DIY tinkerer invents MacBook tool that breaks Apple’s repair locks

Technology@lemmy.world – 450 points – 1 years ago

DIY tinkerer invents MacBook tool that breaks Apple’s repair locks::“To whoever it is at Apple who decided to not make this available to technicians, ‘Fuck you, we win.’”

I know Apple's gonna Apple, but at some point you'd think someone over there would think this is all getting a bit silly…

I'm sure all the normal workers think a lot of things they do is absurd and borderline criminal but money is money so they don't care.

Hol up. We're not talking about murder, we're talking about inconveniencing consumers. Engineers are not the wealthy, they are the middle class. They live in this capitalist hellscape, too. Principled stands are great, but if your proposed solution is that people should put their ability to get healthcare, food, and shelter on the line to not inconvenience consumers because legislation and regulation are too hard.... That seems a bit much. Work on fixing the system rather than blaming the cogs.

? I'm not blaming the workers

I'm saying I feel all the workers think the companies are doing shady wrong things but do it anyways because it's a paycheck even though they themselves are technically screwing themselves over as the consumers

borderline criminal but money is money

Like any mafia's motto

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I'd wager 80% of the cost of every apple device is nothing but covering the costs of research and development for fucking customers in the ass. they've put DRM on hall effect sensors, for fucks sake. All they do is detect the lid being closed, and you cant change them between computers.

People know what they are getting into when they but this products. Still, they make the surprised Pikachu face when they charge them 1000 for a simple repair.

I understand this is a matter of legislation, but we also need to hold consumers responsible for their stupidity. This isn't a secret, this isn't hidden, everyone knows that Apple Apples.

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so apple put a DRM on a glorified reed switch? and it's legal somehow?

Laws exist for everyday people like you and me, not for megacorps like Apple. Laws and regulations are just minor business expenses to them.

A fine is just an calculable price to do something wrong, businesses love them, from the classic study:

https://rady.ucsd.edu/_files/faculty-research/uri-gneezy/fine.pdf

Parents used to arrive late to collect their children, forcing a teacher to stay after closing time. We introduced a monetary fine for late-coming parents. As a result, the number of late-coming parents increased significantly.

Just keep adding zeroes until you get the desired outcome.

This is the correct answer. If the fine was $1000 for every time you picked your kid up late you can guarantee parents would never arrive late. Same goes for businesses. The fine just needs to be in the hundreds of millions to billions. They’d change their tune.

Yep

I think its actually illegal to bypass DRM to fix it

Even though I bought it. It's illegal to tinker with some components. And we're all OK enough with it.

I mean how did this get past the "Klaus Schwab is eating your children" crowd meanwhile we can't legally reverse engineer things we bought

I don't think those is DRM, as it digital rights. I think they were using it as a comparison.

I was thinking about buying a Macbook Air and run Linux on it, just for the battery life. But then I read this shit and yea...

Also the current Linux offerings for Apple Silicon (M1/M2) are very much “Beta”. And have some serious battery efficiency issues, don’t currently support audio drivers, have some peripheral problems, etc.

Looking forward to using one once they get them up to speed though.

True, true. I dont know about you guys, but I am not having a lot of fun buying and building computers lately. Shit like this headline doesnt help.

The Framework laptop brand gives me hope.

Unfortunately they still seem have a relatively high cost for their performance. But you can’t beat the modular design.

I'd say in this case the premium is justified and worth it if you can afford it. You're getting a top of the line, repairable & upgradeable, Linux friendly, esthetically pleasing laptop with excellent documentation, filling a void that simply wasn't there just a few short years ago. Also, if they reach critical mass and adoption, prices might come down.

https://tuxedocomputers.com

https://slimbook.es

https://linuxpreloaded.com/

You will be disappointed in the battery life if you delete the thing that controls the battery life…..

Get a thinkpad x1 carbon, great battery life, great for Linux, and you can get them at all sorts of price points and usb-c charging.

I just got a gen 8 refurb for $300 cdn and it's an amazing machine for its purposes. Easy to swap out SSD and wireless card for wifi 6.

Get it used. You get a Mac without giving Apple money. It’s all win.