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My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

tobiasberg.net

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Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#311

Post by PunchyHamster »

raverbashing wrote: post #213
BoorishBears wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great example of their point, all I got was a mechanically inferior connector (putting the most important piece of the female connector on a floating sliver of plastic was a choice) and the cable hell attached to USB C. If USB C had been so important to me I wouldn't have bought iPhones all those years.

Apple can't even make their strain relief on their cables work properly due to "being ugly" so preferring them to USBC is just another case of Apple-juice-kool-aid

it's ridiculus that this is still the problem ,that's no 1 cause for dead cables for our helpdesk

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#312

Post by speleding »

avidiax wrote: post #166
BoorishBears wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great example of their point, all I got was a mechanically inferior connector (putting the most important piece of the female connector on a floating sliver of plastic was a choice) and the cable hell attached to USB C. If USB C had been so important to me I wouldn't have bought iPhones all those years.

You also got a connector that supports much more than USB 2.0 speeds. It also supports high power charging, video, thunderbolt, etc. Lightning was a dead-end connector that was only kept around to keep the Made-for-iPhone moat drawbridge up. USB-C makes the right design choice in putting the springs in the cable. Those wear out over time. I've never seen the male part of the female USB-C break, but I'm sure it's poss…

USB-C is decent for data transfer. It's pretty poor for power delivery: the pins are too close, so it's not rated for use in bathrooms or kitchens, and there are many more of them than needed for power delivery, making it relatively expensive to use in things like children's toys.

It was a mistake to conflate flexible power delivery and data transfer, you rarely need both at the same time. It's possible to design a better and cheaper 3 or 4 pin power delivery standard that can use higher power. But the law now says USB-C and good luck ever changing that.

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#313

Post by PunchyHamster »

wvenable wrote: post #50
MostlyStable wrote: post #42

>Here’s hoping governments regulate laptop manufacturers to actually make repairable machines in the future. No, this is a bad solution. If you want a repairable machine, buy one. They exist. Others have already mentioned Framework, but there are other options that aren't that far down the spectrum either. One of the things macbook users praise the most is "build quality", which often means the solidity of the device…

> No, this is a bad solution. You didn't say why this is a bad solution. The government mandates that cars get safer every year and fatalities are down 78% from the 1960s. Whenever government regulates things to benefit people, people tend to benefit. > One of the things macbook users praise the most is "build quality", which often means the solidity of the device, lack of flex, etc. It seems like the Macbook Neo has…

> You didn't say why this is a bad solution. The government mandates that cars get safer every year and fatalities are down 78% from the 1960s. Whenever government regulates things to benefit people, people tend to benefit.

That's widely incorrect. EU mandates some active systems (TC, ABS) and some basic level of physical protection, but majority of gains there have been driven by manufacturers trying to ace eachother in EuroNCAP rating

EU makes sure woefully unsafe car can't be sold, sure, but most of the progress here has been manufacturers, and non-car-related road safety improvements.

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#314

Post by PunchyHamster »

internet2000 wrote: post #55
wvenable wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, this is a bad solution. You didn't say why this is a bad solution. The government mandates that cars get safer every year and fatalities are down 78% from the 1960s. Whenever government regulates things to benefit people, people tend to benefit. > One of the things macbook users praise the most is "build quality", which often means the solidity of the device, lack of flex, etc. It seems like the Macbook Neo has…

> It seems like the Macbook Neo has a lot of those properties as well for a very inexpensive device that is extremely easy to repair. It's slightly worse, slightly more flex, thicker and heavier vs an Air in spite of having a smaller battery and more empty space. It's all trade offs. If you want repairable, please buy a Framework or Lenovo. Backseat industrial designing through legislation is not the answer.

> Backseat industrial designing through legislation is not the answer.

You can still legislate parts availability and availability of docs.

You can legislate parts pairing or outright ban it

There is plenty that can be done, just need competent lawmakers

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#315

Post by PunchyHamster »

VogonPoetry wrote: post #85
free_bip wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no, my laptop is 2mm thicker than a different laptop. Won't someone think of the 2mm?

That 2mm uses at least (2*335 + 2*235) * 2mm * 1mm = 2,280 mm^3 more material for the case. (a wall thickness of 1mm)

and less broken devices hitting landfill

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#316

Post by vintagedave »

Gigachad wrote: post #84
MostlyStable wrote: post #42

>Here’s hoping governments regulate laptop manufacturers to actually make repairable machines in the future. No, this is a bad solution. If you want a repairable machine, buy one. They exist. Others have already mentioned Framework, but there are other options that aren't that far down the spectrum either. One of the things macbook users praise the most is "build quality", which often means the solidity of the device…

Decades of HN users finger wagging and suggesting FOSS hardware has progressed society nowhere. 12 months from EU mandatory replaceable batteries and products across the industry are being redesigned with repairability, usb-c, and user friendly designs. It’s time to accept regulation actually does work when you have a competent government.

> regulation actually does work when you have a competent government

This is the free market. Free as in, regulated to allow and encourage market entry and competition (as with replacement keyboards), not free as in unregulated. When you look back at when 'free market' was first strongly mentioned as a term, this is what it meant.

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#317

Post by alsetmusic »

southerntofu wrote: post #202
alsetmusic wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When one party will violate every norm and law to the greatest extent that they can get away with it, it's pretty much impossible to compete with them. I want good things for people. I can't compete with fascists because they will cheat and lie and employ violence. My positive intent is almost impossible to out thwart their dirty deeds if they are willing to break laws / change laws and I won't.

Assuming you're from the USA, your two main parties are exactly like that. The appearances have changed, but Obama drone-assassinating random children on the other side of the world was not much better than what Trump is doing. Not defending Trump, to be clear, just saying US imperialism and fascism has much deeper roots and that removing Trump is not going to fix any issues the rest of the world has with the USA.

USA government is corrupt, true. Current admin is balls-out corrupt in ways that have a French legislator calling out that impeachment would have happened there. It's shockingly out in the open corrupt, and that's saying a lot because most of the people ripping us off want to be somewhat quiet about it and not draw attention.

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#318

Post by MisterTea »

RajT88 wrote: post #142
Gigachad wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is mostly because Americans keep electing total morons.

I would actually suggest this is symptomatic of the real problem: money in politics. Elected officials (and some appointed, like SCOTUS) keep changing laws and precedents to allow more and more money in politics. They can't quit all that dark money - without a lot of funding, you don't get elected. Usually the best funded candidate wins. There was an anonymous oped from a congressman some years back which bemoaned th…

> that 60% of their time was dedicated to meeting with donors for reelection campaigns instead of working on real problems.

This is the same story told by Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine (at the end of the early life section): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Morello#Early_life

Key line: "He had to compromise his entire being every day."

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#319

Post by akvadrako »

justinator wrote: post #28
KnuthIsGod wrote: post #8

My first computer was a Mac Plus. I got to experience Apple's customer hostile practices. Many years ago l decided never to buy an Apple product again.

AppleCare is honestly a great deal, especially for laptops. M1 Macbook Pros from 2020 are humming along just fine for regular people who see no reason to upgrade. The future is now, old man.

I had AppleCare when my keyboard failed. They blamed it on me because of an dent about 1mm wide I never noticed on the back corner.

So you just get screwed twice.

Re: My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix

#320

Post by ryanmcbride »

MostlyStable wrote: post #42

>Here’s hoping governments regulate laptop manufacturers to actually make repairable machines in the future. No, this is a bad solution. If you want a repairable machine, buy one. They exist. Others have already mentioned Framework, but there are other options that aren't that far down the spectrum either. One of the things macbook users praise the most is "build quality", which often means the solidity of the device…

I'd like to know what planet you live on where a single time over the last 50 years a company has done one solitary thing that was good for the consumer without having the gun of regulation against their head.
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