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Teardown of Retina MacBook Pro Finds Low Repairability with Custom Components
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It's not just repair issues, which as far as laptops are concerned, has always been a pain in the butt. Rather, it's the inability to upgrade that hurts the most here, specially on parts that have been so easy to swap out up til now.
I can understand soldered ram and being unable to upgrade the SSD in the Macbook Air. It's more a consumer oriented device, designed for people who want a little more oomph than an iPad, but won't be going all out and straining the hardware on it on a daily basis.
The MBP is a...well...it's a Pro machine. By it's definition, you expect at least some parts of it to be upgradeable, simply because an average Pro user will put that much more strain on the machine, and are likely to wear it out that much quicker. I'm not sure about failure rates in SSDs, but I'm going to assume that it does happen on occasion. Same with ram. I've had sticks of ram go bad on me before. Plenty of times. In the past, this was a minor inconvenience. All you had to do was run out to the store to get a new stick, pop out the old one and pop in the new. It's barely a couple hours worth of downtime. With the new Pro? If your ram goes bad, you'll have to send in your entire machine to Apple, which could take days to fix.
To use your car analogy, it's like not being able to replace a flat tire because it's stitched to the wheel (somehow), and you can't replace the wheel because it's welded to the axle.
But hey, I guess that's the future, right? The future is all about making things that were easy to do in the past that much more difficult because THHHHIIINNNNN!
Are you surprised? It's the new Tim Crook Apple, baby! Get used to it.
Ethernet Adapter -$$$$$$ Cha-Ching!
Firewire Adapter -$$$$$$ Cha-Ching!
USB Hub due to only 2 stinking ports - $$$$$$$ Cha-Ching
Want DVD Drive? I hope you have a 2nd computer to share or get ready to buy an external drive - $$$$ Cha-Ching!
Battery? Forget about it.
Upgrade your own hard drive? Forget about it.
Upgrade your own ram? Forget about it.
Want full Blu-Ray support? Forget about it.
Frankly, I'm SHOCKED they included an HDMI port. That robs them of the chance to sell your another adapter to connect it to a standard tv or limited resolution (1080p) monitor.
Overall, it's hard to say how this is a "Pro" notebook. Pro denotes professional and that means flexibility which is clearly lacking here. Apple seems to use it more as a catch phrase than an actual meaning for professionals (made obvious the day they started calling that crappy 13" model a "Pro" product. It's kind of like what happened to THX products. First they meant something and a certain certified quality level. Now they just mean someone paid Lucasfilm the license fee to use the name and thus it's now MEANINGLESS.
But there's a clear change here between Cook and Jobs. As bad as some of the hardware moves were under Steve (iMacs were already largely like this), there was at least some moves for user expansion (ram and even hard drives and once upon a time the battery), but now it's NADA. You bought a $2200 iPad Turbo with built-in keyboard and a few extra ports.
Poeple vouching for Applecare - what happens at the end of Applecare i.e. after 2years when you are out of Applecare, your MBP's harddrive breaks down ? Yes it will break, every hard drive fails, some fails earlier other fails later. You cannot upgrade it on your own with aftermarket and Apple will charge you hand and limb for new one. I think I'll just buy regular 13" MBP and keep extra $1000 in my pocket for other more relevant upgrades. They screwed us same way with iMacs starting 2011.
It's not that bad in my opinion, RAM is soldered in but if I want to buy 16gbs of RAM for a 2012 non MBP that's £130 from crucial, apple is charging a whole £30 more for 16gbs. If you can afford a new retina MBP then £30 over doing it yourself is not bad!
And in time hopefully we will see ssd upgrades from the likes of owc in the near future (they have confirmed they are working on it).
I will be buying a new retina display MBP soon and can't wait, but I understand it won't suit everyone's needs. If it dosent then apple updated the old one for you!
And in time hopefully we will see ssd upgrades from the likes of owc in the near future (they have confirmed they are working on it).
I will be buying a new retina display MBP soon and can't wait, but I understand it won't suit everyone's needs. If it dosent then apple updated the old one for you!
so have I, but I've also replaced the battery of every laptop I've owned. At least once. I don't buy a new one every year. Though I'm sure many Apple buyers do..
And the Wintel clowns posting over at CNET, engadget, etc. are claiming they could build a machine that runs circles around RMBP for half the price.
Apple components never fail anyway. Hard drives, ram and batteries certainly never fail, regardless of the manufacturer. Therefore, I fail to see any problem with this design....
Now if only Apple could design cars, that would be great. I bet they could design a car with built-in brake rotors and pads that could never be changed, even when they wore out! That would save on repair bills big time...
Now if only Apple could design cars, that would be great. I bet they could design a car with built-in brake rotors and pads that could never be changed, even when they wore out! That would save on repair bills big time...
But.
Would you buy the Mazda if the bonnet of the car was welded shut, and no 3rd party garages could use their normal tools to access the cars internals, so in effect you had to use Mazda with their high prices for any repairs.
Yup, I'm supposed to fix these things so I'm curious what methods will be
involved to replace glued in batteries ? Perhaps they will provide a special
chisel and just chop the things out ?
If it was Applecare+ I could totally justify that cost, however, I agree that asking me to pay that price for a simple extended warranty is a bit exotic.
I have yet to purchase Applecare for any of my personal Apple devices. I haven't felt the need, despite actively depending on most of my Apple gear for 5+ years.
Perhaps I have just been lucky.
Yup, I'm supposed to fix these things so I'm curious what methods will be
involved to replace glued in batteries ? Perhaps they will provide a special
chisel and just chop the things out ?
The solution as it stands is to pay to have Apple replace the battery. They provide the service, and for $200 US, you get a replacement battery installed in your device. Considering the price of the battery cells alone would likely cost a consumer that much anyway, it isn't too bad.
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/service/battery/
The only downer is, sending your trusty laptop away while they do this work.
I want $99 battery replacement program like iPad
enough said
may be corporations will through money on this non-upgradeable PRO machine.
next stop to screw the iMac
They won't. But some of them will allow BYOC
I don't get all the whining. This is like a concept car. It is nice to look at, has cutting edge parts and inspires lust. It also has a few quirks that need to be ironed out before being available for the masses.
Apple, though, is making it available to the high-end consumer for a discounted price. These things are selling for less than comparable 15" MBPs. Like the iPad and Air, Apple seems to pricing this thing with their eye on making the competition sweat. No other manufacturer can make such a device at this price point.
Apple claims there are 66 million Mac users. That is tiny compared to the number of iPhone and iPad users out there. This machine seems to be a reminder to all of those iOS users without a Mac that Apple makes very nice laptops as well. Many people will probably go to the Apple Store to get a glimpse of the Retina MBP and will walk out with a MBA.
This is a very aggressive play to get the computer leg of the tripod a little more in balance with the phone and tablet legs.
I agree with almost everything you said above, except the red portion. The other MBP is still available with identical specs (minus Retina Display). Apple is currently allowing you to choose.
Interesting. Upgradeability aside, the prices for the MBP Retinas seem a good deal compared to the standard MBP prices.
Upgrading a MBP with same RAM, SSD and Hi-res display (though non-retina) ends up being hundreds more than a similarly equipped MBP Retina.
Upgrading a MBP with same RAM, SSD and Hi-res display (though non-retina) ends up being hundreds more than a similarly equipped MBP Retina.
But.
Would you buy the Mazda if the bonnet of the car was welded shut, and no 3rd party garages could use their normal tools to access the cars internals, so in effect you had to use Mazda with their high prices for any repairs.
Sure would! Not being able to do anything yourself and rely totally upon the manufacturer is the future. You people just need to accept it! BUNCH OF DINOSAURS IS ALL YOU ARE!
I had several Macbooks before including Air and 13" Macbook Pro. I also used to fix them. Went back to Thinkpad for various reasons. One of them was lack of USB 3.0 which they finally rectified over a year later. Another being absence of easy docking solutions and last but not least those godawful chicklet keyboards.
If it makes you feel any better I do own an iPhone 4S.
Umm, because that means you'll buy more Thunderbolt stuff that's very expensive? A normal solution would be a proper docking station. But I guess a better question is why they finally went USB 3.0 when they could just stick to Thunderbolt. It did take them over a year longer than most other manufacturers.I wonder why they put two thunderbolt ports on it, allowing unprecedented expansion to a laptop computer. Them being greedy consumer-screwers & all
Every new thing I read about the new MBP makes me glad I am not getting one. Apple really is moving to less user friendly less functional more entertainment oriented devices which is unfortunate for those of us who use these machines as actual tools, not just as toys.
You do have a valid point, but these laptops have SSD....so I think the bigger problem you are looking at with these laptops is logic board failure rather then drive failure.
No, pro denotes professional which means "someone who makes money at their craft." Can someone make things that they can sell using this machine? Yes, absolutely. Can you? Maybe you have needs that aren't met by this machine, in which case there's a whole line of more expandable MacBook Pros to suit you.