Earlier this year Apple introduced a Self Service Repair program that lets customers purchase genuine Apple parts, use official repair guides, and even rent the same equipment Apple uses to perform repairs. At launch, the company offered everything you needed to repair recent iPhones. Now Apple has expanded to cover MacBook laptops as well.
But just because Apple is offering official parts, guides, and tools for repairing your MacBook doesn’t mean that you should use them… because you could end up spending way more money than you would if you just took your laptop to a repair shop or bought third-party parts.
This week Apple expanded its Self Service Repair program to include MacBooks. Sounds good, right? But following the official guides will cost you more than using third-party methods, since battery repair kits bundle extra hardware you may not need. https://t.co/L0Ch2Ti8w2
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) August 24, 2022
Say you want to replace an aging battery, for example. That’s one of the most common pain points in a laptop and one of the most common repairs. But if you have a MacBook Pro, Apple won’t just sell you a battery. They’ll sell you a “Top Case with Battery and Keyboard” kit that includes replacements for parts of your notebook that might not even be broken… along with a 162 page repair manual that goes through a bunch of steps to replace them.
One would almost think Apple doesn’t actually want anyone to use of its Self Service Repair program.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
Apple schedules a “Far Out” event for September 7th. The company is expected to launch the iPhone 14 family (which could include an iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max). A new Apple Watch could also be unveiled. https://t.co/Nju6HWPLgJ pic.twitter.com/OdAnXqEsJM
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) August 24, 2022
Google-owned Fitbit has launched 3 new wearables: the $100 Inspire 3 activity tracker and $230 Versa 4 and $300 Sense 2 smartwatches. They have updated designs, new software, and some new features. But they all run Fitbit’s OS rather than Google’s Wear OS. https://t.co/2taTy3mjqD
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) August 24, 2022
Windows 11 preview build 25188 with more options for when to show the Touch keyboard, Windows Terminal as the default terminal app, and… the beginning of a test of ads in Microsoft Store search results. pic.twitter.com/N1v3NsfXZN
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) August 24, 2022
The #PinePhone is back in stock!
Choose from: @ManjaroLinux @postmarketOS and @MobianLinuxThe keyboard bundle is back too
Store link: https://t.co/BRXAyVSgyd pic.twitter.com/nPlDbLCuBT
— PINE64 EU (@pine64eu) August 24, 2022
Google has finally become a top 5 phone maker in North America thanks to 230% year-over-year growth, driven by the Pixel 6 series (and heavy marketing). But with just 2% market share, Google is still well behind Apple Samsung. https://t.co/fOcD5QZFTo
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) August 24, 2022
Keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook and follow @LinuxSmartphone on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news on open source mobile phones.
Too bad Apple (and others, let’s not fool ourselves) only put out a repair program to appear compliant with “right to repair” laws/expectations, another missed opportunity to do things differently.
To me this just sounds like a sales strategy. It’s just to combat the common objection that consumers have about buying Macbooks (they’re not easily repairable).
This one doesn’t get past people like us, but it will fool the average Joe who doesn’t know better. Average consumers don’t know enough to investigate the details of this program.
I’m currently using a Macbook Pro i7 16″ model, and also an Macbook Air M1 model. I’m not sure I will be buying another Macbook anytime soon. Their support for external monitors is terrible, and the OS has far too many incredibly stupid bugs and oversights that have not been fixed in years. MacOS is getting incredibly stale in terms of functionality, while other operating systems are advancing year after year.
An exercise on malicious compliance, if regulators had any spine no way this would fly, since they don’t it does.
Gee apple, thanks for proving the point I was making just this morning about your whole self-repair service being designed to push the narrative that “none of our customers actually want to repair their own devices! So shut up about right to repair, it’ll never happen, and everyone hates you.”