Apple has the lowest grades in laptop, phone repairability analysis

The MacBook Neo is a step in the right direction, though.

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[Carewolf]

"Apple leads the list of laptop repairability losers...."

No way!

In other surprising news. Scientists found water to be wet.

 

[Erbium168]

I took a quick look at some photos of 2021 Macbooks Pro's and it seems the backplate is removable. So in your case, I would remove the backplate, try to disconnect the battery, wait for a few days to let other components discharge and then put it under the hottest tap water you can bear with your bare skin and rinse the keyboard thoroughly.

Then let the machine dry for a few days or a week in the sun or above a heater, regularly changing positions so the water cannot remain in one spot.
Chances are big that it would work properly afterwards.

(Souce: had a Dell laptop showered with cola that Dell didn't want repair with good reasons that went through this treatment and used it for years afterwards)

We used to use DI water, first with a small amount of detergent and then plain. Tap water contains too much dissolved solid.
And then dry with a dehumidifier. DI water won't leave residue.

 

[Brendan McKinley]

Interesting. I attended an executive briefing event at Lenovo's NC campus a few weeks ago, they were very excited to tout their efforts on the repairability front. They specifically called out Framework as the only manufacturer offering better repairability. The only manufacturer I'm aware of that allows one to easily replace the USB-C port aside from Framework is Lenovo with their latest models.

iFixit sells replacement MacBook Air USB-C ports for ≈ $25.

 

[ranthog]

We used to use DI water, first with a small amount of detergent and then plain. Tap water contains too much dissolved solid.
And then dry with a dehumidifier. DI water won't leave residue.

Once you've cleaned the debris off the board, you should really rinse it in isopropyl alcohol. It is good at removing water that may be present stuck under chips and the like. Minimizing the time that things are exposed to water is really important.

 

[ricerocket]

Weird study.

I've had Lenovo Thinkpads for awhile now. I've disassembled it myself and put it back together with parts from ebay. Instructions on Lenovo's site is fine, at least for my model (P15 Gen2). Lenovo's done right by me every time I messed it up too.

Meanwhile, how does Microsoft laptops score above Lenovo? Definitely not easily disassembled if at all. And if you get a spill on a Surface Book or a Pro, forget it. No accidental spill coverage, etc.

 

[InvariantCapitalist]

With replaceable they mean it can be replaced with a screwdriver instead of trying to unglue or unsoldering the battery. The batteries in my higher end consumer Dell and HP laptops are easy enough to replace with the right screwdrivers. I don't think that lowers the capacity of the battery compared to glued batteries.

It actually does. You can always cram more battery in same area if you don’t have to add a mechanism for it to be easy to remove.

 

[TheWerewolf]

In to watch the Apple fans spin and kvetch as fast at they can...

 

[TheWerewolf]

Every iPad, my family has had and every iPhone over 16 years hasn’t had any problem with the battery or anything else for that matter and last but not least the resale value is also pretty high in comparison to the lackluster competition….

Not actually a relevant counterexample, TBH. This is the equivalent of saying "I know know why people think cigarettes are bad for your health. I've smoked them all my life and haven't gotten cancer."

In reality BOTH of you are anecdotal and might be irrelevant as you could both be outliers.

That being said, it's also not symmetric since you had no losses and he had 100% losses. If the entire Apple user population were just you two, that would suggest a 50% failure rate which is hardly good.

 

[sgtaylor50]

Must be non-ThinkPad Lenovo models measured. ThinkPads are the only laptops that come with full instructions how to disassemble and all spare parts available.

I repair computers for a living and I have found that the HP repair manuals are even better than the Lenovo ones - they’re very easy to find. Every single part is listed from every single country version. The disassembly instructions are exceptionally clear and easy to read. They also show where every single screw goes and the size and type of each screw.

I’ve never been able to find manuals for ASUS, Acer or MSI (shudder) laptops. Don’t get me started on ASUS laptop power jacks. They are almost impossible to remove because they use a very heavy case for the power jack and lots and lots of solder.

I do happen to like Acer’s design language. I do wish that Dell would take apart some HP laptops and see how HP armors their power jacks. I’ve seen some older Dell Inspiron laptops where the power jack was basically floating.

Where HP and Lenovo fall down (and this is in the consumer line only) is the durability of the hinge to LCD back cover or top cover connection. Always open a laptop from both edges at the same time, then lift from the center.

 

[TheTamago]

Lenovo started doing that, but has actually gone back to dual DIMMs in recent generations after years of soldered-only or soldered plus one DIMM slot. The current generations of ThinkPad T-series are quite easily repairable/upgradable for stuff that would have been impossible or factory only just a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, there's still factory only repairs, but it's a lot better than it was 5 years ago.

I've been in the Lenovo ecosystem for more than a decade+ so I've seen it. The T slim models were the worse and the X/Carbon series on top. Course, always had the warranties active for either onsite or depot repairs. Thankfully I've only seen 1 laptop come in that was beyond repair by from being crushed by their truck because they forgot to load their bag up.

 

[soullessbunny]

OTOH, You don't need to repair something that doesn't break.

My 20 year old MacBook is still going strong.

 

[Erbium168]

Once you've cleaned the debris off the board, you should really rinse it in isopropyl alcohol. It is good at removing water that may be present stuck under chips and the like. Minimizing the time that things are exposed to water is really important.

It depends on the water. DI water is pretty innocuous. In point of fact, the atmosphere inside your computer, if it's a business rated one, is usually safe between 0-95% RH (i.e. noncondensing). If water can reach somewhere so can air - and any water will eventually evaporate while the local environment around a tiny water droplet is hardly likely to be a problem.
On the other hand isopropanol is far from safe. That's because it is a non-polar solvent and may dissolve some plastics and particularly adhesives. The stuff supplied for computer cleaning is usually more than 30% water, and it is also very hygroscopic, which means that any residual isopropanol will extract water from the laptop atmosphere.
I don't know about modern PCB manufacturing, it has moved on a lot since I was peripherally involved, but in those days boards were solvent cleaned to remove flux followed by a high volativity solvent wash and then a warm cycle to evaporate all solvent before conformal coating. Even so some components like switches had to be added after the final solvent wash because they were damaged by the solvents used.

 

[Carewolf]

I repair computers for a living and I have found that the HP repair manuals are even better than the Lenovo ones - they’re very easy to find. Every single part is listed from every single country version. The disassembly instructions are exceptionally clear and easy to read. They also show where every single screw goes and the size and type of each screw.

You mean the HP Pro/mobile workstation models (can't remember the exact brand name) right? I have heard good things about those too. Though only those HP models.

 

[dahauns]

Must be non-ThinkPad Lenovo models measured. ThinkPads are the only laptops that come with full instructions how to disassemble and all spare parts available.

That's not true, though. Parts availability is likely significantly longer for Thinkpads, sure, but they very much have Hardware Maintenance Manuals and comprehensive spare parts for consumer lines as well.

 

[sgtaylor50]

You mean the HP Pro/mobile workstation models (can't remember the exact brand name) right? I have heard good things about those too. Though only those HP models.

I’ve been able to find good manuals for just about every HP laptop I’ve had to work on; consumer or business class.

 

[Guguss-31]

Where is Fairphone ? Framework ?

 

[TEAMSWICTHER]

I haven't had to get a Mac Laptop repaired since my 2003 G3 PowerBook. And even then, it was covered by Apple for free under a quality program. So .. I'm a bit skeptical about these "repairability" claims. I think reliability is a better indicator of value and quality. Repairability .. is BS.