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iFixit's Kyle Wiens On the War On DIY Electronics
pigrabbitbear writes with an excerpt from an article at Motherboard: "Anyone planning on buying a new iPad should know what they're getting themselves into by now. In recent years, Apple and other hardware manufacturers have made it liquid-crystal clear that they're not fond of the idea that customers can tear open and fix products without the help of licensed repair specialists. Even if it's as easy as ordering a part online and following a few instructions gleaned from a Google search, hardware companies generally seem to prefer we keep the hood closed. It should not be surprising, then, that the latest version of Apple's much-desired tablet has one 'killer' feature that's finally getting the attention it deserves: A design that stops you from getting inside of it."
everyone knows what apple is all about by now.
Even when I was 14 years old, back in the 80's, I knew that Apple's closed system was no good. Yes, at the time, they had better hardware, software, and such, but it wasn't easily upgradeable, not without spending twice more for a part than what you could put in an IBM compatible. And, look what happened, Wintel machines won. More and better innovation came from the hardware manufacturers that had to compete with each other for user's dollars.
Only software suffered because Microsoft had that locked up. Here Apple won the day for a long time because they did have the more creative designers. Now that we have competition in the OS field, we are starting to see better ideas flourish and rise to the top. We are starting to see better designed software interfaces that allow the user to feel at ease with their computing device.
Thing is, 95% of consumers don't really care about repairing their own electronics, if not more. The remaining handful of people that choose not to buy an iPad because of its inaccessibility re:DIY repairs aren't going to make enough of a difference to make any manufacturer change their ways, even assuming ALL of them refuse to buy iPads.
If you look at it objectively, Apple, or anyone else, is pretty much just giving people what they want. It doesn't seem like this 'killer' feature is designed to keep people from accessing the insides of the iPad; after all, what percentage of iPad 1 owners were tinkering around with the insides of it? An insignificant amount, from the perspective of the company selling millions of the thing.
I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
microUSB is so widely used now i would consider it a standard...
Most compact consumer level electronic not meant to be serviced by the end user, of which only 0.0001% have the actual skill and know-how to fix in the first place!
News at 11.
Aside from a replaceable battery and memory cards, there isn't a thing I would trust users to touch in any tablet made in the last 5 years. Since iPad supports neither of these I guess the entire point is that there is no real point at all. Most end users can't be bothered to put their own memory in a PC let alone do anything that involves a soldering iron. Maybe Apple was wise to keep the consumer away from such dickering.
And no, I don't own an iPad. I would take one for free but I have no intentions of buying one. I just think that the endless tirade about end users not being free to fuck with their gadgets is getting a bit old. You want something to try your hand at building some circuits? Buy an Arduino. You want a compact piece of hardware that can reasonably take the place of 90% of end users needs? Buy a tablet. If you're one of the 1 in 100,000 who ever gets beyond these two concepts? You already know where to go and what to do.
...is that Apple just knows its market. The average consumer is perfectly happy to purchase and use devices they cannot service themselves. This is true of their cars, their phones, their televisions, their refrigerators and their washers (just to name a few) - why would they argue over a tablet they cannot service themselves?
Personally, I have no desire to own any Apple product of any kind, precisely because of this kind of crap. However, I frequently recommend their products to my less technologically-inclined friends. Not because there's anything particularly wonderful about the products, but because they are simple to use.
The majority of Apple consumers don't care.
The majority of consumers don't care. Period.
#DeleteChrome
There even seem to be references to this in TFA...
And right at the top of the teardown there was a little disclaimer:
"Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.
Also notably absent were any reassembly instructions. One way DIY for very expensive toys is unlikely to become popular, and you might even say it's discouraging...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
I used to have an iPhone, company issued of course.
My iPhone had a smaller screen, was less capable with Bluetooth, required a special cable to charge, wouldn't charge in every USB charger and would bitch if I tried to use an unapproved 5v source and was also lacking an HDMI port.
Apple fails at being user friendly.
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The Kindle Fire is easy to open. The device is easy to slip out of the case by gently prying around the edges. There's no need for Apple to glue the ipad together. They could have done the same thing as the Fire.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Red Herring.
You can have difficult to repair due to space constraints, and that's justifiable. Active denial systems and booby traps are a whole separate issue.
The later model Mac Books that are sealed actually have very easy to replace cells, there's nothing about them that would make a cordless phone style cell replacement (yes land line cordless), out of the question. It's protectionism 100%
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The real reason that consumer electronics are so difficult to repair has nothing to do with corporate conspiracy. Electronic design has shifted over the past generation from using large and discrete components to being almost exclusively dependent on integrated circuits and highly miniaturized surface mount devices. Twenty years ago perhaps, a hobbyist could get out a volmeter and soldering iron to trace a circuit problem to an individual transistor within, say, a pre-amp or filter assembly, and then easily replace the defective part within minutes. Now the entire assembly, formerly involving dozens of components, has been replaced by a single and often very tiny IC chip. In addition, any resistors or capacitors in modern circuits, once large enough for anyone to easily manipulate, have now been reduced to the size of grains of salt and are nearly impossible to extract and replace. In fact, the rule is that it is now much cheaper to simply dispose of defective circuitry than it is to attempt any kind or repair.
Replacing a battery, touch pad, or screen may still be within the realm of possibility, but broken electronics are better just destroyed and replaced with new.
You were modded insightful, but you're wrong. One example in the smartphone realm is the HTC Sensation. It is slightly larger than the iPhone because it houses a 4.3in screen making it far more useable for my imperfect eyesight. However it is as thin, and if you drop it on concrete from ear height, nothing happens. I tested it. It has user replaceable battery, screen, and anything else you could reasonably want to replace without a soldering iron. HTC was very ingenious in the Sensation design, because unlike many manufacturers that either glue shut the entire device or use a flimsy backplate for the battery, the Sensation's entire casing comes off in one piece at the press of a tab. Solid, functional, slim.
Another smartphone example is the Nokia N9, and its cousin the Nokia Lumia 800. The casing is a single polycarbonate piece that wraps around the internals. On the surface it only has two flaps that cover the SIM and microUSB. Yet you take out two screws under the flaps and everything slides out, making it accessible. And it's as small as the iPhone.
In terms of laptops, the Sony Vaio SZ, the Acer Aspire 3820TG, and a whole bunch of others were MUCH faster than equivalent MacBooks, while still being fully user serviceable. I've taken dozens of laptops apart, replaced components inside including the motherboard, and NONE were as difficult to access as Apple products.
I can't comment on tablets from personal experience, but I have looked at a Samsung a friend has. Intel Core i5, 4Gb RAM, microSSD, plenty of ports, 5+h battery life running Windows 7 and it's marginally thicker but about the same size as the iPad. Again, user accessible as far as I could tell.
Face it, Apple CHOOSES to make their products the way they are. They even went as far as to invent a completely new screw type just to prevent people fro accessing their Macbooks. Sony used to be as bad, but a declining market share smartened them up a bit. Watching the iFixit video you can see the screen is glued all around, which may make sense. But why not put a few screws on the back so the back plate can detach, making battery replacement easy? Not swappable on a daily basis, just once every couple of years.
Stop making excuses for a company that is worth more than half a trillion dollars. They DO think different(ly), as they've gotten screwing their customers down to an art form. And their customers love it.
Instead Apple keeps things simple for those that need it, but allows expansive access for those that really want it.
You can't be serious. The entire Apple philosophy these days is one size fits all.