Apple builds obsolescence into their products on purpose.
If you’d bought a PC, a faulty screen would be easily replaceable. I had to replace my laptop screen myself several years ago, and with a $60 part and ten minutes on youtube, it was an easy repair.
Not really anymore. They make them expensive to repair, but they also don’t want you to switch to another brand, because for them a user in the ecosystem purchasing apps and subscriptions is worth way more than a frustrated user purchasing a one time display replacement. Their whole strategy now (for a few years really) is to make devices that last at minimum 5 years, because it makes the user happy that their 5yo phone still works, and that means they are likely to get another iPhone, and because as long as the user is in the ecosystem, they are making money by taking their cut of everything that happens on the device
I still use a 2011 MacBook Pro. It’s running Linux Mint now and hasn’t been my primary laptop for a couple of years now, but it’s still a solid machine. In fact, as is the norm with Apple stuff, it lost OS support long before it stopped being a viable laptop.
Fortunately, Opencore Legacy Patcher exists…
Let’s hope Asahi linux becomes usable enough as a daily driver before the M series laptops stop getting updates
Yeah, that’s the route I’m expecting to take. It’s why I’m dipping my toes into Linux now.
That will be 450$ and you’ll have to send your device in for 3 weeks. -Apple Genius
Oddly enough, the reason why I did the repair myself was that the shop quoted me $400, haha. It’s nice to live in a world where you can fix your own stuff, something that Apple also does their best to prevent.
Pathetically weak flex cable and connector. Obvious problem and design weakness that’s persisted for years.
It would be a relief if that was the problem. Even if Apple won’t issue a recall, third-party cables can be made and sold for a reasonable price by places like iFixIt.
If the display itself is defective, then this is going to be real bad for a lot of people unless Apple bites the bullet.
Look at the 2016 MacBook Pro.
They had a problem with the display cable and it can’t be easily replaced since it’s soldered to the display.
You basically just need to get an entirely new display even though it’s just the cable.
Additionally, some shops will resolder the cable, but it’s not a long term solution.
Even replacing the display by Apple is not a long term solution because they replace it with another display that has a cable that’s slightly too short and will eventually break again.
So the only real solution is to buy a new computer.
Heck my SO has a 2nd gen Macbook air and it has the display cable problem as well.
Perfectly good laptop, but no OS or hardware support and a repair quote for more than the machine is worth.
about two years
How convenient.
It’s exactly the time, where they are legally required to fix that in the EU
I know, that’s why it always catches my eye when there’s “2 years” in there somewhere.
Warranties are now 3 years in the EU.Edit: nope, just some countries.
Hmm. I’m still using a 2014 iMac, as its 27" 5k screen still very good for coding (with added memory). Sometimes develops a bunch of thin vertical lines, which come and go maybe dependent on temperature, but hasn’t changed for for ten years and i can live with those. Just wish they’d continue providing security updates for it.
Linux runs great on Intel iMacs. Just sayin’.
I got a free 2012 iMac and updated it using OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
I keep pondering grabbing one of those on the cheap and getting one of those kits that turns it into a really nice 27” monitor.
They are insanely cheap…
Wow thanks, never heard of this before. I was getting all set to buy a new Macbook so I could install the latest versions of Xcode and keep developing iOS apps. Looks like I can keep on abusing my 12yo Macbook instead.
I have a 2014 MacBook Pro which I love more than any computer I’ve ever had. This is in my list of things to do. Before I was just going to install Linux on it but this seems like a better solution to keep all the apps I was using.
27" 2015 iMac here. No problems whatsoever. I’m going to use this thing until it dies.
Edit: Gotta love the downvotes for literally just owning a Mac. Good luck breaking into the industry as a video editor without one, guys.
Good luck breaking into the industry as a video editor without one, guys.
A PC will run circles around a Mac for half the price, what are you talking about? They require you to use a Mac for some reason?
It’s called an industry standard. You have heard of those before, I presume.
Of course I have. But standards are not necessarily mandatory. Would you care to elaborate on this “standard” you speak of?
No, I don’t care to hold your hand and explain to you the whole idea of an industry preferring you have a specific piece of technology over others and how finding out you have that piece of technology helps you get work. You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself.
Seems highly unlikely that an employer cares terribly about what kind of hardware you use. All they care about is the end result.
Well you clearly know my industry better than I do, so I’ll defer to your expert knowledge.
What does this have to do with “Apple Silicon”? Unless it’s not screen deterioration, but something with graphic output.
It refers to the affected models, not the cause. The apple silicon iMac was a complete redesign.
Might just be to indicate when it started happening. They could have written “M1” and still cause the same confusion, and I believed that’s what the model is called.
“According to an investigation by one of the affected users, the Apple iMac screen uses a flex cable that must sustain a voltage of around 50 volts when the screen is set to high or maximum brightness. This causes the connector to burn out over time, it was theorized, resulting in short circuits that cause the black lines to appear on the screen”
Oh. Makes sense it’s a cable. This way they can profit on spare cables and keep the reputation of reliable hardware for their fanbase.
This flex cable is bonded to the LCD and requires a replacement of the whole display assembly
Oh, so they can sell the whole matrix in addition to cable. Even better.
A true marvel of engineering, pushing the boundries of business and technology
Tap for spoiler
/s
Not that kind of cable
Oh. Makes sense it’s Cable. This way they can profit on spare Cables and keep the reputation of New Mutants for their fanbase.
Yeah, depending on how widespread this is, it’s probably worse than staingate.
I bought a 2014 MacBook Pro earlier this year, I got a good deal on it partly because it’s got severe delamination issues. With dark mode, it doesn’t really bother me enough to spend several hours with a bottle of Listerine to fix it yet.
2011 AMD Graphics MacBook Pro all over again
I have zero sympathy for Apple customers…
I find victim blaming counterproductive. It would be more helpful to discuss stronger consumer protection laws.
Why not both?
Ehh…iOS is arguably the most secure mobile operating system (excluding something like GrapheneOS) currently on the market.
I don’t give a shit what brand you use, because I don’t have brand loyalty, but I can see valid reasons for why someone might want to use Apple Macbooks. Shitting on the consumer here does no good. All consumers deserve the same amount of consumer protection, regardless of which tech overlord they happen to purchase their hardware from.
I can see valid reasons for why someone might want to use Apple Macbooks
I use one because I write apps for iOS and you can only do that on a Macbook. It doesn’t make me a fanboi.
Shitting on the consumer here does no good.
It absolutely does help to remind them that they’re victims of their own poor choices.
By that rationale, we should be blaming those who picked a certain brand of hamburger meat for getting salmonella poisoning? I would think we’d want to push responsibility on the corporation and governmental oversight for change in food safety standards than mock those who got sick.
By that rationale, we should be blaming those who picked a certain brand of hamburger meat for getting salmonella poisoning?
Is this hypothetical hamburger brand notorious for having salmonella in their burgers? Because yes. Absolutely.
I would think we’d want to push responsibility on the corporation and governmental oversight
Yeah, of course we would. This is a false dichotomy though. You don’t have to choose one or the other.
I mean, it’s not really a false dichotomy though? Your statements suggest that we assign fault/root cause to the consumer. I’m suggesting we assign root cause to the manufacturer/lack of regulation. If at the end of the day, it’s the consumer’s fault they chose a product without conducting a comprehensive quality review of all components within the product they purchase, then the action of pushing government regulation contradicts that. Funding regulation doesn’t do anything to fix consumer behavior; i.e. root cause. But maybe I misinterpreted your statements.
As for your first statement, there are many problems with this reasoning. How can we reasonably expect consumers to perform comprehensive research studies on everything they purchase? If it turned out the specific manufacturer of Grade B wool that’s used for a certain sweater from a certain clothing brand is known for causing latent forms of cancer if worn for 2 years, that’s really on the consumer? C’mon now.
Besides, in this specific case, it turned out to be a catastrophic latent failure. It wasn’t even possible for an informed consumer to have predicted this sort of catastrophic failure.
If you were in their shoes, you’d probably say otherwise.
I would never be in their shoes because I’m not that stupid.
Don’t cut yourself on all that edginess.
Sick burn bro. So creative.
Glad you thought so. 👍
We shouldn’t blame the victims that society failed to properly educate. You’re right that if people intimately understood apple the way you probably do, they’d never buy an apple product. I would argue, however, that it’s a failing of education not an informed choice to be corporately cucked.
When people willfully choose to buy products from a known anti-consumer companies, they are victims of their own poor choices. They do know, and they choose to buy them anyway. I know because they’ll freely admit this to me.
The thing about rational actors, is when given the same information they should make the same choices. I would argue that they’re most likely, instead, just at the peak of mt. stupid
I’m not saying you will be.
