Schools Won't Like How Difficult the New iPad Is To Repair (ifixit.com)

Last week, Apple introduced a refreshed 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support. iFixit has published its teardown of the device this morning, and as The Verge points out, schools won't like how difficult it is to repair. From the report: The takeaway from all this is that the new iPad isn't going to be any easier to repair than prior generations, which were already borderline unrepairable. If an iPad breaks, there's almost no chance that a district will be able to repair it in-house; whereas on cheaper Chromebooks, there's a possibility an IT team could open them up to make some basic fixes. It's a weak point that it's hard to see Apple ever addressing. And since schools aren't exactly forgiving environments for a lent-out device, how well the iPad holds up to drops and dings, and how expensive it is to fix, are bound to be factors in a school's decision on which devices to adopt. Mac Rumors highlights the key findings from iFixit's teardown: The new iPad's lack of waterproofing, non-replaceable charging port, zero upgradeability, and use of glue throughout the internals added up to a "repair nightmare." iFixit then pointed towards the HP Elite x2 1012 G1 tablet, which got a perfect repairability score of 10 out of 10, summarizing that "Apple's 'education' iPad is still a case of won't -- not can't." One of the iPad's advantages in terms of repairability comes in the form of its digitizer panel easily separating from the display. iFixit pointed out that in the event that either component should break, repair will be easier for schools and educators. The sixth-gen iPad has the same battery as the previous model, with 32.9 Wh capacity. iFixit noted that while this allows Apple to reuse existing manufacturing lines to reduce waste, the battery is still locked behind a "repair-impeding adhesive" that greatly reduced the iPad's repairability score. Apple has provided easy battery removal before, in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but iFixit hasn't seen anything like it since. Ultimately, iFixit gave the 2018 iPad a repairability score of 2 out of 10, favoring the fairly easy repair options of its air-gapped, non-fused display and digitizer glass, but taking marks off for its heavy use of adhesive and sticky tape.

Comments

Can iFixit die already?

[Anonymous Coward]

The teardowns are great, but the self-serving self-righteousness about repairability is such obvious bullshit.

Schools do not repair tablets. They buy them with service contracts and ship dead ones back.

Yes, iFixit wants to sell more repair toolkits. We get it. They should build their own devices, then, and let the market decide. I mean, how is that HP Elite x2 1001 G1-21 / S001 v2 selling? If repairability is so important, customers must be buying it in droves, right?

Re:Can iFixit die already?

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows 10 is a full blown retard convention, not an OS.

Re:Can iFixit die already?

[Ol Olsoc]

That HP tablet is a full blown Windows 10 device that can run any program Windows 10 can, albeit a bit slower. The iPad runs a mobile OS that is nowhere near as capable as OSX and can't even begin to load full blown desktop progrmas.

Right, but the iOS pad does not runWindows 10, which is great selling feature all by itself.

Re:Can iFixit die already?

[Ol Olsoc]

Thank you for this. I sit on a Board of Education for a 5,000+ student district and talk to many other districts. NOBODY is repairing their own tablets. most can't even be bothered to reload toner.

There's a service contract for everything and there isn't enough money in the budget to hire someone to work on this. Most districts I know struggle to keep their networks up and have technicians running at breakneck speed just to fix wireless connections and printer drivers. Repairability may be something a single home user with a tech background cares about, but it's not something that large institutions do.

THe "Ermagherd! we cern't ferx iPerds!" bullshit is just that - bullshit, promoted by Windows chauvinists.

What is amusing is the implied comparison with Chromebooks. I like me a chromebook, but I've had one stripped apart, and your run of the mill IT guy or gal isn't going to disassemble and fix it. It will take hours, if not days - unless they keep lots of all of the spare parts on hand. And then when it is finished, is it going to be reliable? No one in a school system is going to take that responsibility. On any device, unless they aren't too smart.

Re:Can iFixit die already?

[Uberbah]

and can't even begin to load full blown desktop progrmas

So? With a bluetooth keyboard you can write papers or do research just as well on an iPad as that HP tablet. And if you absolutely positively ermagerd need to use Windows programs for a class - just install Microsoft Remote Desktop and connect to a terminal server to run Autocad (or whatever). Something you could afford with the cost savings over the HP Way.

Re:Can iFixit die already?

[jonesy16]

I'll avoid most of the careless flamebait in that message since you know nothing about me, my history, or the district, children and tax payers I volunteer my time for and instead merely point to one of the most public instances of a school district deploying iPads (LA) and the fact that even they didn't repair them, they had it in the contract that Apple would: http://laschoolreport.com/ipad...

Are there large districts that can support hiring a staff of IT people competent enough to repair and support a $200-$400 device? I'm sure there probably are. Is that the norm? You're right, I don't have a large sample size to draw from, but my gut tells me that it's not cost-effective for anything but the very largest institutions who probably have the pricing power to negotiate support when they purchase them anyway.

I'd argue that contrary to your inflammatory comment, it's most responsible for us "idiots" to look at the cost analysis of failure rate x cost to repair + training vs. service contract and choose the lowest cost option. In my district's case, we look at each situation and decide on the most appropriate tool for the job and ensure that our stuff has the proper training to use said devices. That meant a slow rollout of Chromebooks to select classrooms with qualified staff who tested and implemented curriculum supported by those devices, and then they trained their peers and the rollout continued. For the youngest students, iPads made the most sense as they are more comfortable with the touch interface, but I suspect most future devices in the district will be Chromebooks (but that decision also has nothing to do with repairability). By the way, the keyboards on those (Lenovo) devices are the highest point of failure and, yes, we can fix that ourselves.

Yes..

[thesupraman]

You dont have children, do you.

Now consider a whole school DISTRICT full of them, with devices they dont own, and probably dont particularly like (because, school...)
Any device aimed at schools and NOT specifically designed to be both repairable and robust as hell is a conceptual failure.

This is in fact at least half the reason chromebooks are so successful in schools.. There are a wide range of chromebooks designed
to 'take the knocks' (and of course plenty that are crap, but those dont tend to last in market).

And these Ipads are NOT designed to not be broken by children. Not even close.

Re:No more difficult than previous iPads

[Stormwatch]

Redundant news - could have easily said "new iPad no harder to repair than previous models."

But that wouldn't be clickbaity enough.

Pay Teachers First

[PopeRatzo]

Here's an idea: instead of siphoning off education funds buying consumer bling, how about we pay teachers so the people who are responsible for educating your kids don't have to get food stamps to survive?

Today, I heard an Oklahoma teacher lamenting the fact that her school bought tablets for the kids, but couldn't afford wi-fi, so basically, the tablets were completely worthless. Meanwhile, public schools are being starved for funds which end up going to charter schools run by political cronies which actually such even more than the public schools.

You're kidding

[quonset]

You mean after all those times I've asked if, when buying a Mac, you have to throw it out after three years or when something breaks because all the parts are welded together and I got downmodded, that I've been telling the truth?

I'm shocked!