Why I still like Facebook

Here’s why I still like Facebook. A friend shared a posting by Piaw Na, regarding the new MacBook laptop computers:

First they came for the optical drive, and I said nothing, because I didn’t need it. Then they came for the removable battery, upgradeable RAM, and upgradeable Mass Storage, and I said nothing, because work paid for my computer and they replaced it every 2 years anyway. Then they came for my ethernet port, and I said nothing, because I had great WiFi. When they finally came for my magsafe connector, USB-A port, and SD Card slot, there was no one to speak up for me, because only fashionistas were in my market segment. (With apologies to MARTIN NIEMÖLLER). (Note I’m not a Mac user, and don’t really care — Apple does not cater to me with ANY of their devices. I’m just watching the blow-back with mild interest, like a cyclist riding around a massive car crash that’s caused a massive backup for the car drivers stuck behind it)

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10 thoughts on “Why I still like Facebook

  1. A few years ago, they were abandoning laptops for tablets. We’re lucky it ended at just removing the ports.

  2. @J.Peterson: Isn’t “repairability” basically a symptom of the difference in labour costs between the countries that produce these products, and the countries that buy them?

    When it’s cheaper to pay a dozen workers in the East to build something new, than it is to pay a single worker in the West to spend half a day repairing it, why would you ever repair anything?

  3. @michiel: Some of the stuff that Apple does has nothing to do with labor costs – they consciously design their machines so that they will be difficult to get into. What do pentalobe screws have to do with Asian labor costs?

    Isn’t part of being “green” designing things for repairability? You could argue that there’s an engineering advantage to gluing the battery in place but every laptop I’ve owned has needed a laptop at some point in its life cycle – lithium batteries have a limited lifespan. Why should a simple battery replacement cost $200 – I get aftermarket laptop batteries for a little as $10 and it takes 5 seconds to snap in the new battery. At some point the value of a laptop falls below $200. If that laptop is a Mac, it’s going to be scrapped and add to the waste stream.

    If on the other hand, Apple is doing “planned obsolescence” so that you’ll go out and buy a new Apple product , isn’t that evil?

  4. Yeah Apple really annoyed me this time. I still have my old Macbook Pro that allowed me to change both the ram, battery and harddrive. These new ones are entirely built together so if you want to change something, you need to buy a new laptop. It is stupid. Not to mention removing the USB ports on a Pro laptop, that is designed for professionals. I can’t imagine any music producer or artist attaching tens of dongles to connect a simple device.

  5. The new HP Spectre Windows PC is the same way. The new model took away the USB ports and the HDMI port and the mini card reader so they could make it a little thinner and .3 pounds lighter. Yes they put in 2 small USB-C ports but who cares. The thing is almost useless without carrying a dongle around.

    These people are going to finish killing off laptops completely and force everyone to a big phone or tablet.

  6. By the way car technology is headed the same way. Many new cars are now so loaded with technology stuff they are hard to drive and too complex to use. Go look at a steering wheel in a new car, it has 8-12 buttons, two paddle shifters and three control sticks. This is so complex people forget the main function of the steering wheel is to drive. Then we are forced to set on super contoured tight fitting seats with little padding and minimum seat comfort to cover the added costs and weight penalty of these new systems.. UGH……

  7. Technology devices go thru fads just like neckties – bigger vs smaller, thinner vs. fatter, etc. Just before the smart phone came in there was an arms race as to who could make the smallest cellphone but now we have enormous “phablets” too big to fit in your pocket. In watches in the ’70s there was a race as to who could make the thinnest watch, but nowadays really big thick watches are fashionable. Of course if you optimize for thinness then other functionality may get lost.

    Right now we are in the “thinnest, lightest” laptop arms race. (This BTW has killed the value of older, heavier laptops – I bought a 4 yr old Dell Latitude with an i5 CPU on ebay for less than Apple wants for a battery). It has a DVD drive and a full set of ports and it weighs 5 lbs. OMG – how could anyone EVER have carried a 5 lb. computer? Can you imagine? Is there anyone alive who can even LIFT 5 lbs?

    In a few years, someone will come out with a revolutionary new laptop with all of the ports restored and the pendulum will swing in the other direction.

  8. I know both you and Piaw, and you have very similar personalities and outlooks. You should hit him up for coffee next time you visit the Bay Area.

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