Apple Used to Design Its Laptops for Repairability

paozac

Planned obsolescence is sure at play here, but I blame the design choices of Jony Ive and his team (thinness above all).

adampunk

I have owned four Apple laptops since 2005. The first one I got was the first Intel MacBook Pro. The last one I have is an M1 MacBook Air. The repairability score of these laptops has dropped linearly; I could with a guide and some dedicated tools, completely disassemble and reassemble the 2005 laptop. I would be a fool to try that with the MacBook Air. That’s in line with what this article is saying, but I would be remiss if I did not say that the durability of those laptops has gone up inverse to the repairability. The 2020 M1 MacBook Air is one of the most durable machines I’ve ever bought from Apple. I strongly suspect that this trade-off of durability and repairability is real. I should also point out that I needed to disassemble and reassemble the 2005 MacBook Pro because Apple screwed up the manufacturing. I had to take the whole computer apart and replace the thermal paste because they had put on too much. A later machine I had to replace the battery. I have not had to open up the last two that I bought. It was cool and fun and scary to open that machine up and have to reassemble it and hope that it would work again, but I don’t really want to do that with a machine that I depend on. I would much rather never have to do that. It’s possible that this, and not planned obsolescence, is what is driving things. If it is planned obsolescence, they’re doing a really bad job of obsoleting my six-year-old computer.

lapcat

For me, a replaceable battery is the most important factor. With my level of usage, it's not a question of if but rather when I'll need to replace my MacBook Pro battery. It used to be so damn easy with my 2006 MBP. Pop the old one out, pop a new one in, literally seconds to replace. You could even carry an extra battery with you when traveling. Now battery replacement is a giant PITA. And Apple wants you to mail the machine to them and be without it for days instead of getting onsite same-day replacement. I hate this situation. Apple desktops also used to be more repairable. I remember Apple sending me an iMac G5 midplane, which was basically the "guts" of the computer, to replace at home. You could do fan and power supply replacement too.

chocochunks

It's bit funny to use the iBook G3 as an example. While some parts are easy to remove it has a notoriously difficult HDD replacement process.

sandreas

I'm a fan of repairable devices. And I passionately hate Apple for their Anti-Consumer strategies like proprietary SSD connectors, lid closing sensors and all this nonsense. However while planning to buy a framework I realized that some oft Apples decisions have techical reasons... Lpcamm2 is great, but not fast enough for unified memory and eats up more battery. Easy repairability is awesome, but has an impact not only look and feel, but also sound design and durability (dust, etc.). Thinkpads solved this quite well, though. Moreover requiring certified replacements can also prevent scam and can be seen as anti theft. However, I'm not saying Apple is great, but at least not all their decisions are only to make more money. I personally am and keep being a Linux man, so never buying an Apple device again until they make a new iPod Nano ;-)

0xy

This is an incredibly cynical and naive take so forgive me: if repairability is such a desirable trait why are all repairable laptops utter garbage? Even Framework has major quality issues. Thinkpads aren't like they used to be. Every single one has a TERRIBLE keyboard, TERRIBLE trackpad. Mediocre screen. Bad battery life. In principal, repairability seems good. But the least repairable laptop is also the best quality.