The joy of working on Macbooks.

I've only been working on Macbooks for a few months now, but wow, what a pleasure it is to work on these exquisite laptops. Unlike Window's laptops, the advantages of a Macbook are:

HARDWARE:

1) Simple to switch out the hard drive and/or ram on a Macbook. On most Window's laptops built in the last few years, such a task implies facepalms and cursing

2) The hardware is priority so there are no drivers to worry about. Unlike Windows that updates your drivers automatically and can often break what isn't broken.

SOFTWARE:

1) For all intents and purposes, the programs in an Apple operating system run independent of the operating system (there is no typical registry). As such, to remove a program, you can just move it to the trash.

2) To re-install an Apple OS, you don't even need install media. You initiate internet recovery, and the OS is reinstalled without affecting your programs, OS updates, etc. With Window's so called "Reset", it removes all the OS updates, and all the programs you installed (In most cases, it doesn't even work anyway).

With that said, I would never purchase an Apple computer or recommend one to a customer. Reason being, the cost is outrageous. I do own a Macbook Pro and I love it, but I only do so it because I got it for free.

 

I know the grim procedure to replace a drive in an i-mac, as well as the numerous problems that can ensue even if you get the drive installed. That's why I won't do it.

 

Well this is ironic.

After I wrote that post, I got a call for a Macbook Pro that was upgraded from cap to sierra, and now it's very slow and her quick books won't open. A clean install of sierra will take care of that problem, but this is a typical problem of installing an operating system on top of a different operating system.

I returned a macbook air yesterday. I had to do a clean install of sierra, as for some reason, it never updated and was still running maverick. All she needed backed up was her photos, but the backed up photos library wouldn't open in the sierra version of photos.

 

No luck on the factory reset? Also, wasn't Apple deliberately throttling down older os's on their phones and pads?

 

To be more accurate, the photos library would open, but it showed only 1 picture, and it was totally black. In looking into it further, Apple doesn't seem to care about backwards compatibility, but they're not alone (just ask anyone that uses quick books).

It's the way software is becoming now. That is, keep paying for a subscription. Guaranteed that Apple and MS will soon become just that.

 

A better alternative to the nightmare of replacing such a drive, would be to use an external SSD.

 

I had to replace the 1 stick of ram on a 3 year old HP. As usual, no easy access to the ram or hard drive, but at least the battery wasn't inside the body. I was getting even more encouraged, as all the ribbon connectors used the flip type lock, and not those easily breakable, piss poor, slide locks. It makes me wonder what diabolical mind came up with the slide lock. Even if you get the lock to slide forward without it pulling (breaking) off the lock body, good luck getting it back on. If you do get it back on, they often don't lock properly anymore. Now provided you're successful at all of that, you'll want to throw the laptop out the window when you try to lock the cable back in. Some of you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

/end rant on those locks.

Soooo, I get the top half off the laptop only to discover that the ram is connected to the underside of the motherboard. Hmm. No face palm emoticon?

Does anyone know why in the last few years, most laptops no longer have a ram and/or hard drive access panel? Please don't let the answer be, "It's because they want to make the laptop .1% thinner"

 

I was hoping that wasn't the real answer plodr, but I know it is. One would think that it would piss off the end user to the point that they wouldn't buy a laptop from that manufacturer again. Problem is, the manufacturers are all in the sham together, so good luck in finding a laptop that is simple to repair and upgrade.

 

Since starting this thread, I've worked on three rather rare Mac Minis. One was software related, and the other 2 had failed hard drives. It wasn't to curse inducing to replace the drive on the older Mac Mini. The other was only 3 years old, and in checking the the hard drive replacement video, I just kept shaking my head and saying, "You've got to be kidding me". Similar to i-macs, replacing this drive is extremely precarious. So much so, that I refused to take on that kind of liability on a very expensive computer. I discussed the issue with another Mac tech I know, but he hadn't had to work on a new Mac mini yet. He checked out what it would entail to replace the drive, and said he wouldn't do it either. Long story short, I installed the OS an an external SSD. For the most part, the procedure went perfectly. Not only was there no high liability, but it was a cheaper solution for the customer. Two minor issues arose:

1) When using an external boot drive, the OS will not allow you to be an administrator via the GUI settings. You have to use the Terminal to command the OS to elevate the user account to an Admin account.

2) In attempting to copy over the data from the internal drive, the OS refused access. I had to manually take ownership of each folder.

 

Haha Tony, that's so true. Albeit Macbooks are very easy to work on, but I haven't had to do any hardware repairs on any newer Macbooks yet.

The concern on the matter isn't that it can't be done, but rather the ease in inadvertently breaking one of those very fragile connectors. For example, breaking a mobo connector. You know Tony, that at that point, you might as well start crying.

 

Something else:

In Windows, you can back up the whole user account (pics, docs, desktop, etc), and then paste it to the new install. Apple's OS does not allow that. You have to manually copy and paste the contents of each folder.

With that said, there's probably a Terminal command to override.

 

The Apple OS prevents replacement of the user account folders.