Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

motherboard.vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 455 posts

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

#231

Post by michaelmrose »

toasterlovin wrote: post #132
paavoova wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely baffling how so many seemingly educated, knowledgeable people such as those found in tech can support these anti-user practices via their support of Apple's products. It goes further than just Apple's hardware products: some people prefer to build "Hackintosh" systems (OSX running on non-Apple hardware) and a common problem is dealing with wifi-adapter whitelists. Why would you ever want to consider u…

Because, statistically speaking, 0% of the population wants to tinker with their computer. Neither you nor anybody else on this website is normal.

The problem is that it's not 0% its more like 2-3% and most want repairs at a reasonable rate that is enabled by a robust market and available parts without weird restrictions like those put upon official sanctioned shops.

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

#232

Post by MisterOctober »

slr555 wrote: post #99

This is true for farmers in many places who buy or lease machinery from companies like John Deere. Using IOT, Deere can tell when a non-OEM part has been installed and they can remotely disable the machine until the "proper" part has been installed. Their customers are locked into their parts and service.

Fact. Considering the financial situation of the vast majority of farmers, this gets me furious. Independent agriculture advocate and "Apple Grower" author Michael Phillips strongly suggests using 50-year-old tractors, etc, for just this reason.

p.s., in addition, a significant proportion of Deere's manufacturing is now overseas / outsourced -- but of course they still trade on their historical image as an American working-class icon.

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

#233

Post by fulafel »

hrktb wrote: post #185
askmike wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was literally yesterday in the shop of an official reseller in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia, there is no Apple Store here). I have non critical problems with my Macbook Pro and asked if they can fix it (including the keyboard problem for which there is a repair program). "We will have to take it in for repair, this will take at least 14 business days."

At this point can’t you ship it to Apple ?

Sending it to their Cupertino address might be a good way of protest at least.

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

#234

Post by michaelmrose »

threeseed wrote: post #35
colejohnson66 wrote: post #5

I never understood Apple with this. They fight hard to make long lasting devices (iOS 12 can be installed all the way back on the 5s IIRC), but then fight back against repairability

It's a tradeoff between owner repairability and security. And Apple is betting that the second is more important. This isn't a black/white issue. It's which shade of grey you prefer.

It's 100% possible to make it harder to tamper without the user certifying its OK without making it require apples permission.

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

#235

Post by michaelmrose »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #55
ams6110 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the reason I only buy older cars, so I can work on them myself. I enjoy it as a hobby, and it saves me a lot of money.

Time is money. I charge more per hour than my authorized bmw dealer charges me.

Congrats on being in the 1% by definition most people aren't here.

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

#236

Post by Symbiote »

foepys wrote: post #181
RileyJames wrote: post #168

When I upgraded my MacBook Air, I decided to try switching away from Apple. Primarily because the new MBP’s & Air’s were expensive, and all the new feature which made them expensive were things I didn’t want or need. I also wanted to give Linux another shot. I went for a Dell XPS, and while there are things I don’t like (primarily keyboard & trackpad) I’ve got used to them. (Keyboard still shits me). But, when the mo…

For this reason MacBooks aren't really business devices in my opinion. What kind of business is okay with the service Apple provides? You have to send one employee to the Apple Store (if there is even one located near you), maybe get a replacement device, maybe wait for 2 weeks for it to return? This is so much more expensive than buying Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. with on-site support. On top of that you often get repair…

At least in Denmark, the official Apple repair company sends someone to collect the laptop, and posts it back after the repair.

It's still worse than the best Dell etc can offer, but it hasn't taken up too much of my time. The number of necessary repairs is presently very high though.

(I only know about the Dell service in theory. There hasn't been a problem with any of the laptops, and when a server HDD fails I prefer that they just mail the new drive.)

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

#237

Post by MisterOctober »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #162
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious: have you really purchased an average of 6 $1500 Apple products per year? If so, why? Say devices last 5 years, do you own 30 laptops/etc. at any given time?

Most of that dollar figure was for work, and most of those machines cost over $3000. A lot were maxed-out Xserves, which are [were] much more expensive.

Indeed -- Apple's pro machines were really expensive pre-1998 -- I remember in particular that the Quadra 950 [maxed out with 256mb memory! a rendering monster in like 1992] retailed at around ~$4500ish

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

#238

Post by MisterOctober »

secabeen wrote: post #100
paavoova wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Back when end users could replace (upgrade) RAM and storage They still can, by purchasing an older laptop or newer "business class" device. A 2011 Sandy-bridge Thinkpad is perfectly usable even today, and is serviceable in most aspects from battery, SATA/PCIe slots, aftermarket display, and even the CPU on some models. > Now those are soldered to the motherboard and generally non-upgradeable from the start. Which i…

Yep. Lenovo T-series laptops are still chock full of Field Replaceable Units (FRUs). And they still publish the maintenance manual to tell you exactly how to replace them: https://ok2.de/media/ThinkPad/HMM/t480s-hmm_en.pdf

Word. T520 / T61 user here -- upgrades and repairs are a breeze compared to when I was using an MBP -- to say nothing of the design that is actually ergonomically sound [within reason] as opposed to merely cool-looking

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

#239

Post by imron »

growt wrote: post #195
dragonwriter wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 195 countries in the world, 23 in North America. There are 24 countries with Apple stores, 2 in North America. So, there are 172 countries not in North America, 22 of which have at least one Apple Store. So, “most countries outside of North America don't have a single Apple Store” is true, though it's even more true that most countries in North America don't have a single Apple store.

How are there 23 countries in North America?

https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/countries-of-north-ame...

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

#240

Post by raesene9 »

expathacker wrote: post #228

I love OS X, but nowadays I can't stand Apple's hardware. Living outside of the US, using Mac products purchased in the US means you have to go to third-party repair shops. Last week I took my 1-year old, $2,500 MBP to an Apple store in Istanbul, only to find out that Applecare doesn't work here, and a replacement screen would cost me $650 (thanks to super high import taxes). Tomorrow I'm taking it to a 3rd-party rep…

FWIW you might find that Windows 10 Pro + WSL can get you a lot of what you want in terms of desktop capabilities.

MS have been improving the WSL/Windows Interop quite a bit. I find that for things like scripting, text file manipulation and connecting to Linux servers, WSL works fine.

Post reply on HN