3.9M views · Apr 24, 2018 · 24:48 · 2 HN recommenders · 20 mentions · discussed 2018–2023
Louis Rossmann, a Macbook repair shop owner, goes through a long list of Apple hardware engineering failures, from GPU defects to keyboards and repair practices.
Why Hacker News points people here: Mostly cited by critics of Apple hardware quality, and as a rabbit hole for people curious about laptop repair.
“Louis Rossmann made a video highlighting a lot of the engineering problems with Apple laptops.”HN comment, 2019
“His videos are a great rabbit hole to go down, if you are interested in laptop repair methods.”
Repair shop owner explains Apple build quality problems.
Louis Rossmann, a well known advocate for right-to-repair and a repair shop owner has a lot to say about Apple's build quality. this video His videos are a great rabbit hole to go down, if you are interested in laptop repair methods. He knows his stuff.
“Louis Rossmann made a video highlighting a lot of the engineering problems with Apple laptops.”
Repairer lists engineering problems with Apple laptops.
Louis Rossmann made a video highlighting a lot of the engineering problems with Apple laptops. His whole business is about repairing Apple laptops so he has all the reasons and incentives to defend Apple and downplay their issues. this video
“an interesting takedown[1] of Apple engineering was posted on /r/videos yesterday”
Takedown of Apple engineering and warranty practices, including the keyboard.
> I like the OS, and I've never found a PC laptop to come remotely close to the sweet ergonomics of those Macbooks. So, an interesting takedown[1] of Apple engineering was posted on /r/videos yesterday. I can't speak to the veracity, but there's some interesting claims there that if true would make me think twice before buying an Apple Laptop (specifically because of very long-standing issues and warranty shenanigans). There's a segment on the keyboard towards the second half as well. 1: this video
First, that isn’t Louis Rossman’s voice. That’s either an employee or a paid voice actor. That's him talking, there's daily live streams of him ranting and repairing that make that obvious. I do know he has a history in audio engineering and has multiple mics he uses for different situations, it seems to me the differences I hear in the videos below come down to capture/processing differences in his live capture and edited setup: Livestream from this month link "The Truth About Apple's Engineering" this video
Covers Apple repair centers baking motherboards, among other failures.
If I recall correctly, Louis Rossmann claimed official Apple repair center baked some motherboards as well. I don't have a link to exact video, but it is probably covered here: this video And yes, I use Dell :)
“here's Rossman's take on a lot of Apple's mistakes”
Rossmann's take on many Apple design mistakes.
It's like structures in earthquakes and crumble zones in cars. Flexing helps absorb impacts. That said, I've had issues with BGA chips and flexing, so it comes with problems, too. I couldn't find him talking about flexing, but here's Rossman's take on a lot of Apple's mistakes: this video
“The BGA rework on those warranty serviced boards was pretty damning.”
The BGA rework on those warranty serviced boards was pretty damning. they BBQ it to a point where it's only going to last 2-6 months and then fail again this video
“Take a look at what someone who repairs them on a regular basis says about Apple's quality”
Take a look at what someone who repairs them on a regular basis says about Apple's quality: this video .
Apple iPhone: mostly works as long as you agree with the Apple way of doing things. No alternative web browser for you, no expandable memory, no 3.5mm jack if you want a recent device, no full control over your device. Very limited choice of hardware from a single supplier. Expensive hardware, this mostly related to the issue of there only being a single supplier. Hardware also with well-documented problems which tend not to be solved [1]. You need to trust Apple. What makes you think you can trust them? Remember that Google started life with 'do no evil' as their motto, people tended to trust them as well. Lately, not so much anymore. If you don't feel these issues are valid or think they don't matter Apple can be an option but it does not make sense to portray them as the solution which 'just works'. [1] this video
They will fix it eventually in their own way, as almost always after losing class action lawsuit they release info saying 'some keyboards' and 'in specific conditions', for 'some users' and so on. Then replacement will be $175. But who else to say it better as my favourite Apple basher Louis Rossman: this video (see description below video if you want tl;dr) Many people report X1 to be great MBP replacement (I have mid 2014 MBP 13" retina - couldn't be happier and 2017 MBP 15" with s*it strip - well keyboard is awful as well as this touch strip) and from using X1 for a week and from input from people @ work those are not that great either. First of all fan noise and it's rpms it's very annoying, screen quality and resolution (after using MBP with retina) is just horrible, touchpad is just rudimentary - works but can be better.
I was, once, excited about the prospects of an iCar...back when I still was a believer in the cult of Apple. Then I watched this: this video I would never trust my life to an Apple product, even if it has rounded corners (OMG!!) and they offer avocado, mauve, ecru, and navajo (m___f__ing!!!) white color options... I think different(ly?) now.
On the other hand, Apple's design mistakes have proven extraordinarily disappointing and costly ( this video ). That type of performance with a 40 times more expensive product could decimate their offshore savings in years.
“Don't take my words for it. Take this repair guys words for it”
Apple has been making hardware with sub par durability for quite some time. The only things they made more durable have all been at the expense of repairability. The whole bendgate thing? Yup, apple actually went against best practice and stopped using proper underfill. The result? The touch-ic chip came off. Who would have guessed that a bendy phone without underfill would have flexion damage? Everybody. Even apple themselves, in official, leaked documents. Apple has been extremely successful at denying problems up until there is a class action lawsuit. Then they silently release a pretty hostile repair program with the words "a small percentage of iDevices ...". I used to be the biggest apple fanboy, but after having not one, but two macbooks fail on me was more than I was willing to stand. The last time I had to chose: leave the device to them in an official repair programme and have it wiped OR saving the data on it and void any apple repair programme (they later changed this policy though). Why? Because some sort of catch-22 where they would not do data recovery on a device with a faulty logic board (onto which they had soldered the SSD!) and the fix was a new logic board with a new SSD with the old logic board and SSD sent away for refurbishment. Think different! Don't take my words for it. Take this repair guys words for it: this video
I've owned several dozen Apple products, iPods, iPhones, iPads, from XSans/XServers, Cubes, Minis, maxed out Macbook Pros and a dozen iMacs, and no the experience is not atypical for Apple. Many people I know have problems with bad iPhone and MacBookPro Wifi reception. This development iMac Pro I'm writing this on feels slow, often has a beach ball and crashes randomly. The 27 iMac before this had fan problems from the start. Also see this video
“The long list of Apple engineering failures[1]”
Hardware incompatibilities goes both way stuff that won't work on windows or that requires some obscure/bloated driver will work plug and play on linux. Depends on the hardware and the work put on it but the opensource people. Many people have their first linux experience with ubuntu which is a shame seeing how this distribution is riddled with problems that are not being addressed because the distro is going to be binned in 6 months anyway and devs have to work on the next release. I agree with you, daily usage is mostly a web browser / email client but there's also all the uncommon stuff and exotic hardware except my experience is that 70-80% of time you plug it and it just works, 10% of time it requires some web searching and meddling with installing/configuring somethins and 10% of time it will not work (85% of those are apple devices). There's also one important thing to take into account, in 2010 Mac were repairable and serviceable, since 2012 repairability of Mac is abysmal and consistently get the worst score on fixit. The long list of Apple engineering failures[1] adds to the idea that getting Mac just to be able to run OSX is not as good as it was in 2010. [1]: this video
“Watch a guy that repairs them daily list the issues for you.”
Not only on pure specs. By any measure you'd like. Apple device have some of the worst build quality of the industry. Watch a guy that repairs them daily list the issues for you. I'd challenge you to show a similar list of huge design flaws of any other manufacturer. this video
The style of issues he has to deal with are stupid design on Apple part that compromises longevity and resilience. Like really retarded, easily avoidable crap. And sheer spite. e.g. link this video link
“Check out what Louis Rossmann has to say about Apple hardware”
I am philosophically against paying companies doing their best to screw customers over. Check out what Louis Rossmann has to say about Apple hardware: this video
"Lots," eh? Every laptop I've ever owned will run with the battery disconnected. Except the Macbook, of course. The simple fact of the matter is that Apple routinely makes design decisions that are not only questionable, but compromise the usable life of the device in the process. And keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. this video Having reduced or nonexistent performance after removing the battery was never normal. It's bad design. Period. link
laptop repair guru Louis Rossmann has repeatedly echoed the same sentiments about apple: this video its all broken & proprietary by design. performance aspect a distant second but apple fanboys love it when apple fleeces them even more.
