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Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

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Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#71

Post by dwaite »

philliphaydon wrote: post #39
threeseed wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also used to believe that privacy was only for spys but I have very quickly changed my position. Gays, minorities, journalists, dissidents, whistleblowers etc are all being targeted and jailed in many countries in the world. And in China it's entire swathes of the general public. And so much of this is directly attributable to lax privacy and security. And I don't know believe that there is a huge market for cheape…

In Asia you can get an iMac sad upgrade done for $10. You just supply the ssd. If you buy the disk from the shop the margin is tiny. You can get an iPhone screen repaired for peanuts. Apple quoted $190 to do it. Shop did it for $95. Speakers replaced on a MacBook Pro? $45.

On the flip side, none of those parts (the SSD, the iPhone screen, or the MacBook speaker) are the same parts as Apple uses.

Third party iPhone screen replacement is generally not worth it due to shoddy warranty by the shop and noticeably worse screen quality. Where it is worth it is when you are already out of warranty and trying to extend the life of your phone.

The SSD is probably closest, although Apple does have custom part #s with custom firmware.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#72

Post by wrs »

mjfern wrote: post #65
threeseed wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you mean here. I don't know of a company on this planet who is self repairing Macs.

We self repair macs at our university. We have staff in our dept that are authorized repair techs. I'm sure many larger organizations have a similar setup.

Authorized Service Facilities have access to the required tool.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#73

Post by wrs »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #40

So, with more of this happening, I have a bigger question for HN. Why does used Apple hardware command a premium, even years later? Is this really come down to status? I don't think I need to discuss the anti-user features that Apple does. This crowd is more than aware.

Because it’s pretty great hardware. And if you price out trying to duplicate it, without arbitrarily discounting for features you don’t want, it’s not even much of a premium.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#74

Post by dabockster »

Can the T2 chip be accessed via a publicly accessible API? Or would some reverse engineering be required?

Since the third party check is software based, it's theoretically possible to write a piece of software that could either overwrite the flag on the T2 chip or man-in-the-middle spoof the return value to relevant applications.

EDIT:

I'm also curious to find out whether it's the OS or EFI that's performing the check. Because if it's Mac OS, the easy "hack" fix would be to use an alternate OS such as Windows or Linux that doesn't care about the T2 chip. But I guess that would defeat the purpose of buying a Macbook Pro in the first place.

Also, now that I think about it, if the check is in EFI then you're kinda screwed since you can't really patch it preemptively or man-in-the-middle it without booting an OS first...

...No wait, that's why projects like rEFInd exist. I guess someone could write a custom EFI manager that would bypass the check. Just install rEFInd first before replacing parts.

Seems that this is super hackable and is just a matter of time until we are able to spoof the flag.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#76

Post by charlesism »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #40

So, with more of this happening, I have a bigger question for HN. Why does used Apple hardware command a premium, even years later? Is this really come down to status? I don't think I need to discuss the anti-user features that Apple does. This crowd is more than aware.

Apple slow-boiled its "power users" and the dev community.

If everything that has happened since SJ passed away had happened within only one or two years, fewer people would defend them.

At this point, if you're younger than 20 years old, you just figure Apple built its good reputation despite all the problems.

So these days when Apple does something unpleasant, you get all the arguments that start off "well, Apple has always [had some recent flaw]" or "well, Apple has never [had some old positive attribute]"

Apple's reputation has indeed still suffered lately, but many older users are silently giving up, and many newer users don't know any better. I think financially, they're fairly free to do what they want now without massive consumer backlash.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#77

Post by parrellel »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #40

So, with more of this happening, I have a bigger question for HN. Why does used Apple hardware command a premium, even years later? Is this really come down to status? I don't think I need to discuss the anti-user features that Apple does. This crowd is more than aware.

It really does come down to status. Apple isn't really a computer company anymore, it sells "Luxury Goods" and gets the same sort of value boost you see in diamonds, Rolexes, and Armani suits.

This isn't to say the components are trash, but if you removed the cachet of the brand, and the lock in afforded by OSX and iOS, you wouldn't see nearly the current stupidity.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#78

Post by balls187 »

My first macbook pro was in 2007. I had it in a demo area and I shattered the screen.

I found a place selling the display unit, which I replaced, for a fraction of the cost of having apple repair it.

I imagine this is to cut down on the number of Apple computers repaired with bootleg parts, then either resold to Apple, or brought in for warranty repairs, but stopping legit DIYer from repairing their hardware is a pretty terrible side effect.

EDIT TO ADD: More likely, the security chip verifies the hardware wasn't tampered with, so it needs special software to update its checksum.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#79

Post by wvenable »

smoyer wrote: post #70
Jmcdd wrote: post #6

This is a shame and another setback for Macbooks / Macs. I'd agree with "planned obselescense" over security being the motive as the article pointed out. This will also not hurt Apple in the slightest, only their consumers who are blinded by their unwavering loyalty to the brand. Sent from my iPhone

"Sent from my iPhone" - nice! I bought my last ever Apple product, an IPad v1 and was dismayed when less than 2.5 years later it stopped receiving OS updates. Its battery still lasts 20 hours and yet bugs in the browser makes it crash on so many modern web pages. I can get an Android tablet every year for $70 if I just want something I'm going to throw away.

That's the problem with early versions of products though, from any manufacturer. My wife has an original iPad Air, released in 2013, and it just got iOS 12. But it has a 64bit CPU.

Re: Apple's Proprietary Software Locks Kill Independent Repair on New MacBook Pros

#80

Post by solomatov »

fermienrico wrote: post #24
floatingatoll wrote: post #8

This is an excellent step for protecting MacBook Pro users against hardware invasions (such as US and China border authorities). If you trust the user to replace hardware, you permit the user’s hardware to be altered by malicious actors. By restricting final approval of hardware replacement to a vetted subset of all humanity, you ensure that it’s vastly more difficult for the vast majority of malicious humanity. Yes,…

My opinion about Apple has changed recently. They're now actively promoting privacy and I am OK with trading repairability with privacy. Also, Louis Rossmann on Youtube one of the most vile, deeply corrosive personalities out there and his audience enjoys the bashing of Apple left and right. He has essentially marketed himself as Anti-Apple and his message is always "Apple is Evil".

Why do you think malicious actors won't get their hands on these programs?
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