[...] When things are made so well, they last too long and the company suffers. I'm sure Apple has a similar problem, though to a lesser extent.
My present Mac is over five years old. I really want a faster machine with PCIe storage, Thunderbolt and USB3, but I spent almost $4000 with AppleCare and taxes for this one and a top-teir machine now is in the same general range. That means there has to be a REALLY good reason to upgrade!
My 12-year-old Sony is still working as well as it did the day I bought it. Admittedly it hasn't seen daily use since I switched to Mac about six years ago or so, but that means it endured six years of heavy use and being lugged around everywhere I went so well that it still works fine now. It's a model from what they called their "workstation" class and cost about half-again as much as a well-featured consumer-grade machine of the time. That seems to add one more data point to the theory that more expensive machines last longer.
Thing is, I don't really need a machine that lasts that long. After three years or so technology has marched along to the point that there's some new hardware that is almost necessary to keep working, especially in a collaborative environment. Twice now I've kept a machine twice as long as I should have ("should have" meaning I wasn't able to take advantage of newer technologies) due mostly to the cost of upgrading. I think I might rather have a machine that lasts half as long and costs half as much!
That's an interesting question-which is better? Buy the low end or spend twice as much for the high end which lasts twice as long? Dunno.
People, dont you know that RAM can and has gone bad from time to time and needs to be replaced with another RAM module to fix RAM related issues? I operate a computer repair shop in New York State and I can tell you that in my 15 years of repairing computers I have received Desktops and Laptops that was presenting multiple of issues such as BSOD (Blue Screen of Deaths), applications crashing, getting lots of "the memory could not be read" errors while working on applications, etc and its sole culprit being having a bad RAM module, when I replaced the affected RAM the computer's issues disappeared like art of magic.
When a few of these mac customers start having memory related issues like random kernel panics, app crashing, random post failures, etc and the customer takes it to a repair shop to get it fixed and the tech determines that its faulty RAM at fault, how is the tech supposed to replace the RAM in order to fix the problem? Obviously the only solution here would be to replace the motherboard - or "Logic Board" how the apple people calls them, a fix that will cost the customer hundreds of dollars.
I am not saying that RAM related issues happens all the time, in fact, its a pretty rare occurrence, but it DOES happens. In my shop 5 to 10 out of 100 computers/laptops comes with faulty RAM and fixing the issues is a matter of replacing the affected RAM module and charging the customer appropriately for the part(s) (RAM) and service performed which would be a lot cheaper than charging for a new Motherboard/logic board plus service.
So, I think its a very bad idea to surface solder the RAM. The RAM should always be replaceable, even if the use never upgrades it, at least to make it USER REPAIRABLE in the event the RAM module goes faulty. I would never purchase or recommend any computer whose RAM happens to be surface soldered.
Comments
[...] When things are made so well, they last too long and the company suffers. I'm sure Apple has a similar problem, though to a lesser extent.
My present Mac is over five years old. I really want a faster machine with PCIe storage, Thunderbolt and USB3, but I spent almost $4000 with AppleCare and taxes for this one and a top-teir machine now is in the same general range. That means there has to be a REALLY good reason to upgrade!
My 12-year-old Sony is still working as well as it did the day I bought it. Admittedly it hasn't seen daily use since I switched to Mac about six years ago or so, but that means it endured six years of heavy use and being lugged around everywhere I went so well that it still works fine now. It's a model from what they called their "workstation" class and cost about half-again as much as a well-featured consumer-grade machine of the time. That seems to add one more data point to the theory that more expensive machines last longer.
Thing is, I don't really need a machine that lasts that long. After three years or so technology has marched along to the point that there's some new hardware that is almost necessary to keep working, especially in a collaborative environment. Twice now I've kept a machine twice as long as I should have ("should have" meaning I wasn't able to take advantage of newer technologies) due mostly to the cost of upgrading. I think I might rather have a machine that lasts half as long and costs half as much!
That's an interesting question-which is better? Buy the low end or spend twice as much for the high end which lasts twice as long? Dunno.
People, dont you know that RAM can and has gone bad from time to time and needs to be replaced with another RAM module to fix RAM related issues? I operate a computer repair shop in New York State and I can tell you that in my 15 years of repairing computers I have received Desktops and Laptops that was presenting multiple of issues such as BSOD (Blue Screen of Deaths), applications crashing, getting lots of "the memory could not be read" errors while working on applications, etc and its sole culprit being having a bad RAM module, when I replaced the affected RAM the computer's issues disappeared like art of magic.
When a few of these mac customers start having memory related issues like random kernel panics, app crashing, random post failures, etc and the customer takes it to a repair shop to get it fixed and the tech determines that its faulty RAM at fault, how is the tech supposed to replace the RAM in order to fix the problem? Obviously the only solution here would be to replace the motherboard - or "Logic Board" how the apple people calls them, a fix that will cost the customer hundreds of dollars.
I am not saying that RAM related issues happens all the time, in fact, its a pretty rare occurrence, but it DOES happens. In my shop 5 to 10 out of 100 computers/laptops comes with faulty RAM and fixing the issues is a matter of replacing the affected RAM module and charging the customer appropriately for the part(s) (RAM) and service performed which would be a lot cheaper than charging for a new Motherboard/logic board plus service.
So, I think its a very bad idea to surface solder the RAM. The RAM should always be replaceable, even if the use never upgrades it, at least to make it USER REPAIRABLE in the event the RAM module goes faulty. I would never purchase or recommend any computer whose RAM happens to be surface soldered.
Bad BAD idea Apple!