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My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

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Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#201

Post by 0xy »

lostlogin wrote: post #166
vondur wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt everyone would want to pay the extra 20-30% more that Apple would charge to cover this.

This is done for all items sold to consumers in New Zealand. A base MacBook is US $999 in the US and NZ $1749 in New Zealand, which is approximately US $1200. Your maths checks out. The tiny market, currency fluctuations and long shipping route probably factor in the price too, but our legislation is surely the prime reason for the cost. I absolutely love the consumer guarantees act we have here, and the protection i…

You're forgetting about the high sales tax of 15% in NZ. That explains the vast majority of the price difference.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#202

Post by ericmay »

asdff wrote: post #122
brianwawok wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a 14 day return on all laptops, you can pick your own loaner off the shelf.

I'll have to keep in mind the $1200 deposit for loaner computers next time I am in need of a critical repair

Charge it to a credit card and then the charge will get reversed when you return the item, and you won't have to worry about it. Just providing a solution here that works easily (not that the problem and solution need to exist).

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#203

Post by zsmi »

asdff wrote: post #185
zsmi wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gotcha. That one did do significantly better. It's interesting to compare that machine to today's. 5.6lbs vs today's 16" at 4.3lbs. 2012 is 0.93" thick and today's is 0.64". I suppose, based on this datapoint, we can say there is something like a ~25% mechanical overhead for "repairability" then. "MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2012 Repairability Score: 7 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)." https://www.ifixit.com/Tear…

The old macbook airs of that era were still light and just as repairable too.

On that ifixit disagrees. 4 is not a 1, but not a 7 either.

"MacBook Air 13" Mid 2012 Repairability Score: 4 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)."

"All the components—including RAM and SSD—are proprietary." Although I suppose there are probably 3rd party options by now.

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012...

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#204

Post by gambiting »

Tarsul wrote: post #195
lostlogin wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see people say this but I can’t see that it it true. This current lockdown in New Zealand has 2011 and 2013 Macbook airs in daily use and they are working perfectly. There is an iPad 2 in daily use also. Those devices have had hard lives. I haven’t got any other electronics with anything approaching this longevity (unless you count espresso hardware). Presumably others are having a very different experience.

i basically can't use my ipad mini from 2012 anymore because the apps in the app store usually need a newer OS version than possible. A laptop from 2012 with Windows (whatever version) wouldn't have these problems whatsoever. I know it's another device type but it shouldn't really matter, both are computing devices.

There are absolutely windows apps that won't run on your 2012 laptop too, it's just less likely you would run into them. Lack of DX 10 and higher APIs as well as lack of things like AVX instructions will prevent certain applications from running at all.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#205

Post by Mikeb85 »

I'm curious why anyone would buy an Apple laptop with all the stories about unreliability in this thread...

I've had 2 laptops in the last ~11 or so years. A ThinkPad (trucked along worry-free for years) and a relatively cheap Acer Swift 3 (AMD Ryzen APU) which I still use to this day, worry-free. I don't think I've ever actually taken any device in for repair, ever, yet somehow in this thread there's a ton of anecdotes.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#206

Post by zsmi »

masklinn wrote: post #192
zsmi wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about always. Apple has been around a long time and apparently the MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2012 was a decent machine for repairability, according to asdff and ifixit anyway. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28305508

The older macbooks were definitely pretty good at repairability (though iirc you had to take the G4s apart completely to access anything, but the unibodies had easy access to most things, on the whitebooks I think the battery was even removable and that gave you access to the ram and hdd slots), but I was talking about the reliability (durability) not the repairability.

Yes, I missed the distinction. On the other hand, we're talking about repairing a laptop which is nearly 10 years old and still having it be useful, so there must be some durability there.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#207

Post by gambiting »

spullara wrote: post #194
riffic wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you know, if expanding batteries were so problematic, why the heck does Apple glue them into the topcase?

To make the computer smaller and lighter.

I refuse to accept that as an answer as to why the battery is glued in. It's just laziness by apple, there's is literally zero reason to use glue to hold the battery, and it means that if you want to ever replace it yourself you end up looking at a 50-steps long guide on ifixit where one of them is pouring solvent behind the battery - it's insane. Just have a system of tabs holding the battery packs in place, glue is not needed.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#208

Post by Isthatablackgsd »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #174
okprod wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My MBP Retina 2013 has been going strong in various environments, not babied at all.

Yea, my 2012 is going strong. I've been meaning to put a ssd in it, but procrastinating. Love the screws Apple.

I strongly recommend this if you can install it. I did it for my tech-illiterate partner for his 2014ish MBP, installed 1/2 TB SDD. It is snappy than before and the FaceTime finally works on his MBP. Before then, his MBP will not get the FT call notification until the last ringing and then it will send the notification but it is too late. I am not sure how spinning rust have a impact on FT from loading. He is not screen recording or anything, it just will struggle so hard to load FT and often failed on spinning rust. Now on SDD, it load normally without issue. Strange behavior. I tried to find info about this but I couldn't find any information about this. Looks like it is one-off deal thing.

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#209

Post by mixmastamyk »

jasongill wrote: post #55

> After speaking to a friend, they told me I had probably received a “lemon” unit (i.e. faulty from the beginning). To be honest, I’m not quite sure where the term comes from. The term comes from the automobile industry, where a "lemon" is a new car that has some kind of issue so severe that it cannot be reasonably repaired under warranty and the buyer can try to seek a refund or replacement vehicle. Wikipedia says t…

https://www.etymonline.com/word/lemon

lemon (n.2)

"worthless thing, disappointment, booby prize," 1909, American English slang; from lemon (n.1), perhaps via a criminal slang sense of "a person who is a loser, a simpleton," perhaps an image of someone a sharper can "suck the juice out of." A pool hall hustle was called a lemon game (1908); while to hand someone a lemon was British slang (1906) for "to pass off a sub-standard article as a good one." Or it simply may be a metaphor for something which leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. Specific sense of "second-hand car in poor condition" is by 1931.

"You won't get a lemon… from Toyota of Orange." :-D

Re: My MacBook Pro had over 10k USD in repairs

#210

Post by everyone »

robertlf wrote: post #127

As long as we're having a big bitch-fest here, I'll throw in my $.02. Other than expanding batteries, my laptops have generally been trouble-free. But the problem I do have is that the older my MBP, the slower it becomes when I upgrade the OS. When I upgraded my 2015 to Big Sur last year, it essentially became unusable because it ran so slowly. It now sits in my closet. Apple should stop nagging you to upgrade the OS…

It seems like they intentionally throttle older models as a feature of the update.. They do it on their phones at least.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/how-to-make-iphone-faster_id...

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