TUAW:
The free iFixit app is a handy little app that gives your Do-It-Yourself repairs a big boost. This app comes from the teardown experts at iFixit, who delight in exploring the inner secrets of your favorite tech (or not-so-techie) hardware. The iFixit app helps you repair just about anything from toilets to garage door openers, cameras, cars, and of course, PCs and Macs.
As dumb as some of their whining about “repairability” is, their repair and upgrade guides are second to none.
Agreed.
Well, second to one.
Apple’s internally developed take-apart guides for certified technicians are pretty fantastic, and I’m not just saying that because I know someone that helped write many of them.
But, for the average Joe that just wants to try and fix his cracked iPhone himself for a fraction of the cost, you can’t beat iFixit.
They are decent (I am the ACMT for our organization) but if I’m working on machine I haven’t worked on before I’ll still go look at the teardown photos at iFixit. They are often easier to ascertain what is where vs. apple’s diagrams.
I will often use iFixit’s guides for clarification, but I always defer to Apple’s guides first for any customer’s product. That way, I can be certain that I don’t make a mistake that costs me or my client money. And if it’s a warrantied product, it ensures that I have the best chance of salvaging the repair by following Apple’s best practices, rather than a third-parties.
But, if it weren’t for iFixit, I’d never have been able to repair an iPhone or a Nintendo 3DS, both of which have been lifesavers. Usually, the Mac repair guides are just as awesome, but occasionally they take unnecessary risks by suggesting alternate methods for removing a component rather than using an Apple-supplied tool designed to decrease risk of damaging said product.
But yeah, I still go to iFixit for any machine I’ve taken apart before but need a quick reminder on repair steps, since they a) load faster, b) don’t require a login, and c) almost always are 100% accurate.