Replaceable parts aren't necessarily better if they come with huge design tradeoffs. For maximum replaceability, you should get a desktop—but Microsoft is selling laptops.
I'm glad iFixit is considering the tradeoffs involved here.
Considering? No, they're ignoring the trade-offs to prefer the one that benefits Microsoft. Their purpose used to be to judge the repairability of devices. It clearly isn't anymore.
Well in that case where do we draw a line between Desktop and Laptop? Why Integrated GPU when GPU could be an exentsion as well? Should be the CPU be using Socket upgrade? Should capacitor be soldered?
We no longer have Solid Capacitor and they aren't even a repairing problem anymore. That goes the same with LPDDR.
No, some laptops are designed for easy repair and upgrades. My 2010 ThinkPad simply has unscrewable panels to access the RAM and hard disk, and Framework is even better.
A laptop is definitely going to score lower than a desktop. That doesn't mean all laptops are equally terrible, or that there isn't a market for laptops with a much longer life but slightly worse power efficiency.
Don't need to overthink this. It's easy to just have scores for devices of different categories. A 10/10 laptop doesn't have to match the repairability of a 10/10 desktop, but it sure better be more repairable than a 3/10 laptop.
If you tradeoff repairability for performance in the repairability metric, once you compare the repairability metric to the performance metric, you've double counted the performance
Soldering components direct near the CPU has performance (and as a result potentially power draw / mild environmental) benefits, it's not just done for aesthetics. It's very common for a reason.
The design of devices which end up in land-fills by the millions, should focus on the environment, not some minuscule performance benefit. I wouldn't defend a design that increases e-waste, but to each his own.
There is no environmental benefit if we soon have tons of minimum specs laptops thrown to landfills because they don’t have enough RAM and it can’t be upgraded.
Comments
Replaceable parts aren't necessarily better if they come with huge design tradeoffs. For maximum replaceability, you should get a desktop—but Microsoft is selling laptops.
I'm glad iFixit is considering the tradeoffs involved here.
Considering? No, they're ignoring the trade-offs to prefer the one that benefits Microsoft. Their purpose used to be to judge the repairability of devices. It clearly isn't anymore.
Well in that case where do we draw a line between Desktop and Laptop? Why Integrated GPU when GPU could be an exentsion as well? Should be the CPU be using Socket upgrade? Should capacitor be soldered?
We no longer have Solid Capacitor and they aren't even a repairing problem anymore. That goes the same with LPDDR.
Should iFixit give all laptops terrible scores for not being desktops?
No, some laptops are designed for easy repair and upgrades. My 2010 ThinkPad simply has unscrewable panels to access the RAM and hard disk, and Framework is even better.
Yes, but even the Framework is more difficult to repair than many desktops, and certainly less upgradable.
Most devices are going to make some sort of tradeoff, the question is which ones are reasonable given the upsides.
A laptop is definitely going to score lower than a desktop. That doesn't mean all laptops are equally terrible, or that there isn't a market for laptops with a much longer life but slightly worse power efficiency.
Don't need to overthink this. It's easy to just have scores for devices of different categories. A 10/10 laptop doesn't have to match the repairability of a 10/10 desktop, but it sure better be more repairable than a 3/10 laptop.
I dislike that iFixit is making such tradeoffs.
If you tradeoff repairability for performance in the repairability metric, once you compare the repairability metric to the performance metric, you've double counted the performance
So should every laptop be 10/10 for power use, performance, and repairability because tradeoffs?
That 15 watt cpu? 10/10 performance because of the power draw!
That 45 watt cpu? 10/10 power draw because of the performance it provides!
Aesthetics and design is not as important as the environment and reducing e-waste.
Soldering components direct near the CPU has performance (and as a result potentially power draw / mild environmental) benefits, it's not just done for aesthetics. It's very common for a reason.
The design of devices which end up in land-fills by the millions, should focus on the environment, not some minuscule performance benefit. I wouldn't defend a design that increases e-waste, but to each his own.
There is no environmental benefit if we soon have tons of minimum specs laptops thrown to landfills because they don’t have enough RAM and it can’t be upgraded.
It's done because these companies would rather sell you a new computer than a new RAM stick.