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Comment by ct0 | Hacker News Reader

About as replaceable as a tesla's battery. You simply cant do it yourself. Seems like a trend.

This is dismissive and incorrect. iFixIt, the authors of this piece, provide everything someone needs to do such a replacement: tools, parts, and in-depth user guides. I've replaced an older-generation MacBook's battery using their stuff, and it worked fine. What more do you want?

I had a 2007 MacBook Pro. Replacing the battery for that laptop meant toggling two switches and popping it out, then dropping a new one in.

It's not unreasonable for people to ask for that level of simplicity.

It's similar for most older laptops too. I have a few older HP laptops, and on every one the battery just slides out if you pull it hard enough - no screws at all.

The vast majority of people are not comfortable opening their computer and mucking around the guts. In the old days Apple made this simple for their users:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Unibody+Model+A1278+Bat...

> The vast majority of people are not comfortable opening their computer and mucking around the guts.

That's why Apple offers to do it for them.

Sure, completely user-replacable would be ideal but such a battery design surely comes with other trade-offs and compromises.

Apple used to have some of the best-engineered batteries, now they don't. Simple as.

Coming from a x220, x230 thinkpad, removing anything at all or needing to use a screwdriver at all is way above what most are capable of doing. Obviously what I am willing to do to fix my spouses iphone, and what the average person is willing to do to self - replace are very different.

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