Retina upgradability and the rest of the world

[MacModMachine]

Usually in january i do my hardware evaluations to see what i may need for this coming year , I generally look at all hardware mac/pc , android/ios and see what will do best moving forward.

Upon looking into dell laptops , XPS , Inspiron , Latitude i noticed that most of these laptops like the retina have very little upgradability if any at all.(hp also included)

The retina takes a beating from people who are calling it non-upgradable (which it is) , the the rest of the world seems to be taking this same approach.


i have read through the various threads on this only to find mostly fighting and arguing over how bad non-upgradble is.

What does everyone think of this new non-upgradable world(most knew it was coming), maybe i have just not done enough research.

 

[OSMac]

The need to upgrade going forward is not like in the past.

Most people are happy with laptops purchased in the last few years and are using them less and less.

Laptops are becoming like TVs, if you have one you watch it, it works, no interest in new models.

 

[blooperz]

non-upgradeable = more money for apple and other tech companies. Before you could just buy the minimum ram/harddrive and upgrade it yourself for minimal cost, now your stuck with apples overpriced upgrade costs if you can't live with the low end machines.

Does it hurt the consumer? Yes of course, the need to upgrade hasn't changed any unless you just use your macbook for mundane tasks like email/general browsing. But hey Apple is a company like any other and at the end of the day what they care about is their bottom lane and keeping their investors happy.

 

[Ryan1524]

The capacity to upgrade is not a MUST for any and all things.

Consider that these machines, today, have reached a point that most of its component can last long enough as a cohesive unit until it reaches a point where each and every component can use an upgrade.

The penultimate upgradability is not how serviceable or replaceable each component is. The ultimate goal of engineering design should be to make machines last as long as it possibly can while remaining useful/productive.

But forever is an incorrect concept. Nothing ever last forever. So there's only two possible options for a well engineered machine. One is to never need an upgrade, or for it to need an upgrade only once, which is at the end of its useful-ness.

I think Apple has gone this route.

Components that are vulnerable to potentially needing an upgrade in less time than the rest of the machine are still removeable/upgradeable: the fans, storage and battery.

 

[jkcerda]

Hope it back fires & all the low end models stay there

 

[thundersteele]

i have read through the various threads on this only to find mostly fighting and arguing over how bad non-upgradble is.

What does everyone think of this new non-upgradable world(most knew it was coming), maybe i have just not done enough research.

In my opinion it was always wrong to look for upgradability in laptops. Even 10 years ago at best you could change RAM and HDD... now those are also gone, tough luck, but that is what one has to accept for having a portable machine.

So I don't see the big deal... the fact that the RAM is now soldered on will not play a role in my purchase decision, and will not make me to buy a different laptop. Of course I would prefer if it was still upgradable... but that's just not the case anymore.

 

[goMac]

In my opinion it was always wrong to look for upgradability in laptops. Even 10 years ago at best you could change RAM and HDD... now those are also gone, tough luck, but that is what one has to accept for having a portable machine.

So I don't see the big deal... the fact that the RAM is now soldered on will not play a role in my purchase decision, and will not make me to buy a different laptop. Of course I would prefer if it was still upgradable... but that's just not the case anymore.

PowerBooks used to have user removable disk/zip/DVD drives and be upgradable to dual battery. The old PowerBooks could even swap batteries while the machine was on.

Back when those features were removed everyone pitched a for that Apple was making laptops non-upgradable, but somehow everyone survived.

Compared to what the PowerBooks could do, the complaining in this thread is a joke. Everyone will probably be ok.

 

[boast]

A laptop is mobile. So like cell phones, you just throw it away in a couple years and buy a new one.

 

[hallux]

Usually in january i do my hardware evaluations to see what i may need for this coming year , I generally look at all hardware mac/pc , android/ios and see what will do best moving forward.

Upon looking into dell laptops , XPS , Inspiron , Latitude i noticed that most of these laptops like the retina have very little upgradability if any at all.(hp also included)

The retina takes a beating from people who are calling it non-upgradable (which it is) , the the rest of the world seems to be taking this same approach.


i have read through the various threads on this only to find mostly fighting and arguing over how bad non-upgradble is.

What does everyone think of this new non-upgradable world(most knew it was coming), maybe i have just not done enough research.

Depends on which Latitudes you look at. I work in a Dell/Lenovo shop supporting a campus for a Fortune 10 company, I haven't opened up our current "sales" laptop but our offering replaces the XPS13 and Latitude E6220 that we offered so it may not have upgradable memory but should have an easily replaceable HDD. Most/all of the other Latitude laptops SHOULD have replaceable memory, HDD and even CPU but I haven't seen one of those come through yet so I'm not 100% certain.

The Lenovo Thinkpad, unless you're looking at the X1/X1 Carbon, are generally upgradeable but, again, I haven't opened up any of our new offerings yet.

 

[MacModMachine]

Depends on which Latitudes you look at. I work in a Dell/Lenovo shop supporting a campus for a Fortune 10 company, I haven't opened up our current "sales" laptop but our offering replaces the XPS13 and Latitude E6220 that we offered so it may not have upgradable memory but should have an easily replaceable HDD. Most/all of the other Latitude laptops SHOULD have replaceable memory, HDD and even CPU but I haven't seen one of those come through yet so I'm not 100% certain.

The Lenovo Thinkpad, unless you're looking at the X1/X1 Carbon, are generally upgradeable but, again, I haven't opened up any of our new offerings yet.

Having owned the E5430 , i looked into there current line of replacement's for that model and they seem to have integrated cpu / memory and hdd is upgradable.

My e5430 i upgraded cpu / memory / ram which made is really good for my needs.

I currently have a 2012 retina 13" and bought it knowing very well it was not upgradable (aside from SSD which i upgraded). I love it and it does its job , now i find i need more memory and i look at the possibility of shelling out another 2000$ for a retina 13" because my ssd cannot be moved to the new 13" retina.

 

[MCAsan]

What does everyone think of this new non-upgradable world(most knew it was coming), maybe i have just not done enough research.

It puts the burden on the consumer to have some idea about computer hardware and demands of the apps he/shes is running.....and could be running over the next 2-3 years.

The negative is you are making the hardware purchase up front...not a SIMM at time...or changing out HD/SSD for a larger size later.

Despite the rants, whining, and general tantrums .....Apple moves forward in this direction. We all have to accept it...or go to Winworld for a laptop. Not.