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Sealed-Box Macs: Should Computers Be Disposable?

Posted by samzenpus on from the time-to-upgrade dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Apple's new Retina MacBook Pro is essentially completely non-upgradable, a sealed-box, following a trend started with the MacBook Air in 2008. It's a given that hardware companies are in the business of selling hardware, and would love for computers to have iPhone-like replacement cycles of 1-3 years. But does this mean we're moving irresistibly into an era of 'sealed-unit computing,' even for power users?"

3 of 673 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Germany's model by Relayman · · Score: 5, Informative

    As genie for today, I will grant you your wish: Apple Recycling Program. Not only do they pay shipping, you get a gift card, too.

    --
    If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
  2. Alright, I'll play. by maztuhblastah · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ok, then; how about "Good luck finding a laptop that you can upgrade anything but the main drive and perhaps the RAM. And even the SSD in the MBPwRD is theoretically upgradeable, since it is on a subassembly with a connector.

    The T and W-series ThinkPads have socketed CPUs.

    And the displays can be upgraded.

    And the drive is removable, so you can add Blu-Ray or whatever you'd like.

    And Lenovo publishes complete manuals with step-by-step instructions detailing how to disassemble everything and how to replace pretty much any part (along with a list of the FRU numbers for said parts.)

    And they let you order individual parts (or you can just get them from any number of third party suppliers.)

    And replacing CRUs doesn't void the warranty.

    Your turn.

    --
    The real litigious bastards...
    1. Re:Alright, I'll play. by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Informative

      In a given T-series Thinkpad, there's several different displays with the same physical dimensions, and different resolutions. There isn't much holding the display onto the rest of the laptop except a few screws and a couple of cables with connectors. Replacing the display (along with the rest of the lid, which usually also contains the WiFi antenna and webcam) is fairly simple, so if you want to buy a dead laptop with the better display on Ebay and upgrade yours, it's not hard to do.