8 ms·
A bigger problem imo is the $700 display replacement. I have a similar problem with my wife’s broken MacBook, where replacing the display costs almost as much
by CoolGuySteve 8y ago
A bigger problem imo is the $700 display replacement. I have a similar problem with my wife’s broken MacBook, where replacing the display costs almost as much as the computer itself.
The problem with the MacBook is that the display is bonded to the glass and the aluminum back so that you have to replace the entire top assembly to fix the display.
It’s even more depressing to know that the ribbon connecting the display is also soldered on.
Apple (and Ives in particular) talks a lot about recycling, sustainability, and product lifecycle, but that seems like complete bullshit once you actually open up or try to repair one of their products.
- zuron7 8y agoTo be fair, I do know a few (mid-size) companies who tend to replace the entire system, then send the faulty piece back to a centralized repair facility which repairs the boards, and then they're used to repair another faulty piece. Don't know whether the large companies do this though.
- regecks 8y agoApple do this and call it "remanufacturing".
- wlesieutre 8y agoThat's a pretty good gig for them, charge you $700 for a display replacement and then take your old display and remanufacture it for $10 to reuse somewhere else
- adrianN 8y agoThe repairs at the central facility would be much more efficient if the repairable unit was a cable instead of half the machine.
- zuron7 8y agoCan't argue with that, but these repair houses have special tools which make the entire process almost as efficient as repairing a bulkier and modular device. At the end of the day, we can call it a user hostile measure and it needs to be tackled with government policies.
- friendzis 8y agoThe repairs at central facility have fixed costs (shipping the device, tracking, paperwork), the not-repairs at customer center have fixed costs too. Carrying out simple repairs on site would be much more more efficient if they could be done on site. There is (albeit not trivially measurable) opportunity cost associated with customer inability to drop device for few hours and have it repaired. Of course there is a delicate balance between various costs (design, manufacturing, repair, lost product upgrade sales, lost overall sales) and increased repairability may mean decreased profits, but I am arguing the main point.
- devwastaken 8y agoYep, Louis rossman, a popular apple repair guy on YouTube talks similiar about this a lot. The overwhelming majority of problems are fixable for 10 minutes or less and less than a dollar in components. But apple will just tell you to buy a new board and purposefully makes it harder for repair. The whole 'sustainability' is a marketing act.
- _Codemonkeyism 8y agoAnd Louis has several Apple store stories in his videos where the idea is "This display replacement is so expensive, just get a new Apple laptop". So it seems Apple strategy is to no longer repair but push people into buying new stuff - I guess this looks much better in their P&L and KPIs (new sales vs. repairs). But my accounting knowledge is limited.
- sametmax 8y agoIt makes you wonder how much of the privacy features are a marketing act too.
- azinman2 8y agoI can assure you the message is consistent internally with action. It’s not just marketing. Disclosure: I work for Apple.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- aaplthrowaway2 8y agoSeconding this. I also work at Apple but I don’t want to associate myself with my day job here.
- colordrops 8y agoHow could you possibly know this? Every company I've every worked at is compartmentalized, and my experience is that Apple is especially compartmentalized, with secrecy and measures similar to governmental security clearance around various projects.
- campercoder 8y agoIves is a con artist. Impress everybody with my English accent and my Right Said Fred looks. Meanwhile destroy the Apple ethos for making quality, long lasting products.