4 ms·

On things known and unknown: Known: Those tiny Phillips screws are pretty, but they eat driver bits. Realistically, you need to buy a quality #00 to get them o

by jws 16y ago

On things known and unknown: Known: Those tiny Phillips screws are pretty, but they eat driver bits. Realistically, you need to buy a quality #00 to get them out without damage. $4 for a Wiha 96100 will do.[1] Known: Customers lie when they bring a product in for service. Dropped "my precious" in a toilet? An impending repair bill can have devastating effects on some people's morals. Part of your iPhone cost is the three water sensors assembled into it. You payed for those just to prevent you from lying to Apple and fraudulently claiming a warranty replacement. Unknown: How many customers go exploring in their device, compromise a seal or connection, then later incur a repair? A small number to be sure, but at Apple's scale, the extra cost of an uncommon screw is zero. (the bits for assembly probably outlast Phillips bits, it might even save a tiny bit of money) Known: A quick googling shows you can buy the uncommon pentalobe driver for $9.95 from ScrewdriversWorld, about twice the cost of a Phillips. That doesn't seem terribly well hidden or really any kind of barrier to someone that wants to install a $500-$1100 SSD upgrade. Unknown: There are a number of different 5 lobed screw patterns. I'm not positive that one I found above is the right one. Known: iFixit[2] got a great PR boost. They have driven a small nerd herd to their site to buy $9.95 screwdriver sets and for this they call Apple "diabolical"? They should be sending them a fruit basket and a nice card! [1] But you are a geek! Get the complete sets of the tiny ones including hex and Torx. [2] Don't get me wrong, I love these guys. Ah the evenings I've spent with the iFixit site, an iBook with a bad inverter cable, my full set of Wiha screwdrivers, and 24 tiny glass bowls for the beautiful tiny screws of myriad designs from each step. The entire procedure is just slightly more complicated than replacing Spock's brain.

vacri 16y ago
"You payed for those just to prevent you from lying to Apple and fraudulently claiming a warranty replacement." You make it sound like Apple is an innocent little child. It swings both ways - for every "amoral" customer you get claiming a warranty replacement, you'll have another "moral" customer getting short shrift from Apple (or company X) in terms of legitimate warranties not being honoured in a timely fashion or not following up on promises. When it actually comes to needing support, a lot of people find that Apple's slick sell doesn't flow into support - you take your chances and sometimes it really sucks. "$500-$1100 SSD upgrade" That's quite a tarry brush you're carrying there. A nice 120GB 2.5" SSD is all of $250 Australian dollars ($220 on newegg). A 240GB 2.5" drive is indeed $500, but I couldn't find an $1100 drive (my local may just not stock them). Regardless, you're intentionally picking the worst possible case to make your point. What about this situation: The bottom end mac pro comes with a 250GB drive (and you can't get a 500GB one). Upgrading to a 500GB drive costs less than $100 for the parts if you buy your own drive ($89 near me). Or 750GB/1TB for $115/$185? That's a decent upgrade for you computer, and it's not ridiculously expensive like you make out. I don't have a problem with countermeasures like water sensors, but to defend them by saying things like "what's the problem with buying a special screwdriver since anyone who's going to do so is going to install the most expensive SSD they can possibly find!" is just straight out apologism.
- loewenskind 16y ago
  >When it actually comes to needing support, a lot of people find that Apple's slick sell doesn't flow into support What are you talking about? Apple support consistently scores near the top. Have you ever dealt with Dell?
  - robin_reala 16y ago
    I always splurge a little on Dell business support. Next day on-site fix with no (or very few) quibbles. Course, Apple kit breaks a lot less than Dell kit in my experience.
  - vacri 16y ago
    So I write a diatribe about selectively picking and choosing data points to spin your argument and you choose to reply by doing just that?
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      Given that your "selectively picking and choosing data points to spin your argument" was even worse ("a lot of people find..." what a nonsensical peace of spin!), that's pretty rich.
vl 16y ago
I actually think that Apple easily could make iPhone more waterproof and didn't - if you disassemble it (or just look at it) you'll see that there are not so many places that need to be waterproofed, yet is was not done and small accidental spillage still results in non-working iPhone. I recently had to use alcohol to clean and then dry a home button on the dipped iPhone, how hard was it to use a waterproof button assembly? Instead we have water sensors.
wahnfrieden 16y ago
If they didn't include the water sensors, you'd still pay for the non-trivial resulting increased cost of service that Apple would take into account when pricing their product.

by jws 16y ago

vacri 16y ago

"You payed for those just to prevent you from lying to Apple and fraudulently claiming a warranty replacement." You make it sound like Apple is an innocent little child. It swings both ways - for every "amoral" customer you get claiming a warranty replacement, you'll have another "moral" customer getting short shrift from Apple (or company X) in terms of legitimate warranties not being honoured in a timely fashion or not following up on promises. When it actually comes to needing support, a lot of people find that Apple's slick sell doesn't flow into support - you take your chances and sometimes it really sucks. "$500-$1100 SSD upgrade" That's quite a tarry brush you're carrying there. A nice 120GB 2.5" SSD is all of $250 Australian dollars ($220 on newegg). A 240GB 2.5" drive is indeed $500, but I couldn't find an $1100 drive (my local may just not stock them). Regardless, you're intentionally picking the worst possible case to make your point. What about this situation: The bottom end mac pro comes with a 250GB drive (and you can't get a 500GB one). Upgrading to a 500GB drive costs less than $100 for the parts if you buy your own drive ($89 near me). Or 750GB/1TB for $115/$185? That's a decent upgrade for you computer, and it's not ridiculously expensive like you make out. I don't have a problem with countermeasures like water sensors, but to defend them by saying things like "what's the problem with buying a special screwdriver since anyone who's going to do so is going to install the most expensive SSD they can possibly find!" is just straight out apologism.

loewenskind 16y ago
>When it actually comes to needing support, a lot of people find that Apple's slick sell doesn't flow into support What are you talking about? Apple support consistently scores near the top. Have you ever dealt with Dell?
- robin_reala 16y ago
  I always splurge a little on Dell business support. Next day on-site fix with no (or very few) quibbles. Course, Apple kit breaks a lot less than Dell kit in my experience.
- vacri 16y ago
  So I write a diatribe about selectively picking and choosing data points to spin your argument and you choose to reply by doing just that?
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    Given that your "selectively picking and choosing data points to spin your argument" was even worse ("a lot of people find..." what a nonsensical peace of spin!), that's pretty rich.

vl 16y ago

I actually think that Apple easily could make iPhone more waterproof and didn't - if you disassemble it (or just look at it) you'll see that there are not so many places that need to be waterproofed, yet is was not done and small accidental spillage still results in non-working iPhone. I recently had to use alcohol to clean and then dry a home button on the dipped iPhone, how hard was it to use a waterproof button assembly? Instead we have water sensors.

wahnfrieden 16y ago

If they didn't include the water sensors, you'd still pay for the non-trivial resulting increased cost of service that Apple would take into account when pricing their product.