Sixth-Generation iPad Teardown Details 'Repair Nightmare' for Education-Focused Tablet

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Why so sure the batteryvwill last t years when Apple stated 500 cycles?

Mine has.

See:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...n-focused-tablet.2113287/page-4#post-25951018
[doublepost=1522773153][/doublepost]

That type of damage you describe, equivalent damage in a laptop and you’d throw the laptop away. Really surprising though, the number of iPads I see when going out in the hands of very young kids. You would think they wouldn’t damage them. Contrast to chrome book, I have never seen one in the hands of a kid. I digress however.

It's simple: Little kids are SHORT. That means a short DROP when the iPad falls to the floor.

Short Drop == Less chance for damage.

Simple Physics. Seriously. Think about it...

 

[ocnitsa]

I had an iPad mini loaner program for 20 university tutors when I directed a writing center. I built in Lifeproof cases (at nearly a hundred bucks a pop) to the proposal for that tech purchase. Looking at the cases after a semester it was clear that they were necessary and the tech would have been trashed without them. Like Rogifan said I'm not surprised they didn't create a specific, more rugged model for schools, but it's within their purview to offer a discounted/specialized AppleCare for education specifically tailored for schools their targeting these programs for. Maybe they do. I think people who are suggesting students could be liable for equipment damages are nuts when at many school districts they have to offer free lunches just so that kids have something to eat.

 

[Blaze4G]

Mine has.

See:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...n-focused-tablet.2113287/page-4#post-25951018
[doublepost=1522773153][/doublepost]
It's simple: Little kids are SHORT. That means a short DROP when the iPad falls to the floor.

Short Drop == Less chance for damage.

Simple Physics. Seriously. Think about it...

You would think that. However, the broken iPads in storage would disagree. I work in a school district at an elementary school, so I would have an idea. We have a total of 12 iPads (for special ed and for pre K). 3 have cracked screens.

Edit: we also have about 60 nooks, 8 with cracked screens.

 

[CE3]

Right to repair is not at odds with environmentally friendly manufacturing or a companies recycling policies.

Recycling is great, but the practice of manufacturing products with all the components glued together is not environmentally friendly. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve read on this very website where Apple had to replace components in Macbooks that were working fine in order to repair or replace what’s broken (usually thanks to glue).

Many of these right to repair bills “would require companies like Apple to make it possible for customers to repair their devices on their own or at places other than Apple Stores or approved Apple retailers” which I think would force some change regarding these policies and practices.

 

[mytdave]

I appreciate the tinker inclinations of iFixIt, but at $299 we've entered the realm of disposable appliance. No school is going to be repairing any of these. They'll have a big fat contract with Apple, and if any units are damaged, Apple will overnight a new one to the school, and the school will send the damaged one back. Done.

As for the comparison to the HP tablet - sure, it's more modular and repairable. It's also (relatively) big and bulky and underwhelming in usability.

 

[Swift]

While I'm for them in many ways, when they start talking about a "repairable" iPad, they're talking through their hats, as the old expression goes. When your Intel chip goes wrong, how do you repair it? Replace it. Does the corner store keep a supply of them? No. They have large numbers of the current chip. How about a five-year old chip? Ten years old? Can you fix the equivalent of a 1930s radio? Yes, but it's extraordinarily difficult. Only an expert could possibly do it. If you don't use glues, how exactly do you fasten the case and materials? Screws? Make it all one piece? Well, then you couldn't fix it, you'd have to replace everything. As a kid in the '50s, I built a superheterodyne tube radio from a kit. Solder and tubes and resistors and condensers. Somehow, that was possible given the scale of the machine a radio was. But when each circuit board has not four tubes -- you could get them at the local drug store! -- but millions of transistors, the scale of the "repair" is beyond the old, homely idea of the neighborhood tinkerer.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Recycling is great, but the practice of manufacturing products with all the components glued together is not environmentally friendly. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve read on this very website where Apple replaced components in Macbooks that were in perfect working order in order to repair or replace what’s broken (usually thanks to glue).

Many of these right to repair bills “would require companies like Apple to make it possible for customers to repair their devices on their own or at places other than Apple Stores or approved Apple retailers” which I think would force some change regarding these practices.

I do like the idea of repairing things myself, but the question always becomes, what do you do with the failed components? What do MOST people do with failed components? A repair center is far more likely to recycle, reuse, or refurbish than an individual that has to find a way to correctly dispose of electronic waste.

I guess my point is that I think you can make a case that either situation can be good/bad for the environment depending on one’s level of responsibility. Businesses are more able to be regulated and monitored.

 

[ocnitsa]

While I'm for them in many ways, when they start talking about a "repairable" iPad, they're talking through their hats, as the old expression goes. When your Intel chip goes wrong, how do you repair it? Replace it. Does the corner store keep a supply of them? No. They have large numbers of the current chip. How about a five-year old chip? Ten years old? Can you fix the equivalent of a 1930s radio? Yes, but it's extraordinarily difficult. Only an expert could possibly do it. If you don't use glues, how exactly do you fasten the case and materials? Screws? Make it all one piece? Well, then you couldn't fix it, you'd have to replace everything. As a kid in the '50s, I built a superheterodyne tube radio from a kit. Solder and tubes and resistors and condensers. Somehow, that was possible given the scale of the machine a radio was. But when each circuit board has not four tubes -- you could get them at the local drug store! -- but millions of transistors, the scale of the "repair" is beyond the old, homely idea of the neighborhood tinkerer.

I disagree...most people in this thread aren't talking about microsoldering here. They are talking about stuff as simple as replacing a cracked screen. Or, a battery. Or a power button. You can easily get any of these replacement parts for dirt cheap via Amazon or eBay. iFixit is not the only store selling kits...most replacement screens sold through Amazon come with kits containing every single tool you need in order to fix the part...the only issue is that each model is becoming progressively more difficult/impossible to make these sorts of fixes. Some of that can be attributed to new technologies and screen laminations and whatnot...some of it can be attributed to Apple's constant focus on making devices thinner...but some of it also seems to be an engineered effort to reduce the ability of people to make basic fixes. Whether or not that bothers you is up to you...but I don't think anyone talking about repairable iPads is talking through their hat anymore than someone who talks about repairing their car is talking through their hat. Cars are increasingly becoming computerized and some aspects of them are harder to work on than others, but that doesn't mean its not reasonable to discuss repairability.

 

[44267547]

A near obsolete and disposable product is more profitable to Apple.

Your post doesn’t make any sense. All tech is and will be obsolete and disposable at one point or another. It has nothing to do with Apple.

 

[HighDesert50]

Having been a technology coordinator for a school district, I tend to favor repairable equipment as we tended to use equipment until it was no longer operable not because it was out-o-date. Even the oldest technology could be loaned to students for home use. Apple might have made high-risk elements more easily replaced, e.g. batteries and screens, and certainly earned purchasing credibility as well as demonstrated better environmental sensitivity ... that is, to model the way rather than throw-away.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

You would think that. However, the broken iPads in storage would disagree. I work in a school district at an elementary school, so I would have an idea. We have a total of 12 iPads (for special ed and for pre K). 3 have cracked screens.

Edit: we also have about 60 nooks, 8 with cracked screens.

So, 25% cracked screens for the iPads vs. 13% for the Nooks.

Wonder how much more USAGE the iPads get than the Nooks?

Wanna bet it's much more than the 2:1 breakage difference?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Except the economics are very different if you're dealing with middle school/high schoolers. The school buys the iPads for the kids, but then the school ALSO needs to buy the textbook license for each kid. If they just buy the textbooks, they buy one set of textbooks and have them passed down from kid to kid year to year. Unless schools are getting a significant discount on the cost of the textbook, the iPad isn't necessarily a cheaper deal.

1. Schools buy tablets/laptops for reasons other than use as an ebook reader.

2. But bound textbooks are heavy, not interactive, wear quickly, can’t be updated once printed.

iPad may not be less expensive but that shouldn’t be the criterion in education, but rather a criteria among many. Any school system that bases it’s purchases solely on cost is derelict in its chief duty to educate.
[doublepost=1522776493][/doublepost]

You would think that. However, the broken iPads in storage would disagree. I work in a school district at an elementary school, so I would have an idea. We have a total of 12 iPads (for special ed and for pre K). 3 have cracked screens.

Edit: we also have about 60 nooks, 8 with cracked screens.

Then question then is why isn’t the school system ruggedizing them? Shame on the school system for not protecting taxpayer money. Stores that use tablet have them in cases. Parent have them in cases. Is the school system that lacking in foresight to not include the cost of a case in unit cost when considering buying?

 

[SpyPhone]

When will they make iPads water resistant? I’ll pass on upgrading until Apple gets their act together. This design is 5 years old already. Apple’s new iPad, it’s just like the old iPad which was just like the older iPad and the one before that. Yawn

 

[44267547]

When will they make iPads water resistant?

There is absolutely zero reason why an iPad needs to be water resistant. Should a MacBook be water resistant as well? A device like an iPad would also be much more difficult to make it water resistant because of its size.

This design is 5 years old already. Apple’s new iPad, it’s just like the old iPad which was just like the older iPad and the one before that. Yawn

What exactly are you expecting iPad to look like? Are you expecting to change dramatically in shape or something? All the iPads traditionally look the same, some models are thinner over the others. And for reference, the reason this uses an older design and casing, is to maintain a more affordable price point without adopting the iPad Pro features.

 

[CE3]

There is absolutely zero reason why an iPad needs to be water resistant. Should a MacBook be water resistant as well? A device like an iPad would also be much more difficult to make it water resistant because of its size.

Fair enough, but would any of us complain if a future Macbook *keyboard* was water resistant? That’d be an awesome feature and a great selling point

 

[wilsonlaidlaw]

I have no objection to the lack of repairability, as long as Apple keep handing out new iPads for issues like battery degradation. I was very happy to pay the battery replacement price for a brand new Air 2. The new one has far better battery life than my original ever did.

 

[ackmondual]

When my daughter got a Chromebook at her school, I went out and bought the same model for myself - Acer C740.

I read that (compared to the C720) the C740 model was more aimed at the "educational" market, and so had things like more durable hinges, thicker plastic, etc. It was designed to survive falls and abuse.

Besides all that, I fount the thing dead-simple to work on. The top pops apart, held together by plastic clips. I was easily able to replace the basic TN display with a vivid IPS display. The bottom is held together by a few screws. You can easily remove it and service the insides. The internals are user replaceable, such as the SSD (M.2), the fan, logic board, and battery. In fact, I yanked its original SSD and slapped in a 256 GB one.

They are so user-serviceable that they actually have the students themselves provide repairs. They take broken systems to a room where the kids salvage parts from them to repair and rebuild other damaged systems brought in.

The cost? Well, I paid $249 for mine. I'm sure the school got some sort of bulk discount ($199?). For that price they received:

* durable *and* easy-to-repair hardware, with a "clamshell" design that protects its display.
* a built-in pointing device and full keyboard.
* a full "Desktop" experience browser, with support for plugins and Flash.
* something that can easily sit on a desk and be used, without someone needing to constantly hold it.
* a locked-down, secure, automatic-updating OS with a seamless and quick "A/B" update system (iOS doesn't even have that).

In contrast, for a higher price, Apple is offering something that:

* must be held at all times to be used
* is much, much easier to be broken/damaged
* is much, much harder to work on or repair (students can't do it, teachers can't do it, it must be sent off)
* includes no keyboard or pointing device. each requires a separate purchase on top of the already-higher base price.
* has a relatively lengthy update process and cannot be used during

I don't think the newest "iPad for Education!" thing they are attempting will be enough to fight off Chromebook.

In the context of this article, the main takaway here (this post) is that it's much easier to make repairs to a Chromebook in house vs. an Ipad. Having to ship it somewhere, or drive to an Apple Store, and then waiting for repairs to made, is a disruption to the class (not to mention more costly, widening the cost gap between the CB and Ipad).

I take good care of my things (although I have dropped my phones on a about 5 occasions, even if it's over the time period of 12 years). However, with kids... all bets seem to be off. I for one would NEVER let my a kid use my phone unless I put a case on it.

 

[I7guy]

Recycling is great, but the practice of manufacturing products with all the components glued together is not environmentally friendly. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve read on this very website where Apple had to replace components in Macbooks that were working fine in order to repair or replace what’s broken (usually thanks to glue).

Many of these right to repair bills “would require companies like Apple to make it possible for customers to repair their devices on their own or at places other than Apple Stores or approved Apple retailers” which I think would force some change regarding these policies and practices.

Agree the screen and battery should be replaceable. Everything else has to be designed by the manufacturer for the way they want it. It will be a long time coming if ever that Apple changes it’s manufacturing process for these right to repair folk.

 

[ackmondual]

Excellent points and write-up.

The only caveat I would mention is student privacy.

That shouldn't be an issue....
https://edu.google.com/intl/en_ca/k-12-solutions/privacy-security/?modal_active=none

 

[Substance90]

News flash to ifixit, this is just an update to the consumer iPad with a slight discount to schools. Somehow schools are using iPads now without stories of durability issues. ifixit is just on another one of its let’s get some clicks anti-Apple rants.

So the fact that it's a consumer iPad means it shouldn't be repairable?

 

[I7guy]

So the fact that it's a consumer iPad means it shouldn't be repairable?

We can hypothecate all day long but It is what it is and we’ll see how schools react to this. In a perfect world these things should probably have a higher repairability score.

 

[vpro]

Apple? You couldn't just drastically lower and slash the price of an existing 10" iPad Pro for students / educators, you had to go out and make a bunch of pointless landfilling garbage to sell to students who will out grow them as soon as summer vacation hits? There is no logic to this is there? They are so greedy then wanna get every nook and cranny market they can squeeze money from? That's what all of this "educational" stuff looks like to me. Apple, yo Apple, if you really want to help education, send billions of dollars to all the schools all over the world everywhere and let the kids and teachers decide what they should do and what they really need for education. NOT another landfilling piece of toxic hardware variant of an existing product line in your store.

They still have to buy a pencil and keyboard seperately (duh) wow that is rocket science to them huh? Couldn't afford to include those things in the box for the students? Are you REALLY thinking about the students or the lining in your deeeeeeeeeep Apple pockets? HAHAHAH I believe the latter HAHAHAH !!!! FAIL product. Fail attempt. Omit !

 

[8707908]

iPads Have never been designed to be repaired by the user

 

[CE3]

Agree the screen and battery should be replaceable. Everything else has to be designed by the manufacturer for the way they want it. It will be a long time coming if ever that Apple changes it’s manufacturing process for these right to repair folk.

Making the screen and the battery more easily replaceable would certainly be a big step forward. Passage of these bills should also make it easier for technicians to get access to official documentation for proper repairs, and more competitive repair options for consumers.

If a couple big states like California or New York pass these bills into law, companies will probably adopt new standards, like the automakers did when a similar law was passed in Massachusetts:
http://www.autonews.com/article/20140125/RETAIL05/301279936/automakers-agree-to-right-to-repair-deal

Apple isn’t going to manufacture more repairable devices for a couple states and give the rest of us iPhones iPads and Macs with everything glued together.

 

[macfacts]

... The point is, the ones who have to deal with repairability are Apple, not the schools. So iFixIt's argument for user-repairability is moot in reality.

No. The point is, with a device that is more easily opened to do repairs means any company can start a repair shop. Competition, cheaper prices.

With Apple's way, only Apple gets to repair them and you pay what Apple says.