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Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

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Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#51

Post by jarek »

jmillikin wrote: post #17

Ten years ago, a computer's useful lifetime was measured in months. Hardware specs were advancing so quickly that a two-year-old computer might not be capable of running newly-released software. RAM, disk, and even CPU upgrades were necessary to keep up to date. Except for gamers, this is no longer true. Computers without user-replaceable parts are a natural outcome of the fact that users no longer need to replace pa…

I'm sorry, but I downvoted you for being inaccurate. Northwood core Pentium 4 CPUs and motherboards using DDR SDRAM were released in 2002. Two years later, the latest and greatest were Prescott cores Pentium 4s, and DDR was in its last stages of being better than DDR2. It would have been a large performance difference, to be sure, but for most applications it would not have been a deal-breaker. You wouldn't have issues running well-maintained XP on your Northwood, which could arguably tide you over until the Windows 7 release in 2009 quite well.

More importantly, the considerable hardware upgrades still hold today - there is no shortage of people who update their MacBook Pros to the newest every year let alone every two years (and these aren't exactly gamers), the mid-2010 13" MacBook Pro still had a Core 2 Duo, none of the 2010 refresh MacBooks had Thunderbolt, only yesterday there was angst about the Mac Pro still using two-year-old CPUs, and the difference between an October 2010 old MacBook Air, the unupgradeable poster child, and a current one is considerable: the former has a Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of RAM if you upgraded during checkout, and a maximum of 128/256 GB hard drive on the 11"/13" respectively. Stepping back to the mid-2009 revision, which you would have had to order in June 2010, the difference is even larger.

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#52

Post by noobiscus »

MSM wrote: post #39
jmillikin wrote: post #17

Ten years ago, a computer's useful lifetime was measured in months. Hardware specs were advancing so quickly that a two-year-old computer might not be capable of running newly-released software. RAM, disk, and even CPU upgrades were necessary to keep up to date. Except for gamers, this is no longer true. Computers without user-replaceable parts are a natural outcome of the fact that users no longer need to replace pa…

I look at it this way: I buy a new car, and for whatever reason, I really want nice rims on it. If I want the rims package, I also have to buy the package with traction control and sat nav, and it's going to cost me $3,500. It doesn't make any sense- I don't want those other things. I only want rims. Now with computers- say I work with big data, so I really only need a computer with a boatload of RAM and a pretty meh…

Apple has been doing this for years already.

Want a 15" screen? You WILL be having an i7 then.

(which might account for why Apple's 'entry' level 15" is 3x the cost of its competitors (UK))

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#53

Post by kamjam »

_djo_ wrote: post #46
jmillikin wrote: post #17

Ten years ago, a computer's useful lifetime was measured in months. Hardware specs were advancing so quickly that a two-year-old computer might not be capable of running newly-released software. RAM, disk, and even CPU upgrades were necessary to keep up to date. Except for gamers, this is no longer true. Computers without user-replaceable parts are a natural outcome of the fact that users no longer need to replace pa…

I agree. I bought a white MacBook C2D in late 2006 that is still going strong, with the only things I've replaced being the battery, the HDD and the fan (pretty recently). It's still my primary machine which I use for Python and Java coding on a big retail application. The fact that most parts are not user-replaceable has never been an issue as with the sole exception of those three parts everything else has lasted e…

with the only things I've replaced being the battery, the HDD and the fan (pretty recently)

Errrm, you do realise you can't replace the battery in the Retina MacBook Pro right since it is glued in... probably also the fan and also the HDD without the special screwdriver for their special screws?

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#54

Post by ebbv »

jwallaceparker wrote: post #4

This is going to be a trend with Apple. They have a good thing going with the iPhone and iPad devices which are both non-upgradeable: consumers are compelled to buy a new device every couple of years or so. It's pretty clear they're getting rid of the Mac Pro, which is highly configurable (with memory, storage and graphics cards) and thus has a much longer life span. So is Apple aiming for a future where you have to…

Because all those Nokias and Zunes are really user upgradeable and serviceable right?

God I am sick of this idiotic canard.

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#55

Post by eigenvector »

ezy wrote: post #41
jmillikin wrote: post #17

Ten years ago, a computer's useful lifetime was measured in months. Hardware specs were advancing so quickly that a two-year-old computer might not be capable of running newly-released software. RAM, disk, and even CPU upgrades were necessary to keep up to date. Except for gamers, this is no longer true. Computers without user-replaceable parts are a natural outcome of the fact that users no longer need to replace pa…

This. I think it's also worth noting that for a pro laptop , price is not a major issue, if you're trying to treat your laptop like a BYOB, you're doing it wrong. So: (a) The RAM capacity is limited by the chipset anyway, and on "pro" machines, most people max out the RAM when they purchase or directly after. It's just that now you can't cheat and buy the RAM elsewhere to avoid an apple price premium. (b) The SSD is…

How is purchasing RAM identical to what Apple uses at market prices (rather than marked up by a factor of 2x to 5x) "cheating", exactly?

RAM and storage prices fall drastically with time while memory and storage requirements in software increase with time. If I plan to get 3-5 years of life out of my computer isn't it only logical to add on memory and storage when I need it, not all up front?

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#56

Post by kamjam »

hexagonal wrote: post #34
kemiller wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no DRM on OS X. The only issue with Hackintoshes is drivers and hardware support.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/182218/apple_wins_court_vict... A federal judge has dealt a crushing blow to Mac clone maker Psystar by ruling that the Florida company violated Apple's copyright as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when it installed Apple's operating system on Intel-based computers.

Erm, thought all the new Macs were Intel based now?

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#57

Post by jammmuel »

brk wrote: post #16

Personally I don't really care. I recognize this going in, and I recognize that there are many many other hardware options if I want to unscrew my laptop and dork about with the internals. For me, I travel around a lot. Physical durability and integrity of the hardware, in the smallest possible form factor, is important to me. You don't often get expansion/flexibility to go along with svelte and rugged. I'm sure it's…

I believe what you've just described is an iPad

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#58

Post by jlgreco »

jmillikin wrote: post #17

Ten years ago, a computer's useful lifetime was measured in months. Hardware specs were advancing so quickly that a two-year-old computer might not be capable of running newly-released software. RAM, disk, and even CPU upgrades were necessary to keep up to date. Except for gamers, this is no longer true. Computers without user-replaceable parts are a natural outcome of the fact that users no longer need to replace pa…

I am not sure how to reconcile my general agreement with what you are saying with my real life observation of how rarely I see people with Apple hardware older than 2, maybe 3, years old.

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#59

Post by jarek »

m_eiman wrote: post #13
pseudonym wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is more in the "One of my ram chips went bad, so I had to replace the logic board."

Well, you should have it under warranty in which case it's not your problem. And if it's not under warranty - it's time to buy a new one anyway! ;)

Not sure why you're being downvoted since this is the exact policy Apple is instituting in this case. Sorry about that.

Re: Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts

#60

Post by jlgreco »

ebbv wrote: post #54
jwallaceparker wrote: post #4

This is going to be a trend with Apple. They have a good thing going with the iPhone and iPad devices which are both non-upgradeable: consumers are compelled to buy a new device every couple of years or so. It's pretty clear they're getting rid of the Mac Pro, which is highly configurable (with memory, storage and graphics cards) and thus has a much longer life span. So is Apple aiming for a future where you have to…

Because all those Nokias and Zunes are really user upgradeable and serviceable right? God I am sick of this idiotic canard.

I can at least perform trivial tasks on them, like replacing batteries and storage.
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