MS and Mac hardware rubbish

[nicholab]

Why have both MS and Apple decided to make rubbish hardware in which you can't upgrade the RAM or the HDD!!

 

They glued their products together so you stand no chance of repairing them I love repairing stuff do the idiots who run the companies not thing the same. The MS products have scoured 0 for reparability from fixit. I remember when I thought Dell were bad using non standard ATX motherboards.

 

To me this make the barrier into computer products greater so we increase the digital divide which make me very cross.

[MartinT]

I'd hardly call a Surface 'rubbish' as a Pro 7 i7 is my daily workhorse. Where would you propose they make RAM upgradeable in such a thin case design? Typically, all tightly packaged tablets and many laptops these days have soldered in RAM and SSDs because there is no space to include socket-mounted components. They also come with a spec that makes future upgrades unlikely within their lifespan. Things have moved on.

[maark]

This goes against the right to repair idea https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49884827

and is not good for the environment.

I would like to put a bigger ssd hard drive in my macbook but guess it wouldn't be easy.

I suppose they just want you to buy new stuff.

[maark]

I'd hardly call a Surface 'rubbish' as a Pro 7 i7 is my daily workhorse. Where would you propose they make RAM upgradeable in such a thin case design? Typically, all tightly packaged tablets and many laptops these days have soldered in RAM and SSDs because there is no space to include socket-mounted components. They also come with a spec that makes future upgrades unlikely within their lifespan. Things have moved on.

 

I suppose that is the problem with thin case design - had several surface pros at school that had been dropped and screen cracked - had to write them off because you cant get the case straight enough to take a replacement screen. Such a waste of an otherwise working unit.

Edited August 2, 2021 by maark

[bald_pig]

There are plenty other products available which are upgradeable for you to stick to using.

[Davit2005]

Non-standard PSU connections are my bug bear mostly used on desktops where the power for the drives is taken from the motherboard. Like used in some of the Cheap SMB servers and some of the Dells, Fujitsu Lenovo and prob others. I know you can buy the convertors to use a standard PSU but bit unsure about those TBH.

[Norphy]

Like with all things, it's a trade-off.

 

What do laptop manufacturers gain by having soldered SSDs and RAM:

 

1) Reduced PCB size - you don't have to have your RAM/SSD in a socket or a set form factor, meaning you have more flexibility on how you place components

2) Reduced thickness - you don't need to have a space in your computer thick enough for 2/3 stacked PCBs

3) Reduced support costs - with soldered components, the company knows exactly what is in the computer and they don't have to account for or certify components from third parties

4) Reduced construction costs - two less things to bolt into the chassis

5) With a smaller PCB taking up space in the chassis, they can use that extra space for other things - most likely the battery.

6) They can also make smaller/lighter/thinner laptops

 

What do they lose?

 

1) The ability to just replace the RAM/SSD in the event of one of those components failing - they have to replace the whole logic board.

2) Not much else

 

From their point of view, it's a no-brainer. Sure, customers lose the ability to upgrade but do your marketing correctly and they won't care. It's also worth bearing in mind that people who actually want to change the components in their computers are a tiny minority and that minority is getting smaller. If you ask the average laptop owner which is more important to them: A longer battery life or the hypothetical ability to upgrade their RAM in the future, I think the majority of them will ask for longer battery life.

[nicholab]

I'd hardly call a Surface 'rubbish' as a Pro 7 i7 is my daily workhorse. Where would you propose they make RAM upgradeable in such a thin case design? Typically, all tightly packaged tablets and many laptops these days have soldered in RAM and SSDs because there is no space to include socket-mounted components. They also come with a spec that makes future upgrades unlikely within their lifespan. Things have moved on.

 

This means that you have to buy everything up front fine if you have budget of a business not for a school or home user. At home I am still using a 2012 Mac book pro that I upgraded to SSD it still starts faster than most peoples machine I know.

 

I would have a slightly bigger as case if I could upgrade the RAM and it was easier to fix. Also I have a broken unit and it is going to cost £500 to get an exchange of the unit as it can't be repaired.

 

Do Dell still do on site repaired of laptop MS don't offer this for a business device?

 

My car comes with a 5 year warranty and is repairable by most garages why does my laptop come with so little and is glued shut.

Edited August 2, 2021 by nicholab

[Norphy]

This means that you have to buy everything up front fine if you have budget of a business not for a school or home user. At home I am still using a 2012 Mac book pro that I upgraded to SSD it still starts faster than most peoples machine I know.

 

I would have a slightly bigger as case if I could upgrade the RAM and it was easier to fix. Also I have a broken unit and it is going to cost £500 to get an exchange of the unit as it can't be repaired.

 

Do Dell still do on site repaired of laptop MS don't offer this for a business device?

 

My car comes with a 5 year warranty and is repairable by most garages why does my laptop come with so little and is glued shut.

 

Well, it's simple. If that's what you want, buy that. Dell Latitude and Precision laptops are still repairable, there are laptops from plenty of other manufacturers which are as well. If you don't want a thin and light laptop which isn't repairable/upgradeable, don't buy one. No-one is making you.

 

Yes, it's a bugger if the manufacturer you want to buy from doesn't offer that option (Apple) but if they don't sell what you want, don't buy from them. What you want isn't necessarily what someone else wants.

[nicholab]

If all of the below applies why does device reliability seem to be going down? This means that I have to by a 3 year warranty or spare kit.

 

Like with all things, it's a trade-off.

 

What do laptop manufacturers gain by having soldered SSDs and RAM:

 

1) Reduced PCB size - you don't have to have your RAM/SSD in a socket or a set form factor, meaning you have more flexibility on how you place components

2) Reduced thickness - you don't need to have a space in your computer thick enough for 2/3 stacked PCBs

3) Reduced support costs - with soldered components, the company knows exactly what is in the computer and they don't have to account for or certify components from third parties

4) Reduced construction costs - two less things to bolt into the chassis

5) With a smaller PCB taking up space in the chassis, they can use that extra space for other things - most likely the battery.

6) They can also make smaller/lighter/thinner laptops

 

What do they lose?

 

1) The ability to just replace the RAM/SSD in the event of one of those components failing - they have to replace the whole logic board.

2) Not much else

 

From their point of view, it's a no-brainer. Sure, customers lose the ability to upgrade but do your marketing correctly and they won't care. It's also worth bearing in mind that people who actually want to change the components in their computers are a tiny minority and that minority is getting smaller. If you ask the average laptop owner which is more important to them: A longer battery life or the hypothetical ability to upgrade their RAM in the future, I think the majority of them will ask for longer battery life.