if this was just a typical customer who had a dead iMac Pro and was refused service, then yes, I could understand that. But with the unprofessional manner in handling electronics that Linus and his "team" brings, I could really care less.

 

[cmaier]

He can not source the parts. No one will sell them to him, according to him.

Then he shouldn't have taken the thing apart and broken multiple parts.

 

[bodonnell202]

Obviously they caused the damage and this definitely should not be covered under warranty, but the fact that they can neither pay someone to complete the repair, nor purchase the parts to complete the repairs themselves bothers me and seems like an overstep on Apple's part. Right to repair legislation can't come fast enough...

 

[GoodWheaties]

Linus dropped something? Say it ain’t so.

 

[Muramasa]

Doesn't the iMac Pro use the same display as the other 5K iMacs? Why would those displays be hard to find?

They have a different cable assembly, thus are a different part number.

 

[outskirtsofinfinity]

He can not source the parts. No one will sell them to him, according to him.

What I don't get is, why can't he just buy a new one? End of story. Jeez. What a doofus YT millionaire...

 

[swingerofbirch]

Not terribly eco-friendly to have no repair options.

 

[cmaier]

This is a horrible policy from Apple. Even if damage is the user’s fault, they should be willing to repair their products as long as the customer pays for it. Imagine if your car dealership refused to fix your car simply because you had opened the hood to replace an air filter and somehow caused damage. With this policy Apple is saying ‘screw you. enjoy your $5,000 paperweight’. Ridiculous...

I would be thrilled if my car dealer refused to service cars that were broken by idiots taking them apart, because I hate that it takes several weeks to get an appointment at the Tesla dealer for service and servicing idiots like that can only make the delays worse.

 

[UnusedLoginID]

So… you buy a new car from a dealer… you decide to turn it into a low-rider at your cousin’s shop… after a few months you’re tired of it and get it back to “normal” with genuine parts that your cousin somehow was able to get hold of… the next day the brakes fail and you die hitting a wall at 50miles/hr. Who’s responsible?

 

[polymersayb]

If he pays for parts and service, it seems he should get it repaired.

However, I bet Apple is telling the truth, and because they can't (yet) repair it they would have to give him a new/refurbished computer. And it wouldn't be fair to charge for parts he doesn't need fixed.

If they didn't deny service, then cue other people dropping their computer to get a new one at a discount...

 

[eidora]

I really like Linus and his videos. Apple's repair policies have become too restrictive, needlessly complicated and unforgiving.

 

[harriska2]

Going down a bad path, apple.

 

[Muramasa]

Anytime Linus makes a video about an Apple product, he does so in a negative light. So this whole thing isn't surprising. Most of the time, official parts can be found on eBay and such, so let him shop there and repair it himself since he was so eager to take it apart.

 

[jaredpetersen]

He can just buy a new one and take the good parts off of it to replace the ones he broke.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

Right to repair laws are needed!!

 

[Maxx Power]

Then he shouldn't have taken the thing apart and broken multiple parts.

It is his property. He can do as he likes.

Your perspective is obviously risk-aversive. Many other perspectives aren't.

 

[Attirex]

Someone posts a car analogy in 3...2...oh, wait, too late.

 

[dirt_farmer]

"Pro" when it comes to hardware refers almost as much to the service and support infrastructure that backs it as it does to the hardware itself.

A Dell server is unremarkable in most ways and very expensive.

The reason to buy it is that for every server that Dell sells, they guarantee to keep replacement components for it on the shelf for the duration of the warranty and/or support contract. Those parts gather dust on the shelf for years in most cases and then are recycled.

What it means is that when your Dell Pro server or workstation goes down, you have anywhere between guaranteed 24-hour depot return-to-service and guaranteed 4-hour onsite return to service.

Dell literally drives to your site, with the part, and gets you back working within 4 business hours.

Meanwhile, gaming companies and fruit companies are slapping the "Pro" moniker on all manner of high-margin sparklies these days without being able to provide the service and support that NEED to backstop a deployed production stack.

Imagine if a real enterprise had deployed these, only to find out that when they break the employees using them (and the projects dependent on them) stand to lose weeks of productivity.

Insane.

 

[NSeven]

This is why we can't have nice things. Similar abuse led to Costco not selling Apple computers.

Weird how my local Costco sells Apple computers.

 

[Maxx Power]

What I don't get is, why can't he just buy a new one? End of story. Jeez. What a doofus.

He can improve his skills by attempting the repairs himself, or find out how good Apple's repair service is. Either way, I think we got an answer to the latter.

I have repaired many things for the satisfaction of doing so, and to learn from the experience.

 

[Eidorian]

I suppose an overreaction here was inevitable. He said he knew he'd have to pay for the repair, and was fully willing to pay for it, completely uncovered by warranty, but they outright refused to repair it, regardless. Makes no sense to me.

His YouTube videos are pretty entertaining, imo. I don't get the hate.

While I am not a fan of Linus, I have side with him in this video. He was fully prepared to pay for the parts and labor. Apple just does not have a support system in place for their hardware.

 

[The Game 161]

And Apple are totally in the right here

 

[WaruiKoohii]

So… you buy a new car from a dealer… you decide to turn it into a low-rider at your cousin’s shop… after a few months you’re tired of it and get it back to “normal” with genuine parts that your cousin somehow was able to get hold of… the next day the brakes fail and you die hitting a wall at 50miles/hr. Who’s responsible?

The thing with car warranties is that you're allowed to perform your own repairs and modifications, even with third party parts, without voiding the warranty.

If a dealer wants to void your warranty and decline a repair, they must actually prove that a repair or modification that you made directly caused the problem.

Additionally, if you perform modifications on the suspension for example, and the dealer manages to void the warranty on it because they were able to prove that you caused the failure, it doesn't impact the warranty on the rest of the vehicle.

To directly answer your question, if you tampered with the brakes in the course of your adventure, you're probably responsible for your death. However, if you don't die, the dealership would likely be on the hook for warranty repairs.

 

[alstrike]

The Linus hate in this thread is quite sad.

 

[JRobinsonJr]

Obviously they caused the damage and this definitely should not be covered under warranty, but the fact that they can neither pay someone to complete the repair, nor purchase the parts to complete the repairs themselves bothers me and seems like an overstep on Apple's part. Right to repair legislation can't come fast enough...

Agreed! Right to Repair has been a long-standing requirement for other industries (e.g. automotive) and I don’t see why it shouldn’t apply here. Sure, these are a bit more complex than bolting on a new alternator, but if you eliminate all of the glue it should be fairly simple to switch out component-level parts.