New Retina Display Macbook is non-upgradeable

[SupremeSpod]

Another alternative point of view.

Kyle Wiens of ifixit wrote a good opinion story on the new Mac Book Pro.
I can't disagree with what he wrote, it's completely accurate. But he's completely wrong that it's a problem.

Surely it is a problem if you work for a firm like "ifixit". I think the clue is in the name.

[Spacecadet]

Just from a waste point of view it's a bad thing. Upgrades to RAM and the hard disk are very easy methods to extend the useful life of a laptop.

And I really wish that people would stop with the bad car analogies, they're getting tedious.
cars != computers

[AtW]

Apple's upgrade policy is buying new product each year - it's all in the small print.

Excellent business model Smithers

[doodab]

I'm inclined to take apple's side on this. Most consumers don't want to cock about upgrading their laptop, and the compromises they have made allow them to make something thinner & lighter. There is no doubt that people are willing to pay for that, and an 8GB or 16GB machine with 512GB SSD is going to have a long useful life as that's at the limit of what you can actually buy today. I've a similar spec Lenovo and I don't expect to be upgrading it again during it's intended 3 year useful lifespan.

I do think the prices are a bit steep though. They want £160 for an extra 8GB RAM when I paid around £120 for 16GB and got £40 back on the 8GB I took out, and £400 for an extra 256GB of SSD capacity when the going rate is around half that. Of course, you could argue that's in the same ballpark as many other manufacturers upgrades.

[d000hg]

Just from a waste point of view it's a bad thing. Upgrades to RAM and the hard disk are very easy methods to extend the useful life of a laptop.

I agree but the typical Apple customer doesn't GAS. In fact forget Apple... hardly anyone upgrades any laptop, far less common than upgrading a desktop and even that isn't the norm.

Does anyone know if other ultrabooks follow the same approach?

[Spacecadet]

I agree but the typical Apple customer doesn't GAS. In fact forget Apple... hardly anyone upgrades any laptop, far less common than upgrading a desktop and even that isn't the norm.

The original purchaser might not, but what about if the laptop is refurbed for use else where?
Infact with a non-removable hard-drive how many people will be avoiding reselling the laptop in case the new buyer lifts all their data

[blacjac]

I can understand and agree that upgradability is not something that people want these days.

However the new Macbook Pro is also missing an ethernet port (adapter for TB available apparently) and a DVD/CD drive.
Which to me makes it more like a Macbook air than a Macbook pro.
And entirely the reason why when I was looking to get a Mac I discounted the Air.

Not sure I understand this one.

[NotAllThere]

I want a removable harddrive because if everything else gets knackered, I can remove the drive and recover the data.

I've often done this for consumer types who otherwise couldn't care less if the HD was removeable, and of course it's consumer types who don't do backups.

[lilelvis2000]

Do consumer types buy macs? I always thought it was the geeky designer types. Those kind would seem to be interested in upgrades.

[NickFitz]

I'm surprised nobody has yet pointed out that the link

Retina Display Macbook taken apart

isn't what it says - it's to an article about iFixIt's teardown of the non-Retina MBP