4 ms·

> kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Why would I care? If it breaks, I tell my company to pay the repair bill or buy me a new one.

hutrdvnj 5y ago
Because it's annoying and will interrupt your work much longer, especially if it's something that could have been easily fixed in e.g. a Thinkpad. Even more so, if it's your own device.
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
  I have to disagree. One of the reasons I've used Macbooks for work for ages now is if something goes wrong, I can just pop over to the apple store and have a replacement within about 30 minutes. Don't even have to restore, can just target boot my backup and be back working immediately, and can save the restore until the evening. I've had one instance where this saved me 5 figures easily (wasn't even the macbook's fault, I fell on my bike going over rail road tracks). Yeah, you pay a premium in terms of price for that, but it's a no brainer imo. That said, I have a lot of Dell hardware I like too. I still use two 2407wfp wide gamut monitors on my gaming PC and don't see any reason to change them until there's a 4k monitor I really want. They're bulletproof, and I even bought them used off Dell's outlet site.
  - MonaroVXR 5y ago
    That's you, but a lot of people don't live next to the Apple store and with business laptops, people come to you, to replace the device , repair or anything else.
    - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
      Yup. I have coworkers in central America where getting a new apple is both a huge PITA and far more expensive than in the US. One of my other friends had a Dell service business for a couple years, so I'm definitely familiar with how it all works. He uses macbooks these days too. Working with smaller / early stage startups I've never had an IT dept that I could pass it off onto.
    - derefr 5y ago
      With Apple Business leasing-program laptops, Apple Store employees come to you to replace/repair the device. Of course, that only exists in the places that Apple Stores do.
  - abawany 5y ago
    This didn't work out for me in spite of going to the apple store: I was told to drop off my laptop. They then proceeded to 'lose track' of the machine and I eventually got it back after nearly 5 weeks and multiple escalations with 'customer support'. This is a 6 month old mbp pro 16" from work with applecare.
    - hutrdvnj 5y ago
      Exactly this. You make yourself and your ability to work depend on applecare. If everything works fine, lucky for you, if not well that is when the problem starts. When you repair the device yourself you are independent from such a service. You could get hardware parts from any store you like and you might have some replacement parts at home. Don't get me wrong I don't think that applecare is bad, but I do think it is better to have more options. Therefore I think it is best to have something like applecare plus the ability to repair the device yourself if necessary.
ornornor 5y ago
Because it’s wasteful and pollutes.
lostlogin 5y ago
Migrating to a new machine is a PITA that inflicts misery for quite a long time. Maybe I’m doing it wrong?
- ipqk 5y ago
  Migration Assistant on a Mac has pretty painless for me for years. If you attach a thunderbolt cable between the two computers, it can migrate a 2TB SSD in usually under a couple hours.
- bfung 5y ago
  Yes - have a backup of your dev machine to restore from. Apple’s TimeMachine is a godsend. I’ve never had a windows backup program work w/o a lot of fuss. An extra $150 external backup HDD is worth any crash at work, get your company to get it for every dev.
  - MonaroVXR 5y ago
    Activia True image can do the job on Windows. Making a whole image on everything in your computer.
franga2000 5y ago
Because when it breaks, your company won't want to use 3rd party repair, so they will send it straight to Apple. That means that it will take at least a month to get back and all your data getting erased is pretty much a guarantee, even if all that was broken was one resistor in the power supply circuit. Even if they buy a new one, how long will it take you to set it up from scratch? Meanwhile, any other vendor will have competent technicians available almost anywhere (with a support package maybe even 24/7/365), who will be able to at worst transplant your storage media into a working machine while they refurb your old one. The downtime can be shorter than a big Windows update.
- __d 5y ago
  A modern Mac laptop uses a motherboard where everything is soldered on, everything is tiny, and it's basically impossible to repair. Leaving aside whether that's good or bad, it's just a fact that you should know up front. Consequently, most failures are "repaired" by swapping the motherboard, and so your flash drive contents are gone. Happily, you are using Time Machine (right?) and so you plug your backup drive into a spare machine, do the restore, and you're back to where you were an hour before the disaster. You do the same again when your newly repaired machine comes back from the store. Yeah, it sucks more than swapping an SSD. But hey, you knew that before you bought a shiny, thin, light Macbook.
  - ben-schaaf 5y ago
    Board-Level repair isn't that difficult with the right tools. Plenty of 3rd party repair, as well as Apple's refurbishment do it just fine. The only real reason it's impossible to repair is an artificial lack of parts/documentation.
    - __d 5y ago
      Ok, sure -- I was lazy. It's sometimes possible, but it doesn't make economic sense. Paying for people and equipment to can safely swap a motherboard and reassemble the laptop is not cheap, but it's not expensive. Paying people who can diagnose a fault in a modern motherboard, do the board-level repair, test it, and turn it around to the customer doesn't make sense. Do a quick board swap and be done with it. Maybe forward the faulty board to some central facility for refurb or at least analysis to find out what's breaking in the field. This isn't unique to Apple -- very little consumer electronics is repaired because it isn't worth the cost. Now Apple makes the choice to solder everything on the motherboard (both for size & weight, and likely reliability reasons too). That means even peripheral failures junk the whole motherboard. But that's a trade-off they, and their customers, make.

hutrdvnj 5y ago

Because it's annoying and will interrupt your work much longer, especially if it's something that could have been easily fixed in e.g. a Thinkpad. Even more so, if it's your own device.

jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
I have to disagree. One of the reasons I've used Macbooks for work for ages now is if something goes wrong, I can just pop over to the apple store and have a replacement within about 30 minutes. Don't even have to restore, can just target boot my backup and be back working immediately, and can save the restore until the evening. I've had one instance where this saved me 5 figures easily (wasn't even the macbook's fault, I fell on my bike going over rail road tracks). Yeah, you pay a premium in terms of price for that, but it's a no brainer imo. That said, I have a lot of Dell hardware I like too. I still use two 2407wfp wide gamut monitors on my gaming PC and don't see any reason to change them until there's a 4k monitor I really want. They're bulletproof, and I even bought them used off Dell's outlet site.
- MonaroVXR 5y ago
  That's you, but a lot of people don't live next to the Apple store and with business laptops, people come to you, to replace the device , repair or anything else.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
    Yup. I have coworkers in central America where getting a new apple is both a huge PITA and far more expensive than in the US. One of my other friends had a Dell service business for a couple years, so I'm definitely familiar with how it all works. He uses macbooks these days too. Working with smaller / early stage startups I've never had an IT dept that I could pass it off onto.
  - derefr 5y ago
    With Apple Business leasing-program laptops, Apple Store employees come to you to replace/repair the device. Of course, that only exists in the places that Apple Stores do.
- abawany 5y ago
  This didn't work out for me in spite of going to the apple store: I was told to drop off my laptop. They then proceeded to 'lose track' of the machine and I eventually got it back after nearly 5 weeks and multiple escalations with 'customer support'. This is a 6 month old mbp pro 16" from work with applecare.
  - hutrdvnj 5y ago
    Exactly this. You make yourself and your ability to work depend on applecare. If everything works fine, lucky for you, if not well that is when the problem starts. When you repair the device yourself you are independent from such a service. You could get hardware parts from any store you like and you might have some replacement parts at home. Don't get me wrong I don't think that applecare is bad, but I do think it is better to have more options. Therefore I think it is best to have something like applecare plus the ability to repair the device yourself if necessary.

ornornor 5y ago

Because it’s wasteful and pollutes.

lostlogin 5y ago

Migrating to a new machine is a PITA that inflicts misery for quite a long time. Maybe I’m doing it wrong?

ipqk 5y ago
Migration Assistant on a Mac has pretty painless for me for years. If you attach a thunderbolt cable between the two computers, it can migrate a 2TB SSD in usually under a couple hours.
bfung 5y ago
Yes - have a backup of your dev machine to restore from. Apple’s TimeMachine is a godsend. I’ve never had a windows backup program work w/o a lot of fuss. An extra $150 external backup HDD is worth any crash at work, get your company to get it for every dev.
- MonaroVXR 5y ago
  Activia True image can do the job on Windows. Making a whole image on everything in your computer.

franga2000 5y ago

Because when it breaks, your company won't want to use 3rd party repair, so they will send it straight to Apple. That means that it will take at least a month to get back and all your data getting erased is pretty much a guarantee, even if all that was broken was one resistor in the power supply circuit. Even if they buy a new one, how long will it take you to set it up from scratch? Meanwhile, any other vendor will have competent technicians available almost anywhere (with a support package maybe even 24/7/365), who will be able to at worst transplant your storage media into a working machine while they refurb your old one. The downtime can be shorter than a big Windows update.

__d 5y ago
A modern Mac laptop uses a motherboard where everything is soldered on, everything is tiny, and it's basically impossible to repair. Leaving aside whether that's good or bad, it's just a fact that you should know up front. Consequently, most failures are "repaired" by swapping the motherboard, and so your flash drive contents are gone. Happily, you are using Time Machine (right?) and so you plug your backup drive into a spare machine, do the restore, and you're back to where you were an hour before the disaster. You do the same again when your newly repaired machine comes back from the store. Yeah, it sucks more than swapping an SSD. But hey, you knew that before you bought a shiny, thin, light Macbook.
- ben-schaaf 5y ago
  Board-Level repair isn't that difficult with the right tools. Plenty of 3rd party repair, as well as Apple's refurbishment do it just fine. The only real reason it's impossible to repair is an artificial lack of parts/documentation.
  - __d 5y ago
    Ok, sure -- I was lazy. It's sometimes possible, but it doesn't make economic sense. Paying for people and equipment to can safely swap a motherboard and reassemble the laptop is not cheap, but it's not expensive. Paying people who can diagnose a fault in a modern motherboard, do the board-level repair, test it, and turn it around to the customer doesn't make sense. Do a quick board swap and be done with it. Maybe forward the faulty board to some central facility for refurb or at least analysis to find out what's breaking in the field. This isn't unique to Apple -- very little consumer electronics is repaired because it isn't worth the cost. Now Apple makes the choice to solder everything on the motherboard (both for size & weight, and likely reliability reasons too). That means even peripheral failures junk the whole motherboard. But that's a trade-off they, and their customers, make.