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

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361–370 of 455 posts

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

#361
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…

> I do believe their commitment to customer privacy is pretty strong

It might be now (or not, we can't know). But what's your guarantee for the future?

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

#362

Is there a publicly maintained "repairability index" for laptops? iFixit used to have scores for smartphones, but laptops would now benefit from similar ranking. Lenovo T480S still has some user-replaceable parts (RAM, SSD) and is only a little heavier than X1 Carbon.

iFixit has repariability scores for laptops too: https://www.ifixit.com/laptop-repairability

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

#363
post #352
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be totally unfeasible for a consumer to get your rights over a small repair, but you do have EU-law protection for your rights as a consumer. Article 3 of the directive [1] states your rights quite clearly: "Any repair or replacement shall be completed within a reasonable time and without any significant inconvenience to the consumer, taking account of the nature of the goods and the purpose for which the co…

But if "the nature of the goods" required them to ship the laptop to Apple to have a diagnostic run after the repair, and that takes a few weeks?

It doesn't, though. There is nothing fundamental to the concept of a laptop that requires lengthy, licensed repair. That's the point of the law--you're allowed to be realistic about your product's needs, you're not allowed to deliberately make it harder than it has to be, so you can corner the repair market.

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

#364
So, this article says there is no security model that doesn't trust the owner of the device, and there's something to that.

But "evil maid" attacks are a pretty routine occurance in China, and having hardware that is resistant to that would be very interesting. I don't know enough about hardware to really know if they can lock everything down far enough that it's impossible to physically mess with it. It would be interesting if you could verify whether it has been messed with using an iPhone that has been at your side.

But I'm not an Apple user anyway, so this doesn't really effect me anyway :)

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

#365
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For someone not blinded by unwavering loyalty you sure do love being locked in to a single vendor. > Don’t tell me that I can get this all with Linux and a Dell. You know I can’t. That's a feature, in every category of electronoic life I have multiple companies competing to provide me with nearly everything I want. > For my “loyalty” to be considered “unwavering” there would have to be a legitimate alternative that d…

“For someone not blinded by unwavering loyalty you sure do love being locked in to a single vendor.” That’ll be a logical fallacy whose name I can’t be arsed finding. I sure do love not having to deal with a bunch of shit just to keep my computers (phones, tablets, watches, earphones, tv) running. That’s what I love. This sad trope of the Apple fanboy needs to die. Just because I love not having to deal with all the…

> But, objectively, for the everyman, is the Apple ecosystem currently the best? It absolutely is.

Have any evidence to back up that spurious claim?

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

#366
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Or a good way to get it repaired? Ship it to whatever address they tell you to.

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

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can turn this off. I haven't done an update in at least a year.

Wow. So you don’t apply security patches? Or am I not understanding what you are saying?

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

#369
post #341
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What do you mean? Large enterprises will surely staff and train their own Mac support staff. I went to my companies walk up support desk in my building for an HP Zbook issue. They had a few Macs taken apart they were fixing. Apple stores are for consumers like you and me. No large company is going to send an employee there. It’s likely the company has support contract with Apple or a 3rd party. Beside you can just ov…

Large enterprises are not what I'm talking about. Those already have large-scale support contracts and don't need the on-site support for each device. I'm talking about small to medium businesses and freelancers. Those often don't have the money to have a spare $2,500 laptop around just in case the manufacturer needs 2-3 weeks to repair the broken computer.

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

#370
post #353
post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? Large enterprises will surely staff and train their own Mac support staff. I went to my companies walk up support desk in my building for an HP Zbook issue. They had a few Macs taken apart they were fixing. Apple stores are for consumers like you and me. No large company is going to send an employee there. It’s likely the company has support contract with Apple or a 3rd party. Beside you can just ov…

I was an employee in a startup and had to take my MacBook Pro to the Apple store myself when it had recurring kernel panics. They bought a new MacBook Pro in the meantime for me to use, since there weren't any spares available at that time and Apple doesn't provide loaners. Since then, the machines have gotten even more expensive, the extras have been reduced and they've gotten less reliable. Only Apple fanboyism kee…

Yes I agree for startups but middle to large size companies would probably have a dedicated Apple guy. It’s why I said large entprises.

Even startups can get service at Apple stores but if there’s not one close by in can be a serious pain.

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