3 ms·

I'm not saying it was impossible to safely open these machines. After all, there were plenty of people safely working in TV repair shops. If you knew what you w

I'm not saying it was impossible to safely open these machines. After all, there were plenty of people safely working in TV repair shops. If you knew what you were doing and weren't sloppy, you would be perfectly safe. The problem is, not everyone would know what they were doing. At least with current tech, the worst that can happen is you ruin your computer and not your life.

pasbesoin 13y ago
Well, perhaps in a meta sense, the older designs "repaired" (us) by thinning the herd. ;-) One the one hand, I take your point. On the other, people wrote books documenting the whole thing and you could replace that defective capacitor yourself. (Significantly less expensive than having a technician swap the power/video board, particularly if you did not have AppleCare. And you could replace it with a more robust part, so that you were not in the same circumstances again 6 months or a year later.) I guess with the relative decline in price of whole subsystems -- in some cases -- these days, the greater availability of those, and -- again, in some cases -- the personal safety if not always ease of swapping them out, something might be said for "increased repairability". On the other hand, I don't think the Classic Mac design rates a 0/10. Lots of things back then could kill you. These days, you can't even purchase a real chemistry set for your kids, or in some cases hardly glassware for yourself.
kens 13y ago
You might think a laptop is harmless inside, but it actually contains 500-700 volts to power the LCD backlight. I learned while trying to fix my display - fortunately I found it out by reading, not by getting shocked. Unlike when I stuck my finger across the flash capacitor in a camera - yow! The point is, even harmless-seeming battery powered things can have surprisingly high voltages inside, so be careful.
- rosser 13y ago
  You might think a laptop is harmless inside, but it actually contains 500-700 volts to power the LCD backlight. How many CCFL-backlit laptops are they shipping these days? EDIT: Also, high voltages, on their own, aren't necessarily dangerous. Tesla coils can run into the tens of kilovolts, but can be perfectly safe if they're properly constructed.

pasbesoin 13y ago

Well, perhaps in a meta sense, the older designs "repaired" (us) by thinning the herd. ;-) One the one hand, I take your point. On the other, people wrote books documenting the whole thing and you could replace that defective capacitor yourself. (Significantly less expensive than having a technician swap the power/video board, particularly if you did not have AppleCare. And you could replace it with a more robust part, so that you were not in the same circumstances again 6 months or a year later.) I guess with the relative decline in price of whole subsystems -- in some cases -- these days, the greater availability of those, and -- again, in some cases -- the personal safety if not always ease of swapping them out, something might be said for "increased repairability". On the other hand, I don't think the Classic Mac design rates a 0/10. Lots of things back then could kill you. These days, you can't even purchase a real chemistry set for your kids, or in some cases hardly glassware for yourself.

kens 13y ago

You might think a laptop is harmless inside, but it actually contains 500-700 volts to power the LCD backlight. I learned while trying to fix my display - fortunately I found it out by reading, not by getting shocked. Unlike when I stuck my finger across the flash capacitor in a camera - yow! The point is, even harmless-seeming battery powered things can have surprisingly high voltages inside, so be careful.

rosser 13y ago
You might think a laptop is harmless inside, but it actually contains 500-700 volts to power the LCD backlight. How many CCFL-backlit laptops are they shipping these days? EDIT: Also, high voltages, on their own, aren't necessarily dangerous. Tesla coils can run into the tens of kilovolts, but can be perfectly safe if they're properly constructed.