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Here's looking at you, Apple. I will never buy another MacBook again until upgrading it is an option. Soldered RAM and especially a soldered hard drive are inex

Here's looking at you, Apple. I will never buy another MacBook again until upgrading it is an option. Soldered RAM and especially a soldered hard drive are inexcusable, personally, much less the repair ability factor.

ianai 7y ago
I’m more peeved about the soldered batteries. They still expand!
- Animats 7y ago
  I’m more peeved about the soldered batteries. They still expand! What are the big-battery people doing to get 22 year life that can't be downsized for small batteries? Is there some fundamental reason we can't have mobile devices where the battery is good for two decades?
  - codazoda 7y ago
    I think it's charge percentage. My Kia Niro seems to keep the battery between 50 and 80 percent charged. I've heard that the Tesla does similar (perhaps showing full when it's really 80%). This seems to be the sweet spot for these batteries and smart charging controllers can keep them alive longer. Our phones are under powered though, so the batteries are stretched to their limits and therefore don't last as long.
    - ianai 7y ago
      Actually my work laptop is expanding because of its battery. It’s had some usage but nothing like a phone. It’s usage isn’t far from what you describe but with considerable time kept powered. I’m thinking it could be heat related. That machine heats up because I use it for “desktop” tasks. But Apple long ago stopped making laptops aimed at being cool internally and cool to the touch.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jfoutz 7y ago
I don’t really have much of a problem with that, but I would love the option to replace the guts of my mbp every few years. I keep waiting for Gibson’s sandbenders to show up.
- vbezhenar 7y ago
  Yep. CPU's are barely increasing their performance (aside of increasing core count recently, but that's for very specific workloads). Motherboards is basically about CPU. Replace battery, optionally upgrade memory and SSD, replace broken components (WiFi card, keyboard) and it's as good as new. But that requires modular design.
asteli 7y ago
Apple are making a series of design trade offs. What portion of laptop buyers will be swayed by the ability to swap their RAM out? Will they sell more units by designing for interchangeable RAM or by being able to make their unit 2mm thinner or add battery life because they saved 6 cm^3 by cutting a mechanical RAM socket with a minimum height of 3mm and the associated volume eaten up by the RAM module?
seanmcdirmid 7y ago
The trend toward increasingly highly integrated components is not reversing any time soon. You might as well be waiting for horse buggies to come back in fashion.
- api 7y ago
  I've predicted for a while that we will soon see phone and even PC SOCs where the machine is one chip.
CamperBob2 7y ago
The system board is the component. You might as well complain that the whole hard drive has to be replaced when the controller board fails, or that an entire DIMM has to be replaced when a single IC fails. Give it up, this particular ship has sailed and we're all better off for it. We aren't going back to flaky, vibration-sensitive IC sockets and user-replaceable drive controller PCBs, and the same trend will inevitably appear at higher levels. Hardware has never been more reliable than it is today, and hardwired integration is a big reason for that.

ianai 7y ago

I’m more peeved about the soldered batteries. They still expand!

Animats 7y ago
I’m more peeved about the soldered batteries. They still expand! What are the big-battery people doing to get 22 year life that can't be downsized for small batteries? Is there some fundamental reason we can't have mobile devices where the battery is good for two decades?
- codazoda 7y ago
  I think it's charge percentage. My Kia Niro seems to keep the battery between 50 and 80 percent charged. I've heard that the Tesla does similar (perhaps showing full when it's really 80%). This seems to be the sweet spot for these batteries and smart charging controllers can keep them alive longer. Our phones are under powered though, so the batteries are stretched to their limits and therefore don't last as long.
  - ianai 7y ago
    Actually my work laptop is expanding because of its battery. It’s had some usage but nothing like a phone. It’s usage isn’t far from what you describe but with considerable time kept powered. I’m thinking it could be heat related. That machine heats up because I use it for “desktop” tasks. But Apple long ago stopped making laptops aimed at being cool internally and cool to the touch.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

jfoutz 7y ago

I don’t really have much of a problem with that, but I would love the option to replace the guts of my mbp every few years. I keep waiting for Gibson’s sandbenders to show up.

vbezhenar 7y ago
Yep. CPU's are barely increasing their performance (aside of increasing core count recently, but that's for very specific workloads). Motherboards is basically about CPU. Replace battery, optionally upgrade memory and SSD, replace broken components (WiFi card, keyboard) and it's as good as new. But that requires modular design.

asteli 7y ago

Apple are making a series of design trade offs. What portion of laptop buyers will be swayed by the ability to swap their RAM out? Will they sell more units by designing for interchangeable RAM or by being able to make their unit 2mm thinner or add battery life because they saved 6 cm^3 by cutting a mechanical RAM socket with a minimum height of 3mm and the associated volume eaten up by the RAM module?

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

The trend toward increasingly highly integrated components is not reversing any time soon. You might as well be waiting for horse buggies to come back in fashion.

api 7y ago
I've predicted for a while that we will soon see phone and even PC SOCs where the machine is one chip.

CamperBob2 7y ago

The system board is the component. You might as well complain that the whole hard drive has to be replaced when the controller board fails, or that an entire DIMM has to be replaced when a single IC fails. Give it up, this particular ship has sailed and we're all better off for it. We aren't going back to flaky, vibration-sensitive IC sockets and user-replaceable drive controller PCBs, and the same trend will inevitably appear at higher levels. Hardware has never been more reliable than it is today, and hardwired integration is a big reason for that.