22 ms·

"Just replace the motherboard" and lose all of your data on it. Yes, backups are important, but there's a loss of time when you have to restore from backup or p

"Just replace the motherboard" and lose all of your data on it. Yes, backups are important, but there's a loss of time when you have to restore from backup or provision a new machine/motherboard with your environment. Not to mention that "just replace the motherboard" can often mean costing half, if not more, the original price of the machine. What happens if my SSD wears out? I just have to replace the entire logic board for one wear component? Say it's not the SSD and it's something else like a voltage regulator. Now this motherboard is complete scrap. There's no harvesting of the RAM or SSD, so the part is probably $300 more expensive than it needs to be. And all those useful parts that are already scarce in a chip shortage will just be ground down and "recycled". These laptops suck.

neoromantique 4y ago
I get what you're saying, but you really should consider any portable hw(laptops/phones) as disposable. Or better yet -- assume that malicious actor cat get access to your device and configure it accordingly.
- pathartl 4y ago
  No, we really shouldn't. Enterprise generally does hardware refreshes every 3 years. The average consumer can take one of those machines and extend at least another 2 years out of it. Being able to securely wipe or remove storage modules out of the machines for repurposing should be a pretty easy target to hit. Additionally, some industries like K12 or non-profits a lot of times have to try to squeeze as much life out of their systems as possible. These organizations would benefit insanely from better repairability and cheaper access to parts. Of course motherboards are a bit harder to repair and usually means replacing the whole board, but it doesn't have to if we had a skilled workforce that could easily refurbish boards. Apple has taken great measures to make sure this never happens. There's also the argument to be made for historic preservation. The retro computer community has been doing nothing but growing and I can already see in 20+ years time that these machines will be absolutely unusable without some sort of software hack. Even then, your onboard storage is shot and you have to boot externally. You can make repairable, cost effective, well built, and top of the line machines. Apple just doesn't do it.
  - neoromantique 4y ago
    I agree with you and I'm all in for right to repair, but I was referring to the specific point mentioned above -- "restoring from backup is a hassle". If it is a hassle then you're doing it wrong and you'll be in all sorts of trouble if you lose your laptop / it gets stolen.
alphabettsy 4y ago
I’m not going to argue against repairability, but a replaceable failed SSD has exactly the same problem RE data loss.
- adhesive_wombat 4y ago
  Right, but the chances of a failed soldered SSD is the chance of any important component on the motherboard or the SSD, not just the SSD. Which doesn't mean you can forgo backups, but it does mean the chances of you needing them may be slimmer (and the cost of the repair smaller). Then again "ship your entire Mac back to repair the webcam" was always a meme, so maybe Apple gonna Apple.

neoromantique 4y ago

I get what you're saying, but you really should consider any portable hw(laptops/phones) as disposable. Or better yet -- assume that malicious actor cat get access to your device and configure it accordingly.

pathartl 4y ago
No, we really shouldn't. Enterprise generally does hardware refreshes every 3 years. The average consumer can take one of those machines and extend at least another 2 years out of it. Being able to securely wipe or remove storage modules out of the machines for repurposing should be a pretty easy target to hit. Additionally, some industries like K12 or non-profits a lot of times have to try to squeeze as much life out of their systems as possible. These organizations would benefit insanely from better repairability and cheaper access to parts. Of course motherboards are a bit harder to repair and usually means replacing the whole board, but it doesn't have to if we had a skilled workforce that could easily refurbish boards. Apple has taken great measures to make sure this never happens. There's also the argument to be made for historic preservation. The retro computer community has been doing nothing but growing and I can already see in 20+ years time that these machines will be absolutely unusable without some sort of software hack. Even then, your onboard storage is shot and you have to boot externally. You can make repairable, cost effective, well built, and top of the line machines. Apple just doesn't do it.
- neoromantique 4y ago
  I agree with you and I'm all in for right to repair, but I was referring to the specific point mentioned above -- "restoring from backup is a hassle". If it is a hassle then you're doing it wrong and you'll be in all sorts of trouble if you lose your laptop / it gets stolen.

alphabettsy 4y ago

I’m not going to argue against repairability, but a replaceable failed SSD has exactly the same problem RE data loss.

adhesive_wombat 4y ago
Right, but the chances of a failed soldered SSD is the chance of any important component on the motherboard or the SSD, not just the SSD. Which doesn't mean you can forgo backups, but it does mean the chances of you needing them may be slimmer (and the cost of the repair smaller). Then again "ship your entire Mac back to repair the webcam" was always a meme, so maybe Apple gonna Apple.