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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

#321

Post by pmontra »

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…

HP also offers on site customer service. I bought the next business day one for the laptop I'm using right now. I payed it a less than 100 Euro for 36 months in 2014. It's more than 100 Euro for each following 12 months period. This should be telling about their expectations of durability and/or availability of spares.

I got the screen replaced for free at home after about one year (a failing contact in the hinges). I sent them a video recorded with my phone to demonstrate the problem. The technician came the next day.

I had to change the keyboard twice (an arrow key years ago and the left ctrl-shift keys died a few months ago). The customer service doen't replace keyboards but the replacement parts are cheap. I bought them on Amazon and looked at videos on YouTube to learn how disassemble and reassemble the laptop (a ZBook 15 first series.) I like that I can open it and replace RAM and disks, which I did. I could even replace CPU and GPU much like in desktops. OK, it's 3 kg and not slim, but it's worth the extra weight and size.

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

#322

Post by consp »

the_clarence wrote: post #301
muse900 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree, and the more I think about it, the more I feel that apple products have started becoming inaccessible to me too. From what I understand they want to protect their brand by building quality and repairing with quality as well. Issue is that they are lacking on employees for what they want to do. A week ago I was in the apple store in London, a guy next to me bought one of their new flagships through o2 a…

Why would you buy a phone through O2? Just go to an Apple Store and buy it directly.

Most likely: phone-on-a-loan contracts. You pay per month instead of the insane cost outright.

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

#323

Post by wilsonnb3 »

colordrops wrote: post #194
gumby wrote: post #178

You know they also sell machines without the secure enclave bonded to the substrate. If you don't want that feature you can buy one of their other machines -- or someone else's. I can find plenty of reasons to dump on Apple, but I do believe their commitment to customer privacy is pretty strong (even before considering that they are a large corporation). And I say that even though I don't believe, say, their commitme…

Their whole "privacy" campaign recently is precisely to drum up business. Everyone is parroting how Apple is so focused on privacy when they forget that they work closely with the FBI. Remember the whole thing about iMessage keeping encryption keys stored on apple servers? iPhones have a mics, a camera, and access to all your personal data. Calling apple strong on privacy is like calling lions strong on vegetarianism…

My only knowledge of Apple and the FBI is Apple refusing to unlock iPhones at the FBi’s request - care to enlighten me further?

I’m also not sure what the problem with Apple keeping iMessage encryption keys on their servers is. The article I read about it said that Signal also uses centralized encryption key servers and nobody ever complains about Signal.

https://www.wired.com/2015/09/apple-fighting-privacy-imessag...

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

#324

Post by wilsonnb3 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #267
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…

The WiFi adapter restrictions are either the result of hardware restrictions (the UEFI firmware not allowing a different device) or a lack of drivers (there's no macs with Intel PCI WiFi cards so Intel doesn't have any MacOS drivers). Although there's plenty of reasons to critisise MacOS restrictions, the WiFi hardware issue is not one of Apple's faults.

Yeah my Thinkpad X220, a model generally loved by Apple critics, also has a WiFi card whitelist in the bios.

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

#325

Post by xg15 »

> “Another is security, but I don’t see a security model that doesn’t trust the owner of the device making much sense.”

Apologies for the cynism, but isn't this pretty much the mainstream security model since at least the advent of smartphones?

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

#326

Post by consp »

zimpenfish wrote: post #292
chewyland wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a MacBook owner MacOS feels like abandonware to me. When I reboot into Bootcamp and Windows 10 I feel like I'm using a machine 10 years in the future.

Whereas when I boot my games box into Windows 10 and it sits there saying "Applying updates" for 45 minutes before rebooting and then thrashing itself into unusability for another 45-60 minutes doing ... something ... I feel like I'm being trolled by MS.

I have the same experience with the force upgrades of OSX (due to xcode). Download is big, require massive 21G of free space, takes ages to update on older MBPs, everything gets more sluggish after the update and crashes more often...

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

#327

Post by vermilingua »

xg15 wrote: post #325

> “Another is security, but I don’t see a security model that doesn’t trust the owner of the device making much sense.” Apologies for the cynism, but isn't this pretty much the mainstream security model since at least the advent of smartphones?

It is mainstream, but I'd say the author has it subtly wrong. The model distrusts the user, not the owner. It just happens that we are no longer the owners of the devices we use.

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

#328

Post by AlexandrB »

a_f wrote: post #285
petepete wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I'm not prepared to have Candy Crush adverts in my Start Menu, which counts Windows out. Additionally, I know I can deactivate them by jumping through a couple of hoops, but that's not the point.

It does take some setup and tweeks; but you can create a perfectly serviceable W10 laptop without the crappy start menu and advertising. I primarily use ClassicShell (www.classicshell.net), although others exist, coupled with Spybot's antibeacon ( https://www.safer-networking.org/products/spybot-anti-beacon... )

> It does take some setup and tweeks; but you can create a perfectly serviceable W10 laptop without the crappy start menu and advertising.

What a ridiculous situation. Microsoft used to have the fig leaf that it was the OEMs stuffing crapware into new computers but at some point they decided to cut out the middleman and do it themselves.

I'm dreading the day that I have to move off of Windows 7. So far it's still creaking along, but eventually something will force me to upgrade. All I want is to give Microsoft a sum of money (even a big amount of money is fine) and get an operating system that's supported for at least 1 year. If I could get access to Windows Enterprise without jumping through hoops (like self-incorporating) that might be an acceptable compromise.

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

#329

Post by Sharlin »

hrktb wrote: post #241
fulafel wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Just in case, it was not meant sarcasticly. Repairs can be done by shipping it to whatever support address they provide. I haven’t done it in years but if your repair shop takes 14 days, it can be signifixantly faster.

The whole point with that 14 business days quote is that they will very likely ship it somewhere outside the country, or at the very least to another city. And if you ship it yourself you most likely have to pay for the shipping from your own pocket.

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

#330

Post by swift532 »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #318
tobyhinloopen wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope we get a "right to repair" law in EU, where the seller is required by law to provide repairability services next to their regular warranties. That means that, as a seller, you must provide a service to repair (and replacement parts) for "reasonable" prices for anything you sell. For example, if you're selling notebooks, you must be able to provide notebook parts and repair as well for the products you sell. Co…

Maintainability is a feature, so to speak. Another option would be to purchase the product that best fits your needs, including warranty, repair, parts, upgrading, etc. If Brand A decides it's best to not provide Feature X and you __need__ Feature X, then you can decide that Brand A isn't for you. If anything should be legislated it should be publishing the details about warranty coverage, average cost or repair, mos…

As a "consumer" who develops iOS apps, what alternative choice to a mac can I make? With monopolies that tend to crop up these days, the phrase that customers have a choice rings hollow.
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