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Unfixable, Unhackable, Untenable. An iFixit Op-ed.
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97 Replies
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Good article, thanks for posting.
“If we choose the Retina display over the existing MacBook Pro, the next generation of Mac laptops will likely be less repairable still. When that happens, we won’t be able to blame Apple. We’ll have to blame ourselves.”
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
If the Retina Mac or the Macbook Air was the only laptops Apple offered that would certainly make me move to Windows
Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
Adrenalin Television -
The big message of the article really is that Apple uses something exciting and new to squeeze lots of undesirable things under people’s nooses so the bad gets overlooked and is forgotten.
Everybody talks about the display, few about the locked-down nature and the lost “legacy” ports. They could have build a “regular” MBP with retina display.
So what if it’s 0.24 inches inches thinner. Is that seriously making any difference in day to day usage or is it just a show-off that’s paid for with all the mentioned issues?
I am really curious about the lifespan of such a machine when its under heavy load day in and out beyond what people do with an AIR, especially with a Keppler GPU.——
“You also agree that you will not use these products for… the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.”
iTunes End User Licence Agreement -
Apple, not the consumer company, the commodity company.
What they have learned from their consumer products is that they make the most money when people replace every year or two rather than upgrade components.
“We” can grouse all we want but the article also points out what the market wants/buys.
Based on what I’m seeing and hearing the MBPr will follow the same successful pattern in sales. This may be their first “Pro” product to go down that path. I suspect the MacPro replacement next year will follow suit.
I wouldn’t even be surprised that Apple will find it easier to replace rather than repair these units if they have issues under warranty/Apple Care.
Related to FCPX, what they may have learned is that people are more inclined to buy new GPUs for their old MacPro than buy new computers. I believe Apple wants to put an end to that in their next “pro” desktop.
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Yeah terrible.
And it does 9 streams ProRes HQ from the internal storage. What a crappy product.
Never gonna buy it. It’s just a Fast iPad which i can’t open up myself…..
Sarkasm off.
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[Craig Seeman] “What they have learned from their consumer products is that they make the most money when people replace every year or two rather than upgrade components.”
So how well does this work for you and your business? In other words, assuming this is the Apple business plan, are you happy about it, resigned, or pissed off – purely from your own personal point of view?
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
Like it or not, Apple is the true epitome of planned obsolesce these days and the market rewards that. But they aren’t to blame for starting that. If you follow the history of consumer products and manufacturing, we’ve been on that path for decades.
My dad used to be a TV repair man in the days when a service shop could just about repair anything inside the TV. During his time, electronics evolved into less and less serviceable components and more self-contained modules. Module goes bad – toss it out and replace the whole unit.
Look at how most modern cars are designed and built. Fewer serviceable elements. Longer intervals between routine checks and servicing, but it takes an expensive diagnostics center to really troubleshoot anything. In both cases, the small shops go out of business, because there’s less and less they can do for the customer.
The counter-trend is in boutique products. For example, guitar players love tube amps and vintage pedals and stomp boxes. It’s a small market and the products fetch an appropriate price.
I suspect computing in general will go small, lighter, maybe more powerful, but yet entirely DISPOSABLE. A few “pros” and “computer geeks” will opt for custom, BTO and DIY systems that buck the trend. Odds are it won’t be in laptops, though, except those that will give you a hernia.
iPhone = iPad = laptop = trashcan every 2-3 years
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
This all goes toward what Steve believed was the best computer and what his goals were for the company since the beginning. Oddly, it all sorta got sidetracked in our favor while Apple was under the reign of Amelio and others with the myriad of options and even license of the OS. He came back, did away with licensing, started taking away floppy drives and serial ports, came out with the iMac and cube, new PowerBook and iBook. All progressively less expandable. The iPod and iPhone were not designed to be expandable. We’ve even seen Mac minis and Apple TVs go that route. You can argue they’d like you to update every year or two, but on the other hand, their machines are so comparatively well built, expensive and well designed that people keep them much longer than their windows counterparts.
To the pro user minority’s detriment, I think they are truly following what Apple believes to be their mission. An end to end ecosystem solution of computers as SJ originally saw them with limited expandability. He used to fight with Wozniak about how many expansion ports to put on the motherboard. He didn’t want people mucking about in his boxes. Even if Tim Cook wanted to change course, it would be pretty hard for him to make the case due to SJs success. I really think Steve was on an accelerated path before he died. He wanted to get so much rolling before he died so the company would have a harder time bowing to pressures and changing course. He was cleaning house big time. Just like he did when he returned.
As a decent size stockholder, I’m elated. As a video editor I’m fairly ticked off.
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[Paul Jay] “Yeah terrible.
And it does 9 streams ProRes HQ from the internal storage. What a crappy product.
Never gonna buy it. It’s just a Fast iPad which i can’t open up myself…..
Sarkasm off.
“With 256 GB storage in the base model I am damn sure you’ll do a hell of a lot of editing and projects with Prores or Uncompressed from internal storage.
Uohhhh, it has flash storage. Wow, now that’s really something new. When did the first laptops with flash storage show up again? Right, 2007. Sony Vaio.
None of that is what this topic is about anyway.Reality on.
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“You also agree that you will not use these products for… the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.”
iTunes End User Licence Agreement -
[Bret Williams] “To the pro user minority’s detriment, I think they are truly following what Apple believes to be their mission. An end to end ecosystem solution of computers as SJ originally saw them with limited expandability. He used to fight with Wozniak about how many expansion ports to put on the motherboard. He didn’t want people mucking about in his boxes. Even if Tim Cook wanted to change course, it would be pretty hard for him to make the case due to SJs success. I really think Steve was on an accelerated path before he died. He wanted to get so much rolling before he died so the company would have a harder time bowing to pressures and changing course. He was cleaning house big time. Just like he did when he returned.
“Perhaps this is why we’re waiting so long for a new Mac Pro, the vision for it changed and they went back to the drawing board.
Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
Adrenalin Television
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