Actually, it seems Apple are going in the opposite direction.
They redesigned the internals of the iPhone 14 which iFixit really liked and they’ve got their own self service repair program so you can buy legitimate Apple parts, although admittedly you could imagine the EU had a huge influence on this.
It’s taken them a few years to get these up and running, but seems like they’re slowly getting to the right point. Maybe this year the pro/pro max will use the redesigned internals architecture to make those more repairable but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
spckls@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I think all major brands are going in that direction. I work in electronics repair (not consumer electronics) and it used to be “a thing” to have schematics available for a device you are repairing. Not anymore, and for a long time.
rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
I know. I saw consumer devices from the 60s I believe with instructions and schematics.
But there are companies that are better and ones that are especially bad. Apple is becoming the latter. And on top they are actively fighting the ‘Right to repair’ movement.
My Lenovo laptop from a few years ago had a service manual available with all the user serviceable parts and pictures describing how to open it up and replace things.
I used to carry around my laptop every single day. I’ve opened it every few years and collected all of the dust and lint out of the cooling fins, replaced batteries in each of my devices, upgraded them and kept them running for years and years.
You’re right. Unfortunately things are getting worse. Maube I’m getting a Framework laptop next. I don’t want anything that is glued shut and everything is soldered on. A computer is not a disposable product or single-use.
And I hope the EU forces smartphone manufacturers to make those batteries replaceable. So we can all see their argument they can’t build things as thin and waterproof has been a lie. I’m just not sure my current Pixel phone bears up until 2027.
spckls@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I had a pleasure of replacing a CPU on an Acer laptop. It refused to work. I have it on video, 3 or 5 minutes after boot (can’t remember, but it was consistent) it would shut down.
Later, i found out that even though you can replace the CPU in that laptop, Intel has made it so that if that unit wasn’t configured with that CPU when you bought it, it would simply shut down after X minutes.
Can’t recall the name for that “feature” unfortunately.