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Comment by slashdev | Hacker News Reader

I've got a Mac Pro paperweight because the motherboard went. It's going to the landfill. I can't even sell it for parts because I can't erase the SSD. If they didn't solder everything to the board you could actually repair it. When I replace my current Dell laptop, it will be with a repairable framework laptop.

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> I can't even sell it for parts because I can't erase the SSD

The SSD is encrypted with a rate-limited key in the Secure Enclave - unless someone has your password they’re not getting your data.

Not worth the liability. I’d rather the landfill and peace of mind than the money

But what liability?

That's the whole point of encrypted storage. There is no liability if you used a reasonable password.

Why not accept you have peace of mind and resell on eBay for parts?

Assuming you didn't use "password123" or something.

It will be easy to break in time. Eventually you'll just be able to use a tool that shines a laser at the right bit and breaks the rate limiting. We've already seen similar attacks on hardware wallets previously thought invulnerable.

I don't think any cryptography has stood the test of time. It's unlikely anything today will survive post-quantum.

Every system has vulnerabilities. Plus that password I used has been in dataleaks. I don't trust it.

If you're that paranoid you cannot trust any software or hardware you haven't designed yourself

I trust the stuff I design least of all

Gotta love the "What idiot wrote this code? Oh. It was me." moments.

Even repairable only buys you a few years repairability that actually makes sense. For example something similar happened to me, lost the mac mobo on a pre solder addiction model. Only thing is guess how much a used mobo is for an old mac: nearly as much as the entire old mac in working shape. It makes no sense to repair it once the computer hits a certain age between the prices of oem parts and the depreciation of computers.

ok but now get this: what if we started a program where people prepay part of the repair with an initial fee, and then for a couple years they can have their laptop repaired at a reduced, fixed price? That helps secure the supply chain. You could then partner with a retail computer store (or start your own!) and have a network of brick-and-mortar stores with subject-matter experts to perform the repairs as well as more minor troubleshooting etc. It’d basically be like healthcare, but for your computer!

I think if you partnered with a major computer brand, that kind of thing could really be huge. Maybe someone like framework perhaps. Could be a big brand discriminator - bring that on-site service feel to average consumers.

Thats basically applecare+ already. You pay like $100 upfront to get things like your phone screen fixed for $29 instead of $129. So it works out in your favor if you are one to go through a few phone screens per device. Past couple phones I've had I'm under 1 screen per phone's life on average so it works in my favor not to get applecare+ and just pay out of pocket the few times I go through a screen.

Get a heat gun and remove the NAND. Then sell the rest of it to a local repair store or just give them for free if it's an old Mac Pro. The parts in your Mac Pro are something someone can reuse to restore their Mac Pro instead of a landfill. Not every part is security related. Also Apple may take the Mac Pro itself and give you store credit cause they do recycle it.

i don't think you can do that. there was just a video on here last week of a repair shop drilling the memory out, as that was the only way to remove it without damaging the motherboard.

Or hot air pencil if it doesn't get hot enough.

Why don't you take it to the Apple Store to recycle it instead of dropping it in the trash can?

They don’t accept computers for recycling. That’s what I found when I looked it up

They accept Apple branded computers for recycling if it has no trade in value (they'll try to get you an offer if it has any value). I have recycled damaged apple computers at the store before without trading in.

They absolutely do. You must have looked it up wrong.

Here:

https://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/

I've even done it before personally with an old MacBook that wouldn't turn on.

I went there, they give me insructions to print labels they'll send me, find a box, pad it appropriately, attach the labels and then ship it.

It's going in the landfill.

First you said they don't accept recycling.

Now you claim you "went there" and discovered they do accept recycling but only if you mail it.

One of those is necessarily false, since I doubt you went to the Apple Store in between your comments.

However, I suspect both your claims are wrong, because Apple stores absolutely accept old devices to recycle directly. (They also provide mail-in options for people who don't have one they can visit directly.)

From your many comments, it seems like you have an ideological axe to grind that somehow your device can't be recycled, despite abundant evidence to the contrary and lots of people here trying to help you.

You being unwilling to spend the barest amount of effort to recycle it is your problem, not Apple's.

If they took it at their store, fine. If they want me to take an hour to go print a label (I don't have a printer), and then another hour to package it up and ship it. I'll pass.

They also say to erase the data before shipping it - which I can't do.

As another commenter put that I also agree with:

You being unwilling to spend the barest amount of effort to recycle it is your problem, not Apple's.

sounds to me like a you problem.

That's mostly my conclusion, unfortunately, also. There is also some nonzero culpability of cost of time-money-hassle Apple and local municipalities shift onto the owner too.

> I can't even sell it for parts because I can't erase the SSD. If they didn't solder everything to the board you could actually repair it.

The Mac Pro does not have a soldered-in SSD. They even sell user-replaceable upgrades. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR393AM/A/apple-2tb-ssd-u...

Remove the SSD card/chips and recycle the rest as e-waste. It's not hard to not throw toxic shit into landfill if you try the least.

hopefully at least electronics recycling.

Depending on where, a lot of electronics "recyclers" are actually resellers. Some of them are even cheeky enough to deny electronics they know they can't resell (If they're manned.. many are cage-drops in the back of eg Staples)

Where do you usually take it for that?

If I find a place in walking distance, maybe.

You could try to stick it in the phones drop off thingy at target. That's my go to for all non valuable electronics.

I don't have that here, but maybe there's something similar

Nothing close enough, I checked

Just because you lack the skills to fix it, doesn't mean it's not repairable. People desolder components all the time to fix phones and ipads and laptops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNKNjy3CoZ4

Any other computer I could simply replace the motherboard with several other compatible motherboards, no soldering or donor board needed.

It’s almost like “any other computer” is not thin as a finger, packed to the brim with features that require miniaturization.

Can you just fix an F1 engine with a wrench?

It's not that small: https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/65262f62ac0f1aa5540aca7cf9...

I totally missed that they released a new Apple Silicon Mac Pro. Turns out it has PCIe slots.

That stuff makes it more difficult to work on, but it doesn't make it impossible for Apple to sell replacement motherboards... nor does making a "thin desktop" require soldering on SSDs, M.2 SSDs are plenty thin for any small form factor desktop use case.

They do it deliberately. They want you to throw it out and buy a new one

I'm not sure which gen Mac Pro they have, but the current ones aren't that much thinner than the OG cheese grater Macs from 15 years ago.

In fact the current Gen is bigger than the trashcan ones by quite a bit (although IIRC the trash can Macs had user replaceable SSDs and GPUs)

My Dell laptop is much more repairable. I changed the RAM and added second SSD myself.

There’s always some wiseass saying “skill issue”

In this case, you need to find working motherboard without soldered parts to be able to fix it cost efficiently. Otherwise you need to buy factory component (for extra price, with soldered components...)

Yeah, it’s not worth it

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