Press release touts "built with the environment mind", but is silent on repairability.
Also this week: Lenovo's new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability showing that even popular modules of mainstream manufacturers can build with repairability in mind.
Non-Socketed memory and storage is more of an upgrade friendly feature rather than a repairability feature. They don’t often fail. And most people do not attempt to upgrade their devices anyway, especially the type of people who are not power users, and are buying low end devices. For most people, upgrades are no longer a purchasing consideration, and they will buy the laptop that’s five dollars cheaper and has more attractive packaging.
And no, Apple is not soldering memory to the main board on most of their computers these days. All of the M series computers have the memory on package with the CPU, because there are latency issues with putting it any further away. The A18 Pro that this laptop uses is package-on-package, the DRAM is directly on top of the SoC.
Not since we got rid of spinning rust. Most common failures are batteries, and the parts of the computer subject to direct abuse by the user: keyboard, connectors, the display, etc.
On my M1 Air I have:
Percentage Used: 4%
Data Units Read: 564,731,366 [289 TB]
Data Units Written: 182,194,700 [93.2 TB]
and I thought I was using it extensively haha.
You're out of date; Apple is soldering the memory to the CPU directly. I mean are you complaining that you can't swap your L2 cache or replace the math coprocessor? The history of computing is one of the CPU absorbing every single discrete component over time. Apple is at a point where the CPU has to absorb the RAM to maintain their performance lead. I'm happy I get a super fast computer.
Well the battery is usually glued, but Apple has started using this weird glue that releases if you give it a specific electric charge. It's replaceable but it's a complicated affair. I expect the Neo's battery to be glued on the chassis.
The SSD is difficult to replace because Apple uses storage chips with no controller; the SSD controller is in their CPU. So you can't put in any M.2 in there even if you wanted. Some small companies have managed to offer upgrade parts for the Mac Mini, which has socketed storage chips.
As time marches on and PC manufacturers stay still, Apple manages to simplify its logic boards by reducing the number of connectors and parts, lowering the price to make a computer. Apple, which has never really offered anything below 1000$, has entered a new market with a bang.
I expect a computer in 20 years to look like the system-on-a-chip that Apple makes for its watches. I don't know why people are adamant that we need more controllers and chips on our machines, not less.
My 2c: I meet people all the time using the same Macbooks for 5+ years. While I'm attracted to modularity, SoCs have undeniable advantages (I'm assuming other commenters will cover this). I bought the fanless MB Air because I imagine this thing could probably go for a decade without any repair, outside the battery. I'd say this longevity is worthy of praise.
For contrast, I used a Surface Book throughout college and within weeks of the warranty expiring I ran into serious issues with the battery, then the charging port, display backlight, fan. I loved it to death so I kept it on life support and changed my usage patterns until I gave up on it. And yes, my next device was a used Thinkpad, and I was able to fix most issues I ran into. But I'd
I am NOT a fan of the measures Apple takes to monopolize the maintenance and repair of their devices.
I’m still using my M1 MacBook from 6 years ago. My company keeps emailing me to upgrade to the newest one but everything works perfectly fine and the performance is more than adequate for dev work.
Compared to pre-Apple silicon I was getting company exemptions to upgrade before I was technically allowed.
I expect the customer of this product is not worried about repairability: to them, it's just an iPad with a keyboard. You're also citing 3x higher costs, so they're really not comparable.
The lack of upgradability is directly what provides a lot of benefits that I expect the average consumer vastly prefers: better performance with soldered memory and better battery life. It's not just to shaft you on prices (though that's definitely a big factor).
I mean durability is as or more important than repairability and apple products have a reputation for lasting a long time and holding their value. And getting software support etc. In general I think tech nerds underestimate how much people value durability over repairability and how hard it can be to sell repairability. Ive found that "this product is repairable" can be interpreted by people im trying to convince to buy a framework as "this product will need to be repaired and it's going to be your problem." On the other hand Apple's reputation for durability means that buying a used MacBook to save money is a serious and popular option which is by far the most environmentally friendly option compared to any new device, however repairable. The repairability <-> sustainability relationship isn't as straightforward as people suggest in the real world imo
If you stop the video you can see the 8 screws on the bottom of the Neo. I'm hoping that means there's some level of repairability at least from a battery perspective. I'm looking forward to some teardowns when it's in peoples hands.
What MacBooks are you referring to? I haven't heard a fan running on a MacBook for over half a decade, and they replaced the butterfly keyboards several generations ago...
Thinkpads have good repairability, few people would debate that. They are not perfect and the ifixit "review" itself acknowledges that the wifi antenna is soldered, hence not repairable.
And then the year after this is released, will they sell you new mainboards with the rest of the laptop, so you can upgrade just the parts that need updating?
Before you know it your smart thermostat will be blogging. The joke is on everyone who thought IoT couldn't get any worse. Just imagine the new landscape of security vulnerabilities this opens up.
If you're Flock, and an officer ran a search against a Flock database, for a crime that was later solved, regardless of how it was solved, they will crow that "Flock solved a crime".
They never solved any cases, only provided a warm lead once a day. If they solved many, they would be proud and say N cases solved. In this case N must be an embarrassingly small number since they don't use concrete language. It's like offering 5500$ to anyone that offers any information on any crime.
Ha. The question now is whether the ML industry will change directions or if the momentum of Python is a runaway train.
I can't guess. Perl was once the "800-pound gorilla" of web development, but that chapter has long been closed. Python on the other hand has only gained traction since that time.
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