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Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

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Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#51

I was recently upgrading a 2008 MacBook. Upgraded the hard drive and the memory. It was so easy. It is an absolute joy to service this machine. It also has many useful ports and an awesome battery indicator on the side.

I feel the same about my 2012 MacBookPro. While it was a _tiny_ bit down the path of "not user serviceable", replacing the battery and trackpad was extremely easy. And one of the first things I did to it was replace/upgrade Apple's RAM and drop an SSD into the optical bay.

The G4 Powerbooks and first-generation Intel laptops were a PAIN to open up and service.

We only have it good for one generation (unibodies)

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, I remember this initially, but many discussions about right to repair get hijacked and center around topics like iFixit and their blatantly self-serving anti-Apple campaigns.

As self-serving as it is, iFixit is doing a social good IMO. If it weren't for them, I would have spent more money replacing or having someone else repair my iPhone. So I don't care if they make money off of it, they save me more money in the long-run, and they prevent a larger number of phones and other devices being cycled through the economy before necessary. If that means punching up at Apple, so be it. Apple can…

> iFixit is doing a social good IMO

Agree.

> anyone fighting against it is on the right side

Don't. For example, Louis Rossmann recently kicked up a storm when he claimed that Apple used the customs to seize his "genuine" battery shipments (which was widely reported in the media and gave him significant publicity), except it turned out that he left out the fact that the parts were unauthorized: https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9pow06/louis_rossman.... Self-serving PR stunts that consist of misinformation and depend on the subsequent media outrage don't help "the right side".

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with some of your sub points from point 1. Selling parts, providing documentation, and building repair manuals are forcing behaviors form companies. Compelling them to do provide a service or product that they would not otherwise provide. Legislation that prevents certain actions is great, but I'm wary of any compulsion from governments to companies and individuals. If you want to take stuff apart, Go for…

How do you feel about mandatory warranty periods? I see the requirement of repair manuals for a mass-produced product as a very similar thing, and both are justified as part of ensuring a fair bargain where you get what you paid for, not a device that randomly fails and wastes all the money you put into it.

> How do you feel about mandatory warranty periods?

You know what you're getting when you buy the product. It's critically important to be able to say "no warranty whatsoever"; Open Source wouldn't exist without that, and neither would the (still quite small) open hardware community. Nor, for that matter, would small hardware manufacturers.

(I do feel that you should always be legally allowed to try repairing something. That doesn't mean the manufacturer has to actively help you, or do work for you for free.)

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm old enough to remember the days of the "cheese grater" Power Mac/Mac Pro, when Apple would explicitly call attention to how expandable and user-serviceable a case they'd designed for it. How times change!

I still think that the "cheese grater" was the pinnacle of apple desktop design (and I've never owned a mac), I just love it - enough that I damn near bought a broken one to use to build my new PC in the end laziness won and I went corsair but it's still an amazing piece of industrial design.

That machine was a engineering beauty. very well thought out.

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still think that the "cheese grater" was the pinnacle of apple desktop design (and I've never owned a mac), I just love it - enough that I damn near bought a broken one to use to build my new PC in the end laziness won and I went corsair but it's still an amazing piece of industrial design.

That machine was a engineering beauty. very well thought out.

It really was, it still looks better than the vast majority of modern PC cases with better build quality, the bigger ones all seem to be some variant of "How many RGB's can we shove in this" with flimsy plastic and sharp edges.

I went with one of these in the end https://www.corsair.com/ca/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Carb... because it's a box to put bits in, no fuss, no muss no RGB.

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#56
That is why I'm holding to my 2011 ThinkPad T420 for dear life. I replaced keyboard 3 times ($30-$40 off ebay), changed HDD to SSD, and replaced CD-ROM with another SATA drive bay.

Not having USB3 is annoying, the CPU is a little slow and the batteries aren't what they used to be, but the things still works and gives me no problems.

I would like to get something smaller and lighter but all the affordable light laptops come with at most 8GB of not upgradable memory, whereas mine has 12GB and upgradable to 16.

What I ended up doing is getting a desktop computer for anything that needs performance and every time I look at anything apple, it just looks like I'm about to get on a treadmill of shelling out a couple of thousand dollars every year without the ability to own, upgrade or repair any of my devices.

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As self-serving as it is, iFixit is doing a social good IMO. If it weren't for them, I would have spent more money replacing or having someone else repair my iPhone. So I don't care if they make money off of it, they save me more money in the long-run, and they prevent a larger number of phones and other devices being cycled through the economy before necessary. If that means punching up at Apple, so be it. Apple can…

> iFixit is doing a social good IMO Agree. > anyone fighting against it is on the right side Don't. For example, Louis Rossmann recently kicked up a storm when he claimed that Apple used the customs to seize his "genuine" battery shipments (which was widely reported in the media and gave him significant publicity), except it turned out that he left out the fact that the parts were unauthorized: https://old.reddit.com…

"Unauthorized" flies in the face of the anti-tying provisions of the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act.

Go read our laws and do try to keep up with them, eh? You're one of the reasons things like this are happening.

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#58

I was recently upgrading a 2008 MacBook. Upgraded the hard drive and the memory. It was so easy. It is an absolute joy to service this machine. It also has many useful ports and an awesome battery indicator on the side.

I remember in the old iBooks back when WiFi was a new thing you could order without it and install your own card later in about 15 seconds. There were little sprung pull tabs between some of the function keys, pull them back, lift the keyboard out, AirPort card slot was right there. RAM slots too. And the removable keyboard , gosh! Those keyboards didn’t just shit the bed if a piece of dust got in them, but even if t…

Yeah but it was half a centimeter thicker, and therefore useless to today's Apple.

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#59

I was recently upgrading a 2008 MacBook. Upgraded the hard drive and the memory. It was so easy. It is an absolute joy to service this machine. It also has many useful ports and an awesome battery indicator on the side.

I'm old enough to remember the days of the "cheese grater" Power Mac/Mac Pro, when Apple would explicitly call attention to how expandable and user-serviceable a case they'd designed for it. How times change!

It hasn't been that long since the tower-style Mac Pro. The current design only came out in 2013.

Re: Internal Documents Show Apple Is Capable of Implementing Right to Repair

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As self-serving as it is, iFixit is doing a social good IMO. If it weren't for them, I would have spent more money replacing or having someone else repair my iPhone. So I don't care if they make money off of it, they save me more money in the long-run, and they prevent a larger number of phones and other devices being cycled through the economy before necessary. If that means punching up at Apple, so be it. Apple can…

> iFixit is doing a social good IMO Agree. > anyone fighting against it is on the right side Don't. For example, Louis Rossmann recently kicked up a storm when he claimed that Apple used the customs to seize his "genuine" battery shipments (which was widely reported in the media and gave him significant publicity), except it turned out that he left out the fact that the parts were unauthorized: https://old.reddit.com…

Hah, I should clarify that I don't think gratuitous lying is an acceptable way to fight.
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