5 ms·

Somehow I am reminded of the lyrics "You spin me right round, right round, baby." The spin, I feel, is that somehow being able to replace one's batteries is ba

by jhiska 9y ago

Somehow I am reminded of the lyrics "You spin me right round, right round, baby." The spin, I feel, is that somehow being able to replace one's batteries is bad. Whereas having an iPhone with degraded performance and an expensive-to-replace battery is good. You "bought a spare because you could" and "now it sits, waiting for you to recycle it", thus creating waste, but one can argue that anyone buying stuff they don't need creates waste, and that being able to replace one's phone battery isn't about saving the environment but saving one's hard-earned money.

mikestew 9y ago
Alternative ways of looking at things is “spin” in your mind, huh? Well, that’s one way to keep a narrative, I suppose.
- jhiska 9y ago
  I guess I could call them alternative facts, if you prefer.
valuearb 9y ago
First, you can replace an iPhone battery, just take it to your Apple Store. It's reasonably affordable ($79) or free if still under warranty/Applecare. User-replaceable batteries don't change anything for the environment. Second, user-replaceable batteries don't come for free. They come with a series of trade-offs. Small increases in cost, space, even weight. If you plan to keep your phone for more than 2 years, user-replaceable will be more important to you than if you intend to replace every 2 years. I remember when I switched to MacBook Pros from my Dell laptops. I had two flights a week that were about 5 hours each. I had to buy an extra laptop battery and charger so my Dell would last the entire flight. And sometimes I'd forget to charge both batteries and I'd be back to a dead laptop halfway through the flight. Then I read the reviews of these new MBPs that lasted 7-8 hours instead of 5 hours, that used sealed batteries. I switched and my new MBP worked like a charm, easily lasting the entire flight every time. One big reason Apple made that advance was entirely because they abandoned removable batteries. They were able to fit more battery using a custom form factor that would have been super expensive to make removable. No one had done this as well before, because Apple was the first to implement good embedded battery conditioning software so they would last a couple years without needing replacement. Sealed batteries aren't always better, but they typically are for most users and use cases.
- ksk 9y ago
  > They were able to fit more battery using a custom form factor that would have been super expensive to make removable. No one had done this as well before, because Apple was the first to implement good embedded battery conditioning software so they would last a couple years without needing replacement. Why speculate on a tech forum, when these things are easy to find out? Just look at the battery specs for both machines. https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/ is ~ 55 Watt/hr A few random dells I looked up http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13/spd/xps-13-9360-laptop/dncwtr744h http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13/spd/xps-1... 60Watt/hr http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-13/spd/alienware-13-laptop/dkcwkble1s http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-13/spd... 76Watt/hr Clearly, it seems to be the opposite. After using all kinds of laptops, the main benefits of Apple laptops AFAICT is that they don't come with pre-installed bullshit, they're easier to test because they only come in like 5 varieties, as opposed to the hundreds of thousands combinations that Windows has to deal with, and that OSX can be easier to use, for some users. I would recommend apple to any non-technical user for sure. I personally have never found apple hardware to be any different than other brands. I'm still using my Sony laptop from 2011 and its just as fast and rock-solid as the day I purchased it. As an aside, Microsoft doesn't usually cripple their popular software (Office, Visual studio, etc) so that it requires the latest OS, unlike Apple which forces you on the upgrade treadmill - sure, its free, but you also don't have a choice. YMMV ofcource.
  - valuearb 9y ago
    So your rebuttal attempt to undercut my description of laptop market technology 8 years ago is linking to a couple present day laptops? OK, I’ll play. How thick are those laptops? How heavy are those laptops? How does their battery life compare? And review this so you have some basic technical knowledge and understanding of history. https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro-battery-life-to-die-for https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro... https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro-battery-life-to-die-for/4 https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro...

by jhiska 9y ago

mikestew 9y ago

Alternative ways of looking at things is “spin” in your mind, huh? Well, that’s one way to keep a narrative, I suppose.

jhiska 9y ago
I guess I could call them alternative facts, if you prefer.

valuearb 9y ago

First, you can replace an iPhone battery, just take it to your Apple Store. It's reasonably affordable ($79) or free if still under warranty/Applecare. User-replaceable batteries don't change anything for the environment. Second, user-replaceable batteries don't come for free. They come with a series of trade-offs. Small increases in cost, space, even weight. If you plan to keep your phone for more than 2 years, user-replaceable will be more important to you than if you intend to replace every 2 years. I remember when I switched to MacBook Pros from my Dell laptops. I had two flights a week that were about 5 hours each. I had to buy an extra laptop battery and charger so my Dell would last the entire flight. And sometimes I'd forget to charge both batteries and I'd be back to a dead laptop halfway through the flight. Then I read the reviews of these new MBPs that lasted 7-8 hours instead of 5 hours, that used sealed batteries. I switched and my new MBP worked like a charm, easily lasting the entire flight every time. One big reason Apple made that advance was entirely because they abandoned removable batteries. They were able to fit more battery using a custom form factor that would have been super expensive to make removable. No one had done this as well before, because Apple was the first to implement good embedded battery conditioning software so they would last a couple years without needing replacement. Sealed batteries aren't always better, but they typically are for most users and use cases.

ksk 9y ago
> They were able to fit more battery using a custom form factor that would have been super expensive to make removable. No one had done this as well before, because Apple was the first to implement good embedded battery conditioning software so they would last a couple years without needing replacement. Why speculate on a tech forum, when these things are easy to find out? Just look at the battery specs for both machines. https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/ is ~ 55 Watt/hr A few random dells I looked up http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13/spd/xps-13-9360-laptop/dncwtr744h http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-13/spd/xps-1... 60Watt/hr http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-13/spd/alienware-13-laptop/dkcwkble1s http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-13/spd... 76Watt/hr Clearly, it seems to be the opposite. After using all kinds of laptops, the main benefits of Apple laptops AFAICT is that they don't come with pre-installed bullshit, they're easier to test because they only come in like 5 varieties, as opposed to the hundreds of thousands combinations that Windows has to deal with, and that OSX can be easier to use, for some users. I would recommend apple to any non-technical user for sure. I personally have never found apple hardware to be any different than other brands. I'm still using my Sony laptop from 2011 and its just as fast and rock-solid as the day I purchased it. As an aside, Microsoft doesn't usually cripple their popular software (Office, Visual studio, etc) so that it requires the latest OS, unlike Apple which forces you on the upgrade treadmill - sure, its free, but you also don't have a choice. YMMV ofcource.
- valuearb 9y ago
  So your rebuttal attempt to undercut my description of laptop market technology 8 years ago is linking to a couple present day laptops? OK, I’ll play. How thick are those laptops? How heavy are those laptops? How does their battery life compare? And review this so you have some basic technical knowledge and understanding of history. https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro-battery-life-to-die-for https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro... https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro-battery-life-to-die-for/4 https://www.anandtech.com/show/2783/apple-s-2009-macbook-pro...