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>This time, along with the manuals, Apple is presenting DIY repairers with a excruciating gauntlet of hurdles: read 162 pages of documentation without getting i

>This time, along with the manuals, Apple is presenting DIY repairers with a excruciating gauntlet of hurdles: read 162 pages of documentation without getting intimidated I read the PDF. https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2083/en_US/macbookair-M1-2020-07300298A-repair.pdf https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2083/en_US/mac... It seems highly likely to me that anyone claiming this document is intimidating either has not read it or is lying for some reason. In many respects, the Apple document is vastly superior to the iFixit guides. An example of that is that the Apple guide has more descriptive language to ensure that the user feels the correct sensations when performing a step. Here's the iFixit guide for replacing the antenna module: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Late+2020+Antenna+Bar+Replacement/142553 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Late+2020+A... iFixit: Pivot the spudger against the hinge to pry up the end of the antenna bar. Apple: Gently slide the flat end of the black stick below one of the four screw holes (1) to loosen the antenna module from the tape on the top case. Then rotate the black stick until you feel a click (2). Apple's instructions also include steps to perform if an action isn't "easy": iFixit: The antenna bar is secured with some adhesive and may require some force to dislodge. Apple: If the antenna module doesn’t release from the tape, slowly and gently slide the black stick under the module to loosen it.

suetoniusp91 4y ago
Why in every story about Apple are their contrarian head burying. No other company would get this amount of support for finally after 20 years allowing a supposed owner of the product to change the battery
- scarface74 4y ago
  Or you could just let Apple do it for $129.
mmastrac 4y ago
Apple: If the adhesive strip breaks, attempt to retrieve the rest of the strip with ESD-safe tweezers. If you can’t retrieve the rest of the strip, replace the top case Jesus. This is not what I'd consider "repairable". And that's not the only place in the manual where Apple just says "toss the whole top case out".
- tpmoney 4y ago
  Anyone who’s ever repaired a car has encountered one form or another of a fastener or hose that breaks or drops and can’t be easily removed because it’s in a bad place, and leaving it where it is won’t cause any harm. Does it really surprise us that small space computers would have their own version of this?
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    > leaving it where it is won’t cause any harm But that's apparently not the case here: > If you can’t retrieve the rest of the strip, replace the top case
    - kube-system 4y ago
      Their lawyers probably didn't like: > If you can’t retrieve the rest of the strip, forcefully remove the battery by jamming a pry tool under it. This is what other people do when those strips break. This is a service manual, not a binding contract. You can choose to service your device differently if you feel inclined to do so.
      - borski 4y ago
        True, though you may void the warranty depending on your chosen fix. :)
    - tpmoney 4y ago
      Ah misunderstood the context here, I thought it was referring to cleaning up the adhesive after repair. Even still, there are plenty of bolts on a car that if you don’t do the right things to remove them, you can shear them off. Fasteners of all kinds can be broken, if you break them beyond the ability of your tools, the manual is going to tell you to take it to a shop. You can break out the screw extractor from harbor freight, or weld a new head onto the stub. But it’s unlikely the official repair manual is going to suggest that to you.
  - reaperducer 4y ago
pilgrimfff 4y ago
> iFixit praises the M1 MacBook Air service manuals by saying “they’re in-depth, mostly logical, and well worth an additional repairability point,” This is the service manual you're referencing. The one they're complaining about it is the M1 MacBook Pro. Here's the actual manual referenced: https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/macbookpro-14-2021-07300326A-repair.pdf https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/mac... And here's iFixIt's actual complaint: > it’s not 162 pages because Apple has changed where batteries sit in the MacBook Pro. It’s that long because the manual says that to replace the battery, you’ve got to replace the entire top case. At the time of writing, Apple will not sell you a replacement MacBook Pro battery. They sell you a “Top Case with Battery and Keyboard.”
- dkonofalski 4y ago
  So it's a temporary situation to do it this way until they can get enough stock and work their supply chain to provide additional batteries? What a non-story.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    What's your source for Apple planning to provide individual batteries?
    - dkonofalski 4y ago
      I know that you're a weird anti-Apple contrarian but it literally says this in the article that we're discussing here.
  - wlesieutre 4y ago
    I don't see anything to suggest that this policy will change in the future, they probably don't want to risk someone burning their house down while trying to remove a glued in pouch battery and then blaming Apple for it. Incidentally on the flip side of this, I got a free new battery out of the keyboard replacement program because they replace this whole top case assembly for keyboard replacements as well. I hoped that whole keyboard warranty extension fiasco would encourage Apple to stop gluing everything together so much and design for individual components to be replaced again, but I guess not.
jm_l 4y ago
I think they make a totally fair critique. The quote you pulled out is specifically about the fact that battery replacement alone takes 162 pages to get through. They also describe the manual as “ they’re in-depth, mostly logical, and well worth an additional repairability point” higher up in the article.
- rocket_surgeron 4y ago
  >The quote you pulled out is specifically about the fact that battery replacement alone takes 162 pages to get through. But that's not true. The table of contents has links to the small subset of pages needed to be read to replace the battery. There are over a dozen chapters and the page count includes parts lists, safety and regulatory notices, and information about tools. My Webster's Unabridged Dictionary has 2,129 pages before it gets to the back matter. If I want to look up a word I don't open it to page 1 and start reading. Same for replacing a battery. 1. Open PDF 2. Scroll to table of contents 3. Click on "Battery" 4. Read 14 pages, each with 1-2 steps, about how to replace the battery Not 162. Besides, with the text density of those pages, they should be thought of more as "slides". A 162-slide presentation that covers the tools, part numbers, safety information, and step-by-step procedures for replacing parts that you can skip around in is not intimidating. Of course, my perspective may be skewed. My expectation is for comprehensive documentation with the hundred page behemoths that Sun used to produce back in the Sparc era for replacing a frame buffer card being the bare minimum acceptable level of documentation.
  - mminer237 4y ago
    You must be reading a different manual than what they're talking about. https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/macbookpro-14-2021-07300326A-repair.pdf#page=160 https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/mac... You'll note that at the beginning of the three-page battery section, it says that you must have already removed every other part from the other 159 pages. The battery section is basically just "whatever's left doesn't come apart, so replace all that for a new battery". I think saying it takes a 162-page manual is fair.
reaperducer 4y ago
It seems highly likely to me that anyone claiming this document is intimidating either has not read it or is lying for some reason. I used to be a fan of iFixIt, and have even bought one of its larger tool kits, but have lost respect for it in the last few years. In part, because any time Apple does anything, iFixIt is there with a snarky criticism. Like it just really really really needs the clicks. I don't mind people being critical of Apple, but what comes out of iFixIt these days is mostly very solidly in whiny baby/grumpy old man territory. Second, because I've tried four times to repair items using iFixIt guides, and in every case the guide was incomplete, inaccurate, or the steps just sort of ended without finishing the job. Twice I was able to finish the repairs on my own. Twice, the device was ruined. Many iFixIt guides seem to start out well-written and documented, but eventually get all hand-wavey. More often than not, when I've looked up a guide, it ends with "Reverse the steps to reassemble," which is not reassuring, considering the complexity with which modern electronics are built, and because some of the parts were destroyed (adhesive strips, for example) on the way.
- jks 4y ago
  I've changed parts on several Apple laptops and one Mac Mini using iFixit manuals. In every case, it was really useful to read all the comments left by readers. Sometimes the comments tell you that you can skip several steps, in some cases they point out when you need to be extra careful or when the iFixit photos were misleading.
  - 7speter 4y ago
    > ...and one Mac Mini using iFixit manuals. Were you upgrading the hard drive in a 2014 mac mini?
    - jks 4y ago
      Yes, the hard drive on a "Late 2014" Mac Mini (A1347) had died and I swapped in a SATA SSD.
- suetoniusp91 4y ago
  Every single person related to repairing devices hates apple. For decades they have been at the forefront "you should not be able to fix/change your device". The have created billions of lbs of trash and psyop'd millions of people through these policies, and yet their unpaid shills still come out to defend them. Disgusting
amluto 4y ago
I once replaced an iPhone display with an iFixit kit, following the iFixit instructions: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+SE+Screen+Replacement/61305 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+SE+Screen+Replacement/61... The instructions for reassembly are, in their entirety: > CONCLUSION > To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order. Thanks. I would have loved to see actual instructions. It is distinctly nontrivial to get the display back in, especially if the case is even slightly damaged. On top of this, I have never encountered a non-OEM aftermarket iPhone display that wasn’t linearly polarized. If you wear polarized sunglasses, a non-polarized or circularly polarized display is an important feature. So I consider the Apple program to be a big improvement.
filmgirlcw 4y ago
I was going to say, this is a really terrific manual. Yes, many people will be better served watching a video (especially if they are new to repairs, and if that’s the case, I personally don’t recommend starting your DIY repair journey on a current-gen Apple laptop, but that’s just me), and many of the iFixit guides are quite good, but this service manual is comprehensive, well-written and easy to follow. I also read the 162-page thing, along with a claim you had to read that just to replace the battery. And that’s not the case? The entire manual is 162 pages, not just the instructions for relaxing the top case and battery. Yes, I think it’s insane that you (right now) have to replace the entire top case to replace the battery. It’s genuinely absurd. Apple says they’ll sell the batteries separately at some point, so that’s good. But that’s still insane. That said, I’m not really here for exaggerations about what is an incredibly well-written manual. It’s not like this is going to cut into iFixit’s guide or tool business because I don’t see Apple trying to game the SEO for MacBook repair guide; Apple would rather you take your MacBook to an Apple Store.
wildzzz 4y ago
I looked up Apple's "black stick" because I was curious what it was. Turns out I use these all the time at work. We call them green sticks for some reason despite being black. "Plastic/nylon soldering tool" is a common name from vendors but I'm not exactly sure how useful it is for soldering since it's made out of plastic and would quickly melt. We mostly use them as a spudger or pry bar, anywhere you'd normally use a screwdriver to pry something off but don't want to mar any delicate surfaces. We also have "orange sticks" which aren't really orange but are just thin wooden dowels with an angled cut at the end you can use for situations where plastic can scratch a surface.

suetoniusp91 4y ago

Why in every story about Apple are their contrarian head burying. No other company would get this amount of support for finally after 20 years allowing a supposed owner of the product to change the battery

scarface74 4y ago
Or you could just let Apple do it for $129.

mmastrac 4y ago

Apple: If the adhesive strip breaks, attempt to retrieve the rest of the strip with ESD-safe tweezers. If you can’t retrieve the rest of the strip, replace the top case Jesus. This is not what I'd consider "repairable". And that's not the only place in the manual where Apple just says "toss the whole top case out".

tpmoney 4y ago
Anyone who’s ever repaired a car has encountered one form or another of a fastener or hose that breaks or drops and can’t be easily removed because it’s in a bad place, and leaving it where it is won’t cause any harm. Does it really surprise us that small space computers would have their own version of this?
- josephcsible 4y ago
  > leaving it where it is won’t cause any harm But that's apparently not the case here: > If you can’t retrieve the rest of the strip, replace the top case
  - kube-system 4y ago
    Their lawyers probably didn't like: > If you can’t retrieve the rest of the strip, forcefully remove the battery by jamming a pry tool under it. This is what other people do when those strips break. This is a service manual, not a binding contract. You can choose to service your device differently if you feel inclined to do so.
    - borski 4y ago
      True, though you may void the warranty depending on your chosen fix. :)
  - tpmoney 4y ago
    Ah misunderstood the context here, I thought it was referring to cleaning up the adhesive after repair. Even still, there are plenty of bolts on a car that if you don’t do the right things to remove them, you can shear them off. Fasteners of all kinds can be broken, if you break them beyond the ability of your tools, the manual is going to tell you to take it to a shop. You can break out the screw extractor from harbor freight, or weld a new head onto the stub. But it’s unlikely the official repair manual is going to suggest that to you.
- reaperducer 4y ago

pilgrimfff 4y ago

> iFixit praises the M1 MacBook Air service manuals by saying “they’re in-depth, mostly logical, and well worth an additional repairability point,” This is the service manual you're referencing. The one they're complaining about it is the M1 MacBook Pro. Here's the actual manual referenced: https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/macbookpro-14-2021-07300326A-repair.pdf https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/mac... And here's iFixIt's actual complaint: > it’s not 162 pages because Apple has changed where batteries sit in the MacBook Pro. It’s that long because the manual says that to replace the battery, you’ve got to replace the entire top case. At the time of writing, Apple will not sell you a replacement MacBook Pro battery. They sell you a “Top Case with Battery and Keyboard.”

dkonofalski 4y ago
So it's a temporary situation to do it this way until they can get enough stock and work their supply chain to provide additional batteries? What a non-story.
- smoldesu 4y ago
  What's your source for Apple planning to provide individual batteries?
  - dkonofalski 4y ago
    I know that you're a weird anti-Apple contrarian but it literally says this in the article that we're discussing here.
- wlesieutre 4y ago
  I don't see anything to suggest that this policy will change in the future, they probably don't want to risk someone burning their house down while trying to remove a glued in pouch battery and then blaming Apple for it. Incidentally on the flip side of this, I got a free new battery out of the keyboard replacement program because they replace this whole top case assembly for keyboard replacements as well. I hoped that whole keyboard warranty extension fiasco would encourage Apple to stop gluing everything together so much and design for individual components to be replaced again, but I guess not.

jm_l 4y ago

I think they make a totally fair critique. The quote you pulled out is specifically about the fact that battery replacement alone takes 162 pages to get through. They also describe the manual as “ they’re in-depth, mostly logical, and well worth an additional repairability point” higher up in the article.

rocket_surgeron 4y ago
>The quote you pulled out is specifically about the fact that battery replacement alone takes 162 pages to get through. But that's not true. The table of contents has links to the small subset of pages needed to be read to replace the battery. There are over a dozen chapters and the page count includes parts lists, safety and regulatory notices, and information about tools. My Webster's Unabridged Dictionary has 2,129 pages before it gets to the back matter. If I want to look up a word I don't open it to page 1 and start reading. Same for replacing a battery. 1. Open PDF 2. Scroll to table of contents 3. Click on "Battery" 4. Read 14 pages, each with 1-2 steps, about how to replace the battery Not 162. Besides, with the text density of those pages, they should be thought of more as "slides". A 162-slide presentation that covers the tools, part numbers, safety information, and step-by-step procedures for replacing parts that you can skip around in is not intimidating. Of course, my perspective may be skewed. My expectation is for comprehensive documentation with the hundred page behemoths that Sun used to produce back in the Sparc era for replacing a frame buffer card being the bare minimum acceptable level of documentation.
- mminer237 4y ago
  You must be reading a different manual than what they're talking about. https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/macbookpro-14-2021-07300326A-repair.pdf#page=160 https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2085/en_US/mac... You'll note that at the beginning of the three-page battery section, it says that you must have already removed every other part from the other 159 pages. The battery section is basically just "whatever's left doesn't come apart, so replace all that for a new battery". I think saying it takes a 162-page manual is fair.

reaperducer 4y ago

It seems highly likely to me that anyone claiming this document is intimidating either has not read it or is lying for some reason. I used to be a fan of iFixIt, and have even bought one of its larger tool kits, but have lost respect for it in the last few years. In part, because any time Apple does anything, iFixIt is there with a snarky criticism. Like it just really really really needs the clicks. I don't mind people being critical of Apple, but what comes out of iFixIt these days is mostly very solidly in whiny baby/grumpy old man territory. Second, because I've tried four times to repair items using iFixIt guides, and in every case the guide was incomplete, inaccurate, or the steps just sort of ended without finishing the job. Twice I was able to finish the repairs on my own. Twice, the device was ruined. Many iFixIt guides seem to start out well-written and documented, but eventually get all hand-wavey. More often than not, when I've looked up a guide, it ends with "Reverse the steps to reassemble," which is not reassuring, considering the complexity with which modern electronics are built, and because some of the parts were destroyed (adhesive strips, for example) on the way.

jks 4y ago
I've changed parts on several Apple laptops and one Mac Mini using iFixit manuals. In every case, it was really useful to read all the comments left by readers. Sometimes the comments tell you that you can skip several steps, in some cases they point out when you need to be extra careful or when the iFixit photos were misleading.
- 7speter 4y ago
  > ...and one Mac Mini using iFixit manuals. Were you upgrading the hard drive in a 2014 mac mini?
  - jks 4y ago
    Yes, the hard drive on a "Late 2014" Mac Mini (A1347) had died and I swapped in a SATA SSD.
suetoniusp91 4y ago
Every single person related to repairing devices hates apple. For decades they have been at the forefront "you should not be able to fix/change your device". The have created billions of lbs of trash and psyop'd millions of people through these policies, and yet their unpaid shills still come out to defend them. Disgusting

amluto 4y ago

I once replaced an iPhone display with an iFixit kit, following the iFixit instructions: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+SE+Screen+Replacement/61305 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+SE+Screen+Replacement/61... The instructions for reassembly are, in their entirety: > CONCLUSION > To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order. Thanks. I would have loved to see actual instructions. It is distinctly nontrivial to get the display back in, especially if the case is even slightly damaged. On top of this, I have never encountered a non-OEM aftermarket iPhone display that wasn’t linearly polarized. If you wear polarized sunglasses, a non-polarized or circularly polarized display is an important feature. So I consider the Apple program to be a big improvement.

filmgirlcw 4y ago

I was going to say, this is a really terrific manual. Yes, many people will be better served watching a video (especially if they are new to repairs, and if that’s the case, I personally don’t recommend starting your DIY repair journey on a current-gen Apple laptop, but that’s just me), and many of the iFixit guides are quite good, but this service manual is comprehensive, well-written and easy to follow. I also read the 162-page thing, along with a claim you had to read that just to replace the battery. And that’s not the case? The entire manual is 162 pages, not just the instructions for relaxing the top case and battery. Yes, I think it’s insane that you (right now) have to replace the entire top case to replace the battery. It’s genuinely absurd. Apple says they’ll sell the batteries separately at some point, so that’s good. But that’s still insane. That said, I’m not really here for exaggerations about what is an incredibly well-written manual. It’s not like this is going to cut into iFixit’s guide or tool business because I don’t see Apple trying to game the SEO for MacBook repair guide; Apple would rather you take your MacBook to an Apple Store.

wildzzz 4y ago

I looked up Apple's "black stick" because I was curious what it was. Turns out I use these all the time at work. We call them green sticks for some reason despite being black. "Plastic/nylon soldering tool" is a common name from vendors but I'm not exactly sure how useful it is for soldering since it's made out of plastic and would quickly melt. We mostly use them as a spudger or pry bar, anywhere you'd normally use a screwdriver to pry something off but don't want to mar any delicate surfaces. We also have "orange sticks" which aren't really orange but are just thin wooden dowels with an angled cut at the end you can use for situations where plastic can scratch a surface.