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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

#11

Post by jonknee »

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…

> 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.

This is no different than any other phone, it has nothing to do with the upgradability (which arguably is better for Apple than other phones since Android's OS upgrade path is slow at best and absent on a lot of devices).

Phones get upgraded every couple of years because the technology is changing so quickly that there are large differences between the models and with carrier subsidies the upgrade cost is minimal. If the iPhone had a removable battery or a SD slot it wouldn't cause people not to upgrade to the next model.

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

#13

Post by m_eiman »

pseudonym wrote: post #6
mdonahoe wrote: post #2

I can't get too worked up by user serviceablility, or lack thereof. "My SSD died the other day. I tried to open it up and replace one of the flash chips, but they deliberately made it impossible for me to service. I had to buy an entire new drive!"

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! ;)

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

#14

Post by hexagonal »

dpearson wrote: post #8
udp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought they confirmed there's going to be a new Mac Pro next year?

There will be, but, even if there wasn't, a Hackintosh might be an option for a professional-grade desktop.

Your answer to "Apple doesn't make a decent desktop computer" is "hack OS X's DRM to install it on unlocked hardware"?

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

#15

Post by generalk »

mdonahoe wrote: post #2

I can't get too worked up by user serviceablility, or lack thereof. "My SSD died the other day. I tried to open it up and replace one of the flash chips, but they deliberately made it impossible for me to service. I had to buy an entire new drive!"

I'd be annoyed if my HD or RAM started showing signs of failure and I had to take it into a service center and have it mailed to a facility somewhere to fix it.

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

#16

Post by brk »

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 only a matter of time before laptops become one giant COB (chip-on-board) manufacturing process where the whole "laptop" is a 10mmx10mmx1mm chip glued to the back of an LCD panel with some battery wrapped around it. And I'll buy one.

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

#17

Post by jmillikin »

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 parts. Serviceability wasn't a goal, it was a workaround.

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

#18

Post by learc83 »

raja wrote: post #3

How many upgrades does average consumer make on their MacBook Pro? I'd argue it's ~0.

RAM upgrades are fairly common. Most of my friends, even the non-technical ones, have upgraded the RAM in their macbook pros.

When I worked at Geeksquad we used to get people in all the time for RAM upgrades ($29 labor charge).

I'm still using an early 2008 macbook pro thanks to a cheap RAM upgrade.

Additionally there is a huge secondary market for macbook pros. Plenty of people help pay for their new $2k+ computer by selling their old one. That won't work if it's completely obsolete in 3 years.

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

#19

Post by kemiller »

hexagonal wrote: post #14
dpearson wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There will be, but, even if there wasn't, a Hackintosh might be an option for a professional-grade desktop.

Your answer to "Apple doesn't make a decent desktop computer" is "hack OS X's DRM to install it on unlocked hardware"?

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

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

#20

Post by microtonal »

raja wrote: post #3

How many upgrades does average consumer make on their MacBook Pro? I'd argue it's ~0.

Virtually all people I know that have MacBook Pro's upgraded the memory. Some replaced hard disks by SSDs.

Upgrading memory is especially attractive, since it's so much cheaper to buy it practically anywhere else then Apple.

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