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Apple's new MacBook Pro - Views?
Saw this post, and then watched a video from Phillip DeFranco over at youtube, about the new apple macbook pro which blocks upgrades via soldering ram to the mainboard, glueing battery cells into the chassis to prevent replacement.
Let me know what you think about this. I'm curious, that in this technological age we're still subdued to this sort of "no-fricken-upgrades" and forced into "send-it-back-to-us" statements if something breaks, and pay premium prices to repair such a thing.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2012/06/14/apple-macbook-pro-upgrades/1
Comments
As I said numerous times, Apple is doing the Microsoft 2.0 "dongle-trick".
What I think is basically "Fuck Apple".
Dongle-trick?
Apple never misses an opportunity to screw over its devoted fans.
http://m.computerworld.com/s/article/9228070/Retina_MacBook_Pro_least_repairable_notebook_ever_says_iFixit?mm_ref=http://www.google.com/search?q=ifixit+macbook+pro&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
The most annoying part I found is that they have their own "apple screws" and you need http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-MacBook-Complete-Professional-Screwdriver/dp/B006X3ZVU2 just to be able to dismantle it... Annoying much??
Seems like it's the perfect combo for them hipsters, rather invest my $1199 on a highend desktop or even, highend graphics laptop ^^.
more info: http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2011/01/20/apples-diabolical-plan-to-screw-your-iphone/
If the hipsters buy it, they deserve what they get
The present is for hackintosh. We'll see for the future.
@eastonch there are no custom screws. Only special, unusual screws.
You can find tri-wing or torx on any good set.
Macbooks are pretty decent imo. Way too expensive, but at least they have good hardware, a really decent battery time (on a high end laptop) and the ability to legally run both OSX, Windows as Linux.
Although I dont agree with the "no-fricken-upgrades" and forced into "send-it-back-to-us" statements, I see these are pretty good marketing techniques to earn a shitload of money (look how fast they got rich, I'd probably like that too). My next laptop will probably be an Macbook pro again, but I dont think the retina one due to the non-ability to upgrade or repair whatsoever.
And no, I ain't no Apple fanboy. Traded my iPhone 4 for a Samsung Galaxy S2 and never had regrets. (replaced it a week ago by a Galaxy S3 hehe)
the only problem I see here is the RAM upgrade...
It's a great machine. Personally I don't buy laptops with intent to upgrade them. When the CPU and GPU cease to please me, a ram upgrade isn't going to cut it. The screen is nice. I'm not sure if I'll get one for a while, but I'll definitely get one.
Overall the new machine is the best bang for the buck currently that apple offers. It has been proven that the RMBP is cheaper than the MBP (when you order it with an SSD + RAM).
Believe that the MBP with SSD and RAM costs 2,300 so the RMBP is great value currently when you compare it to other ones.
Looking forward to ordering one before the summer is over.
@dvjdorp
It's a good strategy, but it screws the user over quite bad, right? I'd be totally fine if it allowed upgrades, by requesting new parts from apple themselves, maybe make it only accept certain ram, etc.. whatever. But this whole, "irrepairable" unless it's taken back to the lovely guys and gals at apple, is quite annoying.
The "custom" screws, meant to be listed as "unusual", what's with the unusual screws anyway? Is it to prevent amateurs from opening up the chassis?
The machine itself is good, their own software, is great, if you're into that sorta thing, but if you're not, well, to an outside PoV, it looks like alot of cash, for not too much. I've personally not used a mac before, apart from the odd play around on the apple store, I could get used to it.
Great discussion btw ^^
My Macbook Pro really never let me down in terms of battery, they really did it well.
I must say that I use Apple computers since decades. Long before the "What is that? No matter, I need to have it!" thing started (Post iPod era). And I really like those computers and yes, I like OS X, compared to Windows. I never had the same amount of everyday problems with OS X than I had with Windows. Sitting in front of a Microsoft-PC lets my eyes bleed and usabilty is something unknown to those Redmond-Bastards.
But the direction that Apple is taking since some years indeed worries me. I am Nerd enough to fix hardware problems myself and simply hate to get patronized by Cupertino. It is well possible that my actual Apple hardware (iMac, iPad, iPhone, Macbook Pro) will be the last generation that I will buy. They are getting worse and more evil than Microsoft has ever been. Unfortunately, I see no alternative for me for the moment. Windows? Never! Linux? Maybe.
It doesn't even mean no upgrades... it means if the ram goes bad you have to pay to ship it back and have their techs replace it. Same with the battery.
Unfortunately it would appear as though users are sending a clear message... The non-upgradable systems are their best sellers. The air has been a huge hit. Comparatively, the most upgradable of all, the mac pro has never been a big seller (it not consumer grade hardware, so it makes sense).
It's a question of do we go after the sales or do we please the minority, or a hybrid plan? I'm of the opinion that Apple is struggling with the answer to that, but I don't think they've made up their mind. I'd prefer them to go after the larger and smaller markets at the same time, obviously.
You have to ask yourself why they use non-standard (or uncommon) components, i.e. the screws or the SSD interface. As long as theres no technical reason for that the sole purpose is to make their customers pay more money and make reparing difficult.
Also i doubt people see "non-upgradeable" as a sales argument.
I got the screwdriver at lowes. I don't see the issue there. It's cheap. Non upgradable isn't attractive, no, but average users seem to show little concern based on their purchasing habits.
Apple is trying to push the end of traditional computing, to do so something has to give and the power user is most likely going to be the one alienated.
As for me, it's a portable final cut machine and my preference for editing trumps all other details, but that's just me. I've other toys to satisfy the nerd in me.
I didn't realize that the MacBook Airs don't use traditional-form-factor hard drives, but custom PCIe-connected boards (see the top of the second page as well). That's going to be fun for data recovery: “I dropped my MacBook and demolished the screen! Can you pull my data before I send the whole thing back to Apple for a replacement?” Not without a whole 'nother MacBook I can't...
I hadn't even thought of that angle. Ridiculous.
I also think that.. I was almost buying one and install Win7 on it... My gf, a Apple-fan, threaten me to leave me if I do that... I just ran out of money
I can't see any reason to use win7 instead of osx. Lion is still useable. I can't guarantee for the future, when drm and IOSsizzation will get the absolute power.
How about running Windows software?
Well, personal taste =P
for second, software. does MikroC and BobCAD works on OSX? Don't think so.
hahaa =P
new MBA? great, I'm gonna get a great deal on eBay for one =P
anyone selling his on a ridiculy low price? =D
Back in the days business software was delivered with a small hardware-piece (named "dongle"). You had to plug-in that piece into the parallel port to be able to run the software. The intention was to ensure that only trusted users can run the software in specific environments.
they still.. but they are USB
I thought the major motivation was to prevent copying. You could copy the bits, but not the physical dongle.
...which are very easy to copy, or so musician friends who hate dongle-driven MIDI apps tell me.
I think the newest one can't... or point me with your friends =P
I guess that was also an intention. However, the software we had at those days was a business accounting software and the company selling that wanted to ensure that specific hardware-requirements were met. So as soon as the hardware was changed the dongle stopped the software from working. It was one of those Watchdog dongles specifically designed for the software.
Actually, that's mainly done to get the new macbook pro as thin as it is; if you compare similarly sized non mac notebooks you'll see similar engineering decisions.
Also, the mac really isn't overpriced; I'm sick of people comparing a 2800 notebook with a 500 dollar one; they're simply not the same. There's equivalent windows notebooks that match the looks, size, weight and specs of the macbook pro and they cost... the same (+/- a 100).
Re. the macbook air, there's 3rd party vendors of the pcie based SSD. I'm sure they'll release options for the pro as well.