"particularly special"? The screwdrivers needed to open up a Macbook are special enough that I've never seen them used for any other object. So are you just glad that Apple didn't decide to create a new screwdriver standard for each Macbook model? :)
My solution: (1) screw Apple, not buying their hardware ever again and (2) use a USB keyboard.
I'd like to find a set that isn't prone to wear, unless that is simply a fact of life. I'm wondering if I was just being too cheap when I bought my first set.
Which renders the whole notion of a "security screw" a joke. So why do companies persist in using them?
This also prevents people from unscrewing their Macbook and messing something up then coming into the store and complaining. If you are willing to go out of your way to get the right screwdriver, you probably know what you are doing inside of the laptop.
Right. Because this happens all the time with laptops that use regular screws, and there is no way to tell if the damage has been caused by someone opening up the machine and destroying something.
There is no good reason for keeping people away from the insides of the computer they paid (a fortune) for, and yet Apple gets away with it.
It's almost like a company using an uncommon electrical plug on their power cable, and expecting everyone to buy an adapter to use it. People would be outraged.
Similarly, the screwdriver bits needed to open a MacBook are readily available from computer repair parts stores.
Seems perfectly analogous to me.
They work great with a power driver, such as you'd want for putting in a deck or fence, so 2-3" deck screws are like my version of duct tape around the house.
True, but I'm not in the habit of randomly picking a laptop off of someone else's desk and disassembling it.
Ideally admins should have chained and locked them, but a weird driver would have reduced the incidence of the problem
https://rtstools.com/why-torx-bolts-are-better-than-hex-bolt...
One person’s “ploy” is another person’s “essential feature”.
Your logic seems to be that if you can’t open a device with tools available at your local gas station store, it’s user hostile?
And it’s quite egotistical and “in the bubble” to say that opening your devices is something everyone should be able to stumble into. If you applied that logic to everything we own, nobody would have any time to do anything else.
That makes no sense. It is selfish to have a right to open a device you have purchased?
> If you applied that logic to everything we own, nobody would have any time to do anything else.
Having a right to open your own device does not mean you are required to do so nor do you have to spend all your time opening the devices around your house. It is also beneficial in the sense that if you are not willing to open your own device you can go to a third party you trust to open it without requiring the manufacturers permission.
Where I don’t agree is your inference that using a less common but still readily available screw head means you have “no right” to open your device.
Minor inconveniences are not the same as a loss of rights, and it’s astonishing that anyone would try to conflate the two.
> Minor inconveniences are not the same as a loss of rights, and it’s astonishing that anyone would try to conflate the two.
They are not entirely the same, but a world with less standards (that are high quality and open) seems like a better place. I enjoy being able to use USB ubiquitously. If every company had their own screw head standards that seems objectively worse. Apple's product design definitely feels like they want it to be as difficult as possible to open.
Kinda like how companies makes unsubscribing hard, not impossible.
Once you unscrewed it you can replace the screws
People don't do it because are afraid of voiding the warranty or because just don't care
The one I own: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0023QTESS And I have used almost 1/3rd of the bits. I don't think I have ever seen a set more complete than this one.
I'm debating on removing the bottom tray and 3d printing a new one to hold even more bits.
as a thinkpad user, i almost always used any random screwdriver i had around, as long as it fitted.
MBPs have the weird "pentalobe" screws, AIUI.
Even when asking about a part that was no longer available from them, I received a message from them about what to look for on EBay.
I've been using this guy for years: https://www.amazon.com/ORIA-Screwdriver-Professional-Precisi...
Currently $18. I haven't come across a device for which this kit didn't have a bit and the driver feels good in the hand. The outer case is hard plastic, but the inner "lining" is soft plastic, unfortunately. I wouldn't mind a similar kit with a better case, or just a carrier that will handle this kit neatly if anyone has suggestions.
Compared to Microsoft? They created a laptop that was impossible to open at all without destroying it.
>According to iFixit, the Surface Laptop isn’t repairable at all. In fact, it got a 0 out of 10 for repairability and was labeled a “glue-filled monstrosity.” The lowest scores previously were a 1 out of 10 for all previous iterations of the Surface Pro
It’s clear that Microsoft never intended for the Surface Laptop to be repaired because it’s a completely sealed device. There aren’t even any screws to take out, so iFixit had to slice the fabric cover open to peel it away from the metal chassis. That’s never going back together. The inner metal shield is also devoid of screws, relying instead upon spot welds and glue. Again, this is probably not going to be reassembled.
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/251046-ifixit-labels-s...
The latest generation is actually quite repairable as far as laptops go: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Laptop+3++...
Microsoft are improving in this regard, unlike Apple.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentalobe_security_screw#Non-A...
Most people don't have small pen-sized phillips screwdrivers either on hand and would need to purchase one for this case as well.
That's a clear strawman though, unauthorized in this context clearly meant 'not authorized by the manufacturer', it's not the parents that install safety screws to keep the kids out, it's the manufacturers that do it to keep the owners out.
I was also that kid, and now I use computer hardware and software skills daily in a professional capacity. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly agree with you on all points.
I don’t know what reasonable justification there is for doing this for consumer devices generally, from the owner’s perspective. Maybe it makes devices more appealing in a corporate context, for the same reason some secure environments forbid devices with cameras or recording hardware, and also forbid (re-)recordable media. Maybe it reduces loss in the supply chain for the companies to do so. Some credit card payment terminals have tamper-evident designs built-in prevent or deter dumping hardware encryption/decryption keys, firmware, and other kinds of tampering, to reduce fraud and unauthorized access, for the owner’s sake and the networks’ sake. I would like to hear some more or better reasons if anyone has insights into these topics.
It's preferable to have a close relationship with your kids so they don't hide things from you, except things you're better off not knowing. To the point at hand, part of hacking, and life generally, is discretion. I learned not to do something I shouldn't as much from my upbringing, as I learned from my own testing. I was the kid who touched the hot stove after being told not to, as well as the electric fence. It wasn't such much defiance as discovery. I didn't find the potential for harm especially dissuading. I'd rather suffer a little harm in a controlled way than not know something so simple about my constructed environment.
I was kind of a weird kid, now that I think about it. I like to think that I'm not the only one.
https://www.harborfreight.com/100-pc-security-bit-set-with-c...
Edit: Actually looks like HF breaks links when you direct link so just search for security bits.
Fatal flaw, corona closed the hardware store and everyone is buying from Amazon ;)
Thankfully I had some RJ45 punch down terminators so I could cheat with that. Of course I didn’t have the little plastic 110 punchdown tool to seat the wires...
Apple decided to use T7 security screws instead of just normal T7 torx. Why!? I am not looking for answers to the differences and what makes a security bit different. I am asking a more abstract rhetorical question - Why make it harder for the consumer to take the laptop apart? Especially, if it’s not impossible - just a little bit harder.
I don’t know if that’s absolutely the reason but if they wanted to keep people out they could easily make a custom head that looked like the Apple logo or something. Nintendo has used tri-wing screws for decades because they expressly do want to keep people out of their devices. You can stop get a tri-wing driver but you have to special order it.
It has everything you need to open essentially any computer and iPhones as well, and it's very compact.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentalobe_security_screw
Though it's gotten easier to get pentalobe screwdrivers, albeit made of Chinesium.
After changing battery, computer flies again.
I finally let it die over Christmas. Or rather, I planned to power it up one last time, get fully updated on Windows 7, and then power it down forever and yank the HDD out to put in an enclosure. Of course, it chose to die in the middle of updates. Feh.
https://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/updated-guide-how-to-clean-...
We glued the other blades back on to tide him over until a replacement arrived, but each day one or two would break off and we'd have to give the laptop a good shake to expel them.
...it's often difficult to know how precise one must be when advising flatmates about compressed air.
...which also means they are a cheap source of refrigerant. Look up "charging A/C with gas duster" if you want to go down a rabbithole...
In my former life debugging signal timing issues on circuit boards I used to use this trick (using those "gas duster" cans upside down) to chill individual components to try to find out where the problem was.
Are there any thermal paste that doesn't degrade? Or minimal degrade within 5 years. We can fix dust with cleaning, we can get to a point where our computing needs could be done fanless ( Current iPad Pro ). But what about thermal paste degradation?
My 3yo notebook could be needing such a treatment. OTOH, I could just buy a new one notebook since there are some interesting things happening in mobile space this year (Renoir and Tiger Lake).
that's true, but I don't do it all the time because it seems the keys are more likely to pop off on their own.
I don't think vacuums are a great idea for electronics.
Is there any truth to the rumors I’ve heard that these cans of compressed air expel things that are detrimental to health (not just nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide)
> [1,1-Difluoroethane, or DFE] is also used as a propellant for aerosol sprays and in gas duster products.
> Because of inhalant abuse, a bitterant is added to some brands; however even this measure is not legally required and has not prevented widespread use of this product as a drug.
> In a DuPont study, rats were exposed to up to 25,000 ppm (67,485 mg m−3) for six hours daily, five days a week for two years. This has become the no-observed-adverse-effect level for this substance. Prolonged exposure to 1,1-difluoroethane has been linked in humans to the development of coronary disease and angina.[12]
My understanding is that this is because a typical compressed air can could not actually withstand the pressured required to hold normal air, compressed.
A gas like propane for your BBQ liquefies at room temp, and once it's liquid you can put a lot of it into a cylinder without increasing the pressure.
That's why compressed air is not used in the spray cans.
I’d really recommend doing the dust cleanup every year or so. It’s usually easy enough to remove the bottom cover of any laptop without particularly special screwdrivers.
Desktops (especially the PCs with the case Windows) are a bit easier to understand because you’ll see the clogged intakes and dust buildup much more readily.
One thing I like about mechanical keyboards is that the keys can be removed making cleaning much easier. Six months is a better timeline for keyboard cleaning, these things get _nasty_ especially if you have pets.