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MacBook Pro Stage Light Fault: Apple's Design Turns $6 Fix Into a $600 Nightmare (9to5mac.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Some MacBook Pro owners have complained of a 'stage light' effect, where they see uneven backlighting at the bottom of the display. For some, the symptom is only the first stage, with the backlight failing altogether. iFixit says that it has identified the cause -- and the way in which Apple changed the design of the Touch Bar generation for the MacBook Pro turns what would otherwise be a $6 fix into a $600 nightmare. The problem, says the company, is caused by Apple using much thinner ribbon cables instead of the thicker wires used in previous generation MacBook Pro models.
The article says the problem is the cables, but due to the design the entire display unit needs to be thrown in a landfill and replaced with a new one. Yet I always see tech companies talk about being "green", but they have moved away from designs that minimize waste. And I don't buy that "our parts are recycled" garbage. It all just gets sent to China where a "recycler" dumps it somewhere.
This may not be a symptom of Apple, but a larger sign of reductions in manufacturing due to economic slowdown. Apple is now starting to feel the pain, since they pay a premium for better parts.
They took away the magnetic power connector and esvape key. They surtounded what is left of the "obsolete content creation device" (keyboard) with an awkwardly huge graphics tablet and oblong icon touch screen to discourage keyboard usage as those items are guaranteed to be brushed against by mistake during typical use.
More money for Apple! Cough up! iPhone sales are down!
Just a feature of advanced design!
shaving those pennies.
Didn't the hinge cable issues get solved with the Powerbook 500 series?
Does anybody still work at Apple who has experience?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I'm pretty sure ever since companies became people, their fondest dreams are humans finnancial nightmares.
Well, a feature for apple.
Got to keep apple's revenue up now that some people are refusing to spend more than $1000 for an iphone.
I remember once that San Francisco banned the purchase of apple products by the city since they weren't green enough...
Typical Apple misdesign, or rather malicious design to prevent repair. This isn't new, though. Remember the old iBooks that were literally built around a 2.5" spinny hard drive? Or the newer iMacs where a fragile glass screen is GLUED over all of the replaceable parts. What about the last-generation Time Capsule, where replacing the hard drive would be child's play, except for a short cable routed below the drive with fragile connectors buried deep in the unit which are almost impossible to unplug without damage. If the cable were a few inches longer, it would be easy to replace the drive.
Apple are masters of malicious design to prevent repair and reuse. They pretend to be an environmentally responsible company, but they're really shits in this respect, since the best form of recycling is long-term use.
This is why I use a Thinkpad T4X0 series (T450, T460, T470, T480). If the keyboard breaks or gets too dirty, it's not a $600 and take it to the shop problem. It's a $50 problem easily solved by unscrewing two screws and popping in a new keyboard, which, for the record, is a lot easier to type on than these new "butterfly" keyboards (typing on those is like having sex with a condom--there is just no feeling when using them, and, of course, no MacBook has that nipple/clitoris knob to play with. Apologies to any #MeToo snowflakes who haven't realized the best way to stop objectification is by only having sex in a lifetime monogamous commitment). The screen can also be replaced without taking it to the shop (and I have a couple $50 spares on hand just in case I drop the computer or what not). The memory can be upgraded all the way up to 32gb after the fact for about $300 (I have done this), using readily available memory modules at Crucial or whoever. The SSD can be upgraded all the way up to 4tb (for well under $1000), or even 8tb using high-cost specialty parts.
The battery, which lasts 6-8 hours, can be easily popped out and replaced with a fresh one, even on a flight (now, whether the TSA allows me to carry a second battery in my carry-on is another matter).
I have had this Thinkpad for years, and see no reason to replace it any time soon. I wouldn't be able to say the same thing if I owned a MacBook pro.
Just Zip it OK... :| No every bit of it gets recycled damn it.
[($)]
this freakin stupid fad of thinner and lighter laptops passed the point of diminishing returns several years back. No, I want a laptop that lasts longer, not one that gets less batter life just so it can be .02mm thinner. All the stupid people going stupid over "it's thinner" are partly to blame.
I think this will be seen as a particularly dark time in Apple's laptop history. Between the butterfly keyboard and this, we're seeing problems that even long-time Apple fans won't stand for. I'm actually of the opinion that Apple can make a laptop as unrepairable as they like, as long as it doesn't break or they're willing to replace it without any fuss, but that's just not what we're seeing here.
Their nickle-and-diming is truly baffling. They used to pick the more expensive options (and charge for them) knowing that cheaping out would just cause trouble down the road. Buy it nice, or buy it twice, as they say.
I'm glad I don't need to have a laptop in my life. If I did, I would really be looking at buying something old and used. None of these new laptops looks like a good investment right now.
As with previous engineering and/or manufacturing defects (this seems like the former), Apple will no doubt adopt a policy of authorizing Warranty Repair no matter what on the MacBooks that exhibit these symptoms.
Now, if Apple then REFUSES to repair those units (even if out of Warranty, with or without AppleCare), THEN there's a story.
But at this point, this wouldn't even BE a story if it were Dell or Asus or Microsoft or HP or... ANYONE ELSE.
Typical Slashdot. Apple Hatred; nothing more.
the money is made by using cheaper components than the competition. Apple's gotta make a profit or they won't be able to envision new ways of thinking different(ly).
Wait till he hears about this. He'll be happy to hear this
Wear on display cables across the hinge of a laptop or other portable has been a known problem for at least 20 years and should be an immediately obvious point of failure for anyone with a bit of common sense.
Apple have simply stopped giving a shit about anything other than form.
>very bit of it gets recycled damn it.
No, just the more valuable 1s.
he 0s go to landfills.
hawk
Just STOP buying Apple crap, I've been saying it for over 10 years now.
FTFS :-
The problem ... is caused by Apple using much thinner ribbon cables instead of the thicker wires used in previous generation
But isn't it the thinner the better?
In general, Apple's form over function has been the cause of a number of big issues. At least in the Jobs era, he would not let something ship unless he personally checked it out that things were decent.
Well that wasn't always true and Jobs opinion of "decent" wasn't infallible. But you are right that they seem to have trouble keeping focused without someone at the top playing red-light/green-light. The Mac line seems to have been relegated to the garage and isn't seeing much love these days. The iPad has proven to be nothing more than a supersized iPhone without the ability to make calls - unfortunate since it could be so much more with the right software and a decent stylus (the current ones suck).
IMHO, they don't seem to be selling as many devices, so they are jacking up the price
It's not a matter of opinion whether or not they are selling more/less. Their unit volume sales have been flat to modestly rising for the last three years. They aren't losing sales so much as they aren't growing them. Not shocking since the market is getting near saturated, at least where Apple has a solid presence. So to keep revenue increasing in the absence of a new shiny product that isn't an iPhone/iPad/Mac they have been increasing prices. I think they may have reached the limit of their ability to do that. This will be a problem for their stock price if they cannot continue to grow revenue.
So I think we are seeing a combination of prices getting too high as well as a generation of iPhones that wasn't a big enough improvement over the previous year models.
Economy hasn't been this good in 20 years? Not unless the unemployment rate is your sole measure. It is still growing anemically by historical standards - and nowhere near the rate in the mid to late 90s, or the mid to late 80s.
The tax cuts gave a brief sugar high to spike the growth rate, but similar spikes happened during Obama's term without the sugar high, and it was already going back to the "new normal" of 2.5% or so before the trade wars and now government shutdown have their say. We may be edging close a recession by this time next year.
3.... 2.... 1....
- Alex
everything they do and touch is a nightmare.
It happens a lot. Honda used the wrong wire across the door hinges about 10 years ago (for about a year). But their warranties are long enough that it landed on them.
It comes down to buying thousands of miles of wire. The temptation to push the costs down is strong. Until it bites them.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Thats a lie. apple cares far more about profits than form.
then they claim... zero waste!
you don't have anything worth sharing.
My Late 2013 MacBook Pro (i7, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD) has been running very nicely since I bought it just over 5 years ago, but I'm not going to be able to keep using it for another 5 years. I'll have to replace it in a couple of years or so. I don't like the idea of buying newer, dodgy Apple hardware so I'll have to go back to Linux I suppose (no, I'm not doing a Hackintosh). If Apple don't lift their game by the time I need to upgrade, I guess I'll be spending most of my Christmas/New Year holidays distro hopping like I used to :-D I'd probably just stick to Debian, though. I'm getting too old for distro hopping.
..to just mediocre. Oh the fall of Apple.
Could be a documentary title about anorexia or Apple's design.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
You can have it thinner or you can have it work. You can't have both. And clearly (according to crApple) the market has spoken: Thinner!
Personally I don't understand the obsession with "thinner" and "lighter." Unless you have the arm strength of an infant does it matter?
Watching Apple destroy it's reputation for solid reliable hardware is mesmerizing.
Expect a $60 repair kit from iFixit soon.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
All you need is the special theft-resistant Torx screwdriver, a warming mat, a soldering iron, a tabletop particle accelerator, a fly tying rig, some eye of newt, a pinch of nightshade, a bubbling cauldron, and one virgin sacrifice. Easy peasy!
Difficult to service! Pshaw!
what else did you expect from a budget laptop?
that they'd use high quality components?
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
This means that people are buying Huawei flagships and other Android phones which have more features, both hardware and software.
After 10 years of Apple phones you still don't get that people don't buy phones just because they have the longest feature list? There have ALWAYS been phones that had more and sometimes better features than the iPhone and yet the iPhone continues to be the best selling phone on the market most of the time. Obviously there is more to it than features. How those features are implemented, what people are accustomed to, ecosystem lock in, and much more all matter.
The Chinese makers are starting to get ahead of them, and even though Apple is has stashed away more usable spending money than the GDP of a lot of countries, they better start doubling down, otherwise they may end up like Sony... strong brand, but more of a relic of the past than something bringing stuff new and cool.
More likely Apple just buys their way into a new market. I'm sure they would not prefer that but they could buy both General Motors and Ford for cash if they felt the need.
As for Sony, they are hardly a relic of the past. Odds are very good that smartphone in your pocket has a Sony camera in it. They aren't quite as prominent in consumer electronics as they once were but that doesn't mean they've faded into oblivion. Many people are shocked to learn Sony is a conglomerate with businesses that go far beyond consumer electronics. Sony Financial (banking, insurance, etc) accounts for half their earnings. They also are a major player in the entertainment industry. The also are in medical, photography, videography, semiconductors, and lots of other industries in their electronics. Their stock price has been rising steadily for the last 8 years and they are actually doing quite well lately.
Apple needs revolution in design
No they do not. What they need is a new hit product that can generate tens of billions in revenue. That's not a function of design - it's a function of actually investing in products for a new market. Unfortunately those sorts of opportunities don't come along very often or they involve a LOT of risk. It's why I've never bought Apple stock. If they falter on the iPhone for some reason the whole thing comes crashing down because they have no diversification. If the Playstation disappeared tomorrow, it would hurt Sony but it wouldn't kill the company. And Apple isn't taking risks like Tesla or Amazon despite being far better financed. To get big revenues you have to tackle big problems and it's been a while since Apple has done that. They historically have come out with roughly one big product per decade and their last one was the iPad back in 2010 or maybe the Apple Watch (which now gets more revenue than the iPod ever did even at its peak). Apple is just at a point where they need to invest aggressively in new products and it's not clear they are doing that.