[LinK]

I have been watching the youtube videos about repairing Mac computers for a long time now (Louis Rossmann, Rossmann Repair Group)

I own a Mac Mini running Sierra, and an old PowerPC Macbook running Snow Leopard.

He makes great points about the shady quality of support and manufacturing that Apple has with its computers.

I was curious if anyone had any horror stories dealing with Apple? Would you recommend continuing to purchase Apple devices?

[GreySoldier186]

Apple products seem to have longevity and work really well. Their apple support on the other hand iv had very bad luck trying to reach someone on the phone or getting a reply to an email concerning issues if had with devices in the past.

[Hinshi]

In the most recent decade, Apple has gone to great lengths in what could be succinctly described as spiting third-party (non-Apple certified) repair services by:

• Withholding copyrighted logic board schematics
  


• Charging exorbitant rates for warrantied and unwarrantied repairs well beyond the retail or wholesale price of replaced components (including relatively reasonable calculations for labor fees)
  


• Soldering iPhone home button flex cables to the CPU
  


• Soldering SSDs, CPUs, and RAM modules onto logic boards (which consequently increases the price at which unauthorized services can obtain parts, as well as certified repair costs from Apple or ASPs)
  


• Removing the lifeboat connector
  


• Introducing the T2 chipset which can render machines inoperable w/o running an AST 2 System Configuration (a proprietary suite)
  

This list would be remiss without briefly mentioning their most basic design flaws of the decade, e.g.: glueing two discrete pieces of metal and marketing it as a unibody, routing the SATA flex cable in the 2012/2013 MBPs with too thin a plastic coating beneath the HDD to cause wear on the connector so great as to routinely go faulty, Core i9 throttling for turbo boost clock speeds and factory set CPU undervolting to prioritize fan acoustics over performance in 2018 MBPs, no redesigned thermal solution or chassis for 2019 MBPs w/ i9s, etc.

I currently own a 13" 2015 rMBP (purchased in early 2015) and iPhone 7+ (purchased in August of 2017), but am not exactly indifferent towards the essentially oppressive corporate practices in effect that both restrict the ease at which unauthorized repair services can procure components and punitively discourage work on the hardware itself--whether it be repairs or upgrades (the new iMac Pro released in this month's keynote does offer modularity/upgradability, though). In comparison to a company like Samsung, which doesn't monopolize their own supply chain, it leaves a dour impression of a business with a market cap already exceeding $1T as of last August.

I don't personally condone the behavior they've modeled towards the right to repair movement, and will probably be swapping platforms when the times comes to upgrade hardware. In the meantime, if I have any issues with corrupted data retrieval, corroded capacitors, or a dysfunctional backlight, I'll probably send it to Rossman and avoid being taxed for the price of a new machine with butterfly key switches.

Ultimately, from an end user perspective, I've enjoyed the performance and reliability of my notebook and don't regret the purchase almost five years ago; I consider myself fortunate to have bought new one of the last generations of non-butterfly rMBPs at a retail price, and am mostly satisfied with my experience in macOS. The touchpad, in my own use, has been more intuitive and expedient than any trackpad I've used in a Windows environment (with or without precision drivers). I don't intend on purchasing a new machine for at least another four years, although I do anticipate swapping batteries before they become obsolete.

If you don't mind dongles and butterfly key switches, are prepared to pay Apple or ASP rates for repairs, want an HiDPI display, and require native macOS software or the mobility of a laptop (not a Hackintosh), I'd recommend that you continue to use their products at face value--especially if you already love the ecosystem.