igohmmm

I live with it by clinging to my 2012 MBP, upgraded to 16 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD. 

I keep hoping that Apple will either bring laptops with replaceable or with decently priced storage. 

I am losing hope. 

daven said:

I download many of the movies I purchased so I can watch them while I'm camping and don't have Internet service.

Nothing like the great outdoors to enjoy nature get away from technology. 😉

StrangeDays said:

igohmmm said:

Engineering is about compromise. Always. The question is which compromises are made. 

Apple has repeatedly and significantly compromised on values that they claim are theirs: The high integration of RAM, SSD, keyboard, battery go against the eco-friendliness of their laptops.
They are difficult to repair. The lack of internal extension reduces the longevity of the products. (A vast amount of energy for a device is used up not in active usage but during production, so longevity is essential to reducing trash and energy consumption.)

Your environmental claims are nonsense. Macs have a longer useful lifespan than their competitors, and essentially nobody is doing piecemeal upgrades on their netbooks. Still they last just fine on their own. And Macs are extremely recyclable, they receive the highest marks in the industry.

In short, you’re just making things up. Stick to reality. 

By „non-sensical environmental claims“ you do not disagree, that the lifespan of a product is essential to the economic and ecological balance sheet of a product, right?

Your point is, that Apple is already doing good?

In that you are right … compared to the industry … and in a „if product runs“ scenario. 

At the same time Apple is not doing good in a „if product fails“ scenario or „needs an upgrade“. In fact, most Apple products score really bad. Often times many more components than needed must be replaced due to the integration. Costs are high and end the useful life of a device by what otherwise could be a simple repair or upgrade job. 

I disagree that laptop users in general don‘t do upgrades.  (Not netbooks, that’s a misplaced comparison.) The repair and upgrade market was well alive before Apple made it increasingly difficult. So if right now they don‘t as often as they used to, it is out of forced circumstances. 

I have personally replaced batteries, RAM, HD, SSD and keyboards on my previous Mac laptops. I have done so for others to repair or increase performance and bottom-line increase the useful life of their devices.

This is especially true for high-value pro products. And several years ago Apple got this right by providing repairable and upgradeable and robust pro products.

Then anorexia set in for laptops and desktops. Not just one product line had to be ultra-portable and reduced to the max (like the Air, the Mini, the iPad), where it makes sense. But all product lines followed this design maxim … even where it does not make sense (Mac Pros, MBPs) and that is not justifiable as a „reasonable engineering compromise“. 

The ultraportable design maxim applies to the current MBPs. They are really „Macbook Air Pro“ models, and good at that for users who want that. But MBPs (no „Air“) they are not.

Same problem like the current Mac Pro. 

I know folks around me, who are quite happy with the lineup, because they value portability or minimalism more than anything. 

I know folks around me, who feel left out by Apple, because their needs are not served any more.

Count me in. Even though I spend a lot of time in hotels and client offices, my portability needs are covered with slightly heavier and thicker devices, if that allows for a  more robust, repairable and upgradeable design. 

Engineering is about compromise. Always. The question is which compromises are made. 

Apple has repeatedly and significantly compromised on values that they claim are theirs: The high integration of RAM, SSD, keyboard, battery go against the eco-friendliness of their laptops.
They are difficult to repair. The lack of internal extension reduces the longevity of the products. (A vast amount of energy for a device is used up not in active usage but during production, so longevity is essential to reducing trash and energy consumption.)

Sadly the whole lineup is confusing:

The Air used to be the ultra-portable offering. That is now the MacBook.

The MacBook used to be affordable entry class. It is not any more. The iPad and Air are. 

The MacBook Pro used to be long-term investments for professionals through future expansion. That is now only possible externally (superbly so). But the device itself is extremely targeted to portability, kind of an „Air Pro“. There is no offering in the lineup that gives up some portability for the sake of performance (heat), reliability (keyboard), flexibility, longevity, eco-friendliness. 

Please provide future results in tables and charts. 

Much easier to digest. 

Thank you.