What They Say
Apple is adding the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops with M1 chips to its Self Service Repair programme in the US. The repairs covered include fixes to the trackpad, Touch ID, display, and top case with battery, with more expected to be added over time. The parts and tools will be available at dedicated Self Service Repair Stores. Users can also rent toolkits for a week for $49 if they don’t want to purchase tools outright.
What We Think
This is a good move in my view. Personally, I like repairing stuff, although the cost advantage to DIY seems limited in the case of the Apple solution. Still it’s good they do it.
Ifixit included the map below of Apple’s service centres in 2020. The facilities are in very tight clusters. Looking at it, I’m reminded that in the days after the Berlin Wall came down and Russians were able to get hold of more Western technology, repairs were a seriously difficult issue as there were no service centres outside Moscow. It was fairly common, I heard, for laser printers to be ‘hand carried’ by students and other workers on trains to Moscow. The students would stay with the printer until it was repaired – then return on the train! (BR)
