
Retina MacBook Pro full of Air-style proprietary parts - shawndumas
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-with-Retina-Display-Teardown/9462/
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jmillikin
Ten years ago, a computer's useful lifetime was measured in months. Hardware
specs were advancing so quickly that a two-year-old computer might not be
capable of running newly-released software. RAM, disk, and even CPU upgrades
were necessary to keep up to date.

Except for gamers, this is no longer true.

Computers without user-replaceable parts are a natural outcome of the fact
that users no longer _need_ to replace parts. Serviceability wasn't a goal, it
was a _workaround_.

~~~
ezy
This. I think it's also worth noting that for a pro _laptop_ , price is not a
major issue, if you're trying to treat your laptop like a BYOB, you're doing
it wrong. So:

(a) The RAM capacity is limited by the chipset anyway, and on "pro" machines,
most people max out the RAM when they purchase or directly after. It's just
that now you can't cheat and buy the RAM elsewhere to avoid an apple price
premium.

(b) The SSD _is_ replaceable, it's just not a standard connector. Obviously,
3rd party replacements will show up with a slightly higher cost than a bog
standard SATA drive. I view this like the replacement of FW with tbolt, who
cares?

(c) (Stock) RAM seldom goes bad before other components, and if it does, you
treat it like the other components. They can unplug the SSD from your MBP and
plug it into an identical one, swap complete. So we're not talking weeks for a
replacement here -- just go to an Apple store. If you're not near an Apple
store, you're probably not near a vendor of replacement RAM or SSD drives
either.

One issue though: You had better keep that SSD backed up! 'cause if the
machine goes south, you have no way of accessing your data unless someone
comes out with a apple propretary card egd to sata adapter.

~~~
eigenvector
How is purchasing RAM identical to what Apple uses at market prices (rather
than marked up by a factor of 2x to 5x) "cheating", exactly?

RAM and storage prices fall drastically with time while memory and storage
requirements in software increase with time. If I plan to get 3-5 years of
life out of my computer isn't it only logical to add on memory and storage
when I need it, not all up front?

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jwallaceparker
This is going to be a trend with Apple.

They have a good thing going with the iPhone and iPad devices which are both
non-upgradeable: consumers are compelled to buy a new device every couple of
years or so.

It's pretty clear they're getting rid of the Mac Pro, which is highly
configurable (with memory, storage and graphics cards) and thus has a much
longer life span.

So is Apple aiming for a future where you have to buy a new laptop every 2
years to have a machine that is relevant?

~~~
jonknee
> They have a good thing going with the iPhone and iPad devices which are both
> non-upgradeable: consumers are compelled to buy a new device every couple of
> years or so.

This is no different than any other phone, it has nothing to do with the
upgradability (which arguably is better for Apple than other phones since
Android's OS upgrade path is slow at best and absent on a lot of devices).

Phones get upgraded every couple of years because the technology is changing
so quickly that there are large differences between the models and with
carrier subsidies the upgrade cost is minimal. If the iPhone had a removable
battery or a SD slot it wouldn't cause people not to upgrade to the next
model.

~~~
Retric
The perceived rate of change in phones has been decreasing for a while. After
you have a multi megapixel camera, can show HD video, and do Doom 3 or better
3d graphics the hardware bumps are less noticeable.

Honestly, broken hardware and decreased battery life drives a lot of phone
upgrades among my friends and coworkers.

~~~
jonknee
LTE and NFC are two biggies. The chipsets in general are getting better in
terms of both performance and power usage. Ditto for displays.

If you want a new battery in your iPhone, it's $79 away from Apple and cheaper
not from Apple. No need to upgrade.

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cobralibre
In terms of aesthetics, form, weight, efficiency, and so on, there are
obviously huge benefits to building computers that are not upgradeable or
user-serviceable.

It's important to remember, though, that serviceability/upgradeability is not
just a matter of satisfying the urge to tinker. Serviceability makes it much
more likely that old hardware can be reused and repurposed for years beyond
its putative obsolescence date. I'd hate to think that a computer only has a
few years of useful life before it's garbage.

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brk
Personally I don't really care. I recognize this going in, and I recognize
that there are many many other hardware options if I want to unscrew my laptop
and dork about with the internals.

For me, I travel around a lot. Physical durability and integrity of the
hardware, in the smallest possible form factor, is important to me. You don't
often get expansion/flexibility to go along with svelte and rugged.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before laptops become one giant COB (chip-
on-board) manufacturing process where the whole "laptop" is a 10mmx10mmx1mm
chip glued to the back of an LCD panel with some battery wrapped around it.
And I'll buy one.

~~~
jammmuel
I believe what you've just described is an iPad

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mdonahoe
I can't get too worked up by user serviceablility, or lack thereof.

"My SSD died the other day. I tried to open it up and replace one of the flash
chips, but they deliberately made it impossible for me to service. I had to
buy an entire new drive!"

~~~
yellowbkpk
Isn't it obvious that your example is different than "My $3000 MacBook Pro's
SSD died the other day. I tried to open it up and replace the SSD, but they
deliberately made it impossible for me to service. I had to buy an entire new
computer!"

Sure, you can pull out a microscope and complain about how you can't fix your
SMD components, but the vast majority of consumer (Apple, even!) laptops have
previously been very easy to upgrade or repair and now that's different.
SSD/hard disks have always been hard and there isn't an expectation that they
are user serviceable.

~~~
X-Istence
The SSD is a separate part that can be removed. In the future (within a year,
before then Applecare will take care of defects) I am expecting manufacturers
to have third-party SSD's available that will work in the new MacBook Pro's.

~~~
tbeseda
Correct. It seems faulty RAM will be the real trouble beyond that first year,
as it's soldered to the board.

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sitharus
What do they mean 'virtually non-upgradable'? It's actually non-upgradable!

Annoying that I can't upgrade the RAM though, that's the only part I've
changed in recent years - because it's so much cheaper DIY.

~~~
llgrrl_
Because it is upgradable. You just have to have the expertise to do it.
Soldering a SMD component, while not exactly something that everyone can do,
is indeed doable.

Disclaimer: I can solder some SMD chips...

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hexagonal
Blogspam.

Article is just a summary of [http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-with-
Retina-Displ...](http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-with-Retina-
Display-Teardown/9462)

~~~
jQueryIsAwesome
But maybe the blogspam had a stronger server; the link being used now (the
same you provided) is down and Google Cache doesn't seem to have it.

Link to blogspam: [http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/retina-macbook-pro-
full...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/retina-macbook-pro-full-of-air-
style-proprietary-parts/)

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michaelcampbell
Anyone who's been around long enough or has read Jobs' biography has known
this to be the modus operandi (and/or "vision") of Apple since, well, Apple
was founded. One of the first real company disagreements between Woz and Jobs
was the inclusion of expansion slots in the II. They WANT it not to be
serviceable; they always have.

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raja
How many upgrades does average consumer make on their MacBook Pro? I'd argue
it's ~0.

~~~
gamache
I know lots of folks who've added RAM and who've swapped out the spinning
drive for an SSD. Maybe it's more of a "power user" thing, but here you are on
Hacker News.

~~~
kamjam
This. And all the other same replies below.

My manager just "upgraded" his old Mac by installing an SSD and gave it to his
wife to use. Said it prolonged the life for another few years.

I just upgraded RAM and HDD -> SSD on a friends computer. He had no clue what
I was doing, but his computer ran "better than new". All he does it surf the
web, use Outlook for email, write Word/Excel docs. Extended life for another
few years for him. He certainly doesn't need a new computer (which is was
about to go buy). If users themselves can't or don't know how to upgrade, they
may well know someone who can. Or some small local indie shop who has the
skills.

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muraiki
The "talking computer" text on their server load error page put a smile on my
face. I love it.

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api
The Retina MBP seems more like the "Macbook Air Pro." (Which is cool...)

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netrus
Has the problem with the high defect rate of SSDs been resolved? Not to long
ago, I remember reading of many defects after about 1 year of usage. A SSD
defect would now effectively brick the whole MacBook Pro.

~~~
acdha
It never existed for the Apple branded SSDs - the people who reported that
were people who bought the cheapest SSDs and used them with non-SSD-aware
filesystems which overwrote the same blocks repeatedly.

SSDs with smarter controllers and filesystems which don't abuse the disk make
a huge difference. Apple controls all of these so they should have a much
better idea of the reliability factor - and even if you pay for repairs,
there's a high risk that an early failure will make you less likely to buy
from them next time.

