iFixit:
We’ve been bred to believe that only Geniuses and Geeks can fix our stuff, but it wasn’t always this way. During the Great Depression, when resources were scarce, repair was ingrained in our culture. During the second World War, ‘Make do and Mend’ was a rallying cry and point of pride. Every new device shipped with a repair manual. And when something broke, a replacement part could likely be purchased at your local store. Repair wasn’t seen as an inconvenience—it was an expectation.
And:
Thanks to repair advocates and brave netizens around the world, the tide is starting to change. This year, Right to Repair legislation has been successfully introduced in 18 states. The movement continues to spread—and for the first time, European repair allies have introduced their own version of repair legislation.
As long time Loop readers know, I am a big fan of repairing my own gear. I do appreciate a vendor wanting to ensure that a tinkerer does no harm by improperly repairing something. But often, EULAs are created to limit right to repair to protect a repair revenue stream.
Take a minute to read the linked iFixit blog post. There’s a satisfaction in fixing your own stuff, whether it be a computer, a cracked iPhone screen, or even a household appliance. You’ll save money, learn something you can pass along, and it’s a push back against a throwaway culture.
I value being able to fix a rusted-out sink drain in the kitchen myself instead of paying $100 out of the gate for a butt-crack-showing plumber to come take a look, and then watching the bill amount grow rapidly with whatever he finds.
But I think it’s kinda “so ’80s/’90s” to hang onto the hope of going under the hood of computer boxes and “fixing” them yourself.
The sheer slimness of recent MacBooks itself implies veritable “no go zones” of access to innards, where screws themselves are too big to use—to say nothing of disappearing discrete components and their solder joints with more and more circuit integration and miniaturization.
Apple is also taking significant pains to combat the “throwaway culture” with increasingly adept and extensive recycling processes.
It’s essentially impossible to open an Ipad without breaking the screen. There’s too much glue. But that doesn’t stop Ifixit from offering tutorials even though you really need to be a professional to have any hope of doing it without breaking something.
Sigh. I really get tired of nerds and geeks extolling the virtues of repairing your own devices considering that the vast majority of computer users are absolutely not technically adept enough to ever even consider doing such a thing. Hell, the vast majority of desktop systems were never cracked open by their owners, even though they are designed to be easily repairable and upgradable.
Advocating self-repair of mobile devices like phones raises my hackles even more. Unlike 95% of the population, I can take apart a (non-Apple) laptop and put it back together no problem, but there is no way in hell I can do the same with a phone – I’ve tried it and given up before I broke things because I lack the necessary rabbit eyes and hobbit hands.
Telling ordinary people to repair their own devices, especially mobile devices, is just inviting them to break things more thoroughly. Absolutely, repair instead of throw out broken devices. But the first resort for 95%+ of the population should NEVER be to self-repair, but to take the device to a repair shop and pay to have it done.
I watched their video which has four non-techies repairing or upgrading their gear, under the headline “We Put Our Genius Theory to the Test.”
All but one of their participants were given an iOS device, which required some combination of suction cup and heat source to get past glass and glue. The fourth had an MBP that did not look like a recent model, which I’d judge as significantly easier to open up and replace parts for.
I’ve been upgrading stuff in my desktop Macs since 1990. I once vowed I’d never do so for a laptop, and then I upgraded one, shortly before doing the same for one of the original Mac minis.
I’m still not very comfortable with the idea of opening up an iPhone or iPad, but I’m happy to take mine to a local shop, should the need arise.
I had enough trouble opening up a friend’s broken-beyond-repair iMac a few years ago. Wanted to try it just to see how difficult it was to put back together. All it cost me was a pair of suction cups. Boy howdy, what a mess.
As I said, I’m glad that, should the need arise, my local repair shop is a fifteen-minute walk away.
A cover marketing campaign by a company that has a huge stake in you buying into this nonsense. It’s the 21st Century. There is very little that you can repair yourself. There are many things that simply are not repaired.