Comment by neuronic | Hacker News Reader

Comment by neuronic | Hacker News Reader

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This comment is randomly bashing Apple for not acting ecologically while suggesting that alternatives are somehow better. Apple can and should be criticized for shitty environmental behavior when you can actually back up your claim.

Not that there would be any proof in the comment, no. For example, how do Lenovo, Samsung or Dell handle this stuff and can you explain why their approaches produce less waste? Of course not, but let's put some hate into the HN comment section!

A centrally managed maintenance process where Apple hardware is managed and its waste properly disposed off (recycling, proper sorting of waste, secure handling of toxic materials...) vs. risks like customers putting Li-Ion batteries into their home trash causing landfill fires. And throw the left-over SSDs and RAM right into the mix as well.

No, it's just about hating on Apple without any evidence or data to back it up. Mimimi Apple ecologically bad but I won't tell you why or how others are evidently making it better!

> that alternatives are somehow better

Microsoft just released Surface X with a door on the back for replacing the drive. The device is 0.28 inches thick.

Thinkpad X1 Carbon and Dell XPS both have replaceable drives. From opening the case. If anything I'm struggling to find another laptop maker who solders the drives to the boards like Apple does...

Drive failure isn't a possibility, it's a certainty and soldering them to the board creates a hard deadline when the laptop turns from a computer to a brick.

Moreover, XPSs have a screwed-in battery and replaceable keyboard, which would make restoring and reusing the laptop much more viable. With macbook, if you keyboard is broken, you trash half of the laptop, including the battery.

I didn’t know that

Nothing in the XPS 15 is glued in place. I'm literally using a laptop that has a screen from 9550 (4 years old), battery from 9560 (3 years old), motherboard from 9570 (2 years old) and other parts that I've accumulated randomly while upgrading my laptop from 9550 to 9560 to 9570.

And the parts that I wasn't using after the upgrade I've all sold to other people who had their mobo or battery fail. Nothing was wasted.

All this and I've got a pretty slick looking powerful laptop!

> For example, how do Lenovo, Samsung or Dell handle this stuff

Here you go:

https://www.ifixit.com/laptop-repairability?sort=score

HP, Dell, LG, Acer and even Samsung manages to do a lot better. Lenovo is also very simple to at least change battery, ram and disk. I know this since I own one and have added memory and disk.

On the Thinkpad versions the battery is located outside and can be switched without even having to open the machine at all.

> can you explain why their approaches produce less waste?

Yes, by letting me as a consumer change parts myself for the only cost of purchasing the actual part that needs changing or upgrading, the increase the service life of the machine I purchased.

Also, by not participating in this anti-consumer behavior, I can take said machine into a third party service shop and get it repaired there. I don't have to wait weeks for the proper parts to arrive and so on and I can get it fixed the same day.

I am not hating, I am stating a fact. By indirectly forcing people to buy new machines instead of repairing their old ones that often work perfectly well, except for maybe 1 thing that is broken or needs an update, they increase their environmental impact for no other reason than profit on their part.

Apple can do better and Apple have done better in the past.

From the article: "we can't help but feel that Apple can do better—especially after seeing Microsoft perform some real engineering magic to make its latest laptops more repairable"

Which leads to this link: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Laptop+3+(...

https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/07/surface-pro-x-ifixit-tea... (Surface Pro X teardown reveals one of the most repairable tablets ever)

If Microsoft can do it, Apple could do it too and even improve upon it.

Also I can't see why the original comment is about "hating on Apple". All I see is legitimate criticism about some issues with Apple products, that apparently many other people have too. Your comment on the other side is very emotional and full of snide remarks.

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