
How to Fix Everything: Spending a few days at iFixit - jkoebler
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-to-fix-everything
======
ambiate
The appliance industry has it figured out. The parts are so discrete and they
control the finite supply. Not worth counterfeiting/cloning, because there are
too many models/factors. In fact, they won't make replacement parts for pieces
they know will last longer than the warranty.

Serviceman Jim can find a belt/board for your 1987 washing machine and have it
delivered in 2 hours for $90.

Serviceman Jim says to scrap that 2015 washing machine and buy the 2016 model.
The company knows about that recurring problem that every household with that
model has, but they're not recalling it.

HVAC unit, fridges, dishwashers, washing machine, dryer, vacuums, etc. I
recall there being small businesses with overflowing stock for repair parts
for all of these items. Its so much easier to just throw away the item and
replace it. Its the age of recyclable electronics, and I can't wait to get an
'iPhone7t multiplied.'

It just saddens me in the age of 'we need more STEM.'

------
spdionis
I understand where the author is coming from. It is traditional to repair your
broken things somehow. It is a bit ingrained in our mentality. BUT.

What moral right does he have to claim that Apple SHOULD make their products
fixable? Who are these people to tell Apple (or any other company) if they
have to include a technical manual or not? I'm with him when he's against
Apple attacking people who try to repair their devices but there is no real
reason Apple has to support repairing beyond their own offering. From a moral
point of view the technical manual and ease of repairing might just be
features, that are arguably more or less valuable, and Apple owes nothing.

After all I don't ship my code together with a manual on how to fix bugs...

Note: I don't like Apple, just wanted to add some reasonableness.

~~~
leonroy
Considering the massive environmental cost of making these electronic devices
I think it is absolutely in the consumer, the manufacturer and society's
interests to ensure the products are not made more difficult to repair than
they need to be.

There are significant externalities behind every iPhone most of which are
borne by manufacturing and recycling plants in India and China. The more a
manufacturer can do to ensure their product stays out of landfill and in use
the better off we all will be.

~~~
spdionis
We are still required to give Apple the benefit of the doubt in case they made
a trade-off between repairability and quality and not attack without proof.

Furthermore if we leave the realm of "moral" and "not moral" Apple is not
required to keep in mind society's interests in mind by anything except law
and any discussion in that direction should not refer to companies but to
government (which, ok, may not be that effective). Even then, most complaints
don't give much consideration to the environmental impact as a first-order
issue and leave it as a two-liner before the conclusion.

~~~
jkoebler
Apple is not required to keep society's interests in mind, that is true. But
we are allowed to alert our fellow citizens about the fact that the company at
best doesn't care and at worst is obstructing what may be in our best
interests. I'm not suggesting in the piece that Apple is evil—I'm suggesting
that the company is worth questioning on these arguably important issues it
has either ignored or purposefully made worse.

~~~
jqm
"Apple is not required to keep society's interests in mind, that is true"

Maybe they should be?

~~~
rarepostinlurkr
Make sure you let the rest of the Global 500 and their shareholders know.

~~~
jqm
Apple certainly isn't alone in this.

If we back up for a bit and think why corporations exist in the first place,
why society allows and facilitates rather than criminalizes corporate
endeavors, it becomes clear the idea is that they fulfill a useful social
function. And that function is the development, production and distribution of
goods and services.

But they have to operate within a framework of rules which ensure (to some
extent) they fulfill these functions without impacting society negatively
(excessively so at least) and that their net benefit to society is a plus.
These rules change from time to time.

There isn't a reason that long term externalized costs should be allowed to be
pushed onto society as a whole in the interests of these entities realizing
short term profits. That happens far too often and will be the death of
capitalism as we know it if left unchecked. We as a society should demand
better. Unfortunately, government all too often isn't the solution to the
problem and the cures it provides are sometimes worse than what was attempting
to be cured. But we need to keep the proper role of corporations in mind and
demand a level of accountability. Not doing so leads to a very bad place.

------
frabcus
In contrast to the fancy Apple screws in the article, the Fairphone 2 is the
first iFixit reviewed phone to get 10/10 for ease of repair.

[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fairphone+2+Teardown/52523](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fairphone+2+Teardown/52523)

~~~
wyldfire
I hadn't heard of it. But I looked it up: €529.38 and impressive specs. This
thing looks downright competitive. And dual-SIM‽ That seems pretty uncommon,
but probably nice to have.

------
jhkim
On a related note, anyone have any personal experience with iFixit's tech
repair kit? I'm looking to gift a set of electronic repair tools for the
holidays.

~~~
lsc
No experience with the ifixit stuff, but my set of 'small weird bits' is from
wiha, and it includes a bunch of tiny pentalobe bits, one of which fit the
screws on the bottom of a friend's apple laptop. I personally really like
Wera, xcelite and wiha for my screwdrivers/bit drivers.

Or, to be more specific, I like wiha for tiny bits, wera for regular 1/4" bits
and ratchets, and xcelite for fixed screwdrivers. The Xcelite XPE102 is my
favorite screwdriver, and the tool I use the most often.

I have an iphone 5 that needs repairing, so I will soon be able to report back
on how well the wiha works for that.

Now, I personally like nice tools the way some people like nice watches, so if
the difference in price between the cheap tools and the good tools is
significant to you and you don't use the tools often, you probably want to
ignore my advice.

~~~
fisherjeff
I don't think I can recommend the Wiha 75999[1] toolset highly enough -
excellent quality and not overly expensive.

[1]
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H7MWEI](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H7MWEI)

------
jkoebler
Hi, I wrote this article. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

------
sneak
The most troubling part of this is that Apple staff accompany ICE on raids.

It reminds me of the time the Gizmodo guy got a visit from the Feds after
doing the article about the iPhone 4 prototype that they purchased from the
bar (or the guy who found it at the bar, or whatever). Apple staff accompanied
the cops then, too.

What other property owners get to ride along on federal investigations when
there is a suspected case of theft?

It smacks of special privileges and private-government integration. This is
not how competition is supposed to work.

------
sxcurry
I don't think that Apple makes a lot of money from repairs, as claimed by this
(rather silly) article. It's more a case that iPhones, MacBooks, etc are
designed and manufactured for thinness, irregular battery shapes, etc, so that
they don't lend themselves well to end user repair. There are many other
device options out there for people who don't like this approach.

~~~
cushychicken
Do you think that Apple routinely replaces factory defective iPhones with
brand-new iPhones? Doubtful - generally most companies replace with B-stock,
i.e. returns that passed all of their incoming quality checks.

Chances are, if your electronics were replaced by the original company, they
went to someone else first.

------
vacri
So, if repairability is important to you, stop using Apple. Vote with your
feet. Thinkpads are a great alternative for laptops - similarly priced,
specc'd, and robust, and they come with (downloadable and free) extensive
hardware maintenance manuals with step-by-step guides and numerous exploded
diagrams.

~~~
i336_
"ThinkPhone" isn't being used...

:D

I found these two: [http://www.androidauthority.com/lenovo-think-
phone-187548/](http://www.androidauthority.com/lenovo-think-phone-187548/) and
[http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-
CN&tl=en&u=http%...](http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-
CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftech.sina.com.cn%2Fit%2F2013-04-09%2F10188221355.shtml)

------
Shivetya
being in the auto parts industry this type of article strikes home. it is
amazing the lengths manufacturers will go to prevent you from repairing stuff
you own.

I am still waiting for the day the only way to obtain an iphone or similar
will be lease. As in, you never buy it, you only lease it.

~~~
davecap1
You can do that today... it's not the only way but I'd imagine it's pretty
common: [http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-
program](http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program)

------
radoslawc
"though it's mostly middle-aged white men" \- that wasn't necessary there

~~~
jkoebler
I didnt dwell on this point but I think it's important to point out to the
reader who was there. Very few women, almost no people of color. This is a
tech culture piece. It matters. As I said, didn't dwell on it but worth
mentioning.

