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Caveat: repair now available for Mac Notebooks "with the M1 family of chips" - this is reasonable, I think. However, I do feel badly because I have a 2017 with a noisy fan that needs to be replaced, but I don't think I'll ever be able to get the precisely OEM Apple-blessed one. This is important to me because of the non-annoying whoosh sound that the varied blade spacing of the OEM fans normally provide. My options are (1) used or (2) rando cross-your-fingers 'brand' fan. I guess I could just try a variety of those no-names and use the least annoying one.

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My 2017 had a clicking/buzzing fan when it was about 2 years old. I bought a used fan from a seller on eBay (I think it was a $12 part), took the laptop apart (involved some very tiny screws) and replaced it and it's been fine ever since. There's even videos on YouTube you can follow along with.

Nowhere near as simple as repairs on the old non-Retina, unibody machines but easier than an iPad.

3) take it in to Apple for repair.

And do it soon, or the 7 year “legacy” period might kick in. Apple has a cut-off past which they will not service or support their products. It’s usually 5-7 years from when they were first or last sold. (Actually, it’s a bit arbitrary if you ask me, because Apple is the one that sets whether a product is still serviceable or not, regardless of how long it’s been.)

I'm not seeing the viable alternative to a clearly-stated policy on the duration of repair services.

Ok. I can imagine a world where I could bring in an Apple II from 1980 and get it serviced at a shiny glass Apple store. That would be pretty cool in fact, leaving aside the small but entirely real population of enthusiasts who would lose income, livelihood in some cases.

But it doesn't seem like a reasonable demand. At some point the specialist aftermarket takes over. Clearly stating when that will be in advance is the most one can ask for.

They could give out an expiration date for repair services at the moment of purchase, instead of having what comes across as a yearly lottery for current owners.

It's nothing of the sort:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

The relevant quote "Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago".

"More than 5 and less than 7" means some time in the sixth year. It couldn't be more clear than it is without them putting a retirement party on the calendar.

Maybe they should?

Edit to add: of course you don't want to know how long the device will be supported, to the day, because this policy gives a minimum of the sixth year after the date of purchase, and if they sell it for longer, they'll repair it for longer as well.

Not always. Almost not ever.

https://endoflife.date/iphone

I’m impressed Apple supports iPhones for 7 years from when they went on sale, but 5 years from when they stopped selling them varies by product line.

On the Watch, it’s 3 years. It’s unfortunate because you could have bought a Series 3 this year and learned you will not get a software update for it ever again.

Where this 5-7 year legacy thing gets annoying is computer hardware - it used to be that you could bring in an Intel MacBook of any year and get it serviced, but at some point they cut costs and instituted this 5-7 year “legacy” policy, without actually specifically telling anyone any dates as to when their devices would or would not be serviced. The rule of thumb for computers is that if you can’t get OS updates, you’re probably not going to get spare parts, but that isn’t always the case either.

Mandate a reasonable support delay, beyond the 5-to-7-years that seems to be the gold standard today. A computer from 10 years ago can still do a lot of things.

I’m not aware of any product that Apple stopped supporting as far as hardware repairs for less than 5 years.

2012 macbook pro user checking in. If it weren't possible to work on this computer myself, I wouldn't be able to use it anymore. It's been upgraded to 8gb of RAM then 16gb. It's been given an SSD. Various flex cables and the trackpad have been replaced. Battery has been replaced. All I do is use this thing for stackoverflow, email, and ssh, compute stuff happens on a server anyhow. As long as I can source parts off ebay, I don't see any reason why this thing can't make it to 20 and beyond.

Why can't they repair older computers? Car dealers do. You just might wait longer for parts. Apple should do this so users always get decent parts. Imagine how nice it would be if you did have an old Apple II and you could get it serviced just like you can get your 1980s honda serviced at the dealership today.

Do you want to pay 25% more for Apple products so they can afford to train hundreds of repair techs to repair 10-year-old stuff, and keep supply chains alive to keep supplying 10-year-old parts, or, apparently, by your standards, 45-year-old parts?

Vehicle manufacturers don’t actually make all the spare parts, other firms find it worth it to do so for them. Similarly, I could buy some common parts for the 2014 Mac mini that was easy to service on Amazon, without waiting for Apple to return my call. The annoying part is that Apple uses security to sign and enforce their chips vs third-party replacements.

On top of that, some repairs are really cheap but require electrical work. For these, you could visit a specialist, just as not every shop or dealer will service every car.

The gotcha is that with Apple, you can only service it at Apple & friends, with Apple parts. While they enforce this, yes, they could indeed offer such a program, and it wouldn’t cost 25% more.

Training people every year on the newest models costs more than having folks who repaired the 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2016 models continue to do so, etc.

I grant some of these points, but:

1) You're citing the 2014 Mac mini because it's an outlier, and also old enough that some things which are integrated into the motherboard now (RAM, storage), weren't then. Coincidentally, these are the two most common reasons you'd ever want to open up and service or upgrade a Mac.

2) This isn't the auto industry; it's not as easy for third parties to make and stock these parts, and also, computers become obsolete long before cars do, for reasons that have nothing to do with repairability.

3) You cite Apple's security measures, but as you know, those only apply to a very small minority of the chips (and other parts) that are in the computer. And those security measures do provide a real benefit, much as right-to-repair advocates like to ignore or obscure or downplay this point. (Not saying you are doing this.)

If you can repair a modern mac, you can follow a guide to fix a 10 year old one just fine. It's just screws, flex cables, and glue in more recent models. The supply chains still exist though through third parties. I bought a flex cable on ebay for a 10 year old computer that was $7 from China.

Not to make this my personal tech support but... I thought my 2017 model was 'vintage' status and not repaired at Apple anymore? I'll see what I can find out...

I actually checked before I commented. All 2017 models are still eligible for repairs

At what cost?

It depends on what’s wrong. Just like anything else you have to take it in for an estimate. I don’t expect my car dealer to quote me a price on a repair without bringing it in.

2016 entered vintage just a few weeks ago, so 2017 will likely dry up in about 11 months. Don't put that off too long…

Thank you! You are correct. Off to my friendly local Apple.

4) pay $450 for their out of warranty flat rate repair fee to fix your $0.30 plastic fan.

Replacing the keyboard on my 2018 retina/touchbar MacBook Pro was somewhat of a nightmare because it is riveted to the chassis and also screwed down with like 42 screws - but afterwards I actually preferred the feel of the keyboard with the new subtle 'give' that it had. The juice was worth the squeeze.

Keyboard on the M2 air is outstanding though, so the 2018 MBP is now collecting dust. I should probably find a way to turn it into a headless vm host with built-in battery backup but something about putting a closed laptop in the rack feels trashy.

Well that sucks, my mid-2012 MBP needs a new battery. I guess it's back to 3rd party options.

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