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Old 06-14-12, 10:39 AM   #84
Rakeesh's Avatar
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Sonoran Desert
Posts: 6,873
Default Re: iOS 6 Confirmed for WWDC

Originally Posted by Redeemed View Post
Well aware of all of this. Also aware of how locked down OEM units are. Ever find a new laptop with all the options available in the UEFI? No, or not very often? Ever wonder why? Guess I haven't been clear. Most OEMs intentionally lock you into a specific CPU or GPU. Need a replacement? You're forced to pay handsomely for it or, more logically, purchase a new computer. That's what it boils down to ultimately. Also, less hassle for them as far as maintaining support. How often do you find the latest Forceware or Catalyst drivers on Dell's, HP's, or Gateway's site? Yes, you can upgrade CPUs on some units- never denied that. Those units are rare.
You're talking about those occasional laptops that require custom drivers for the GPU to work. I've had one of those, it was made by toshiba. I returned it and picked up my current HP instead, and it works with any AMD driver, and it was cheaper than the toshiba as well.

Either that or you're just talking about the fact that OEM's don't always post the latest and greatest drivers produced by the IHV on their website. There's actually a pretty good reason for that. When it comes to *any* driver updates at all on the part of the OEM, there's always a cost associated with it, and it's not a small one either. Before they put an update out and tell their customers to use it, they have to test it extensively to make sure it is compatible with their current ecosystem.

If they just blindly put up driver updates to their website, that will end up being a tech support nightmare when something goes wrong, and the costs for that are even higher. This is why they generally do not push out software updates unless they are trying to fix something that is broken, hence you're not going to see very many driver updates on their website. However nothing will stop you from downloading the drivers direct from the IHV, just your OEM probably won't provide tech support for something they haven't tested.

If you ever work as an IT administrator, or setup any kind of technology in a business environment, one of the first things you'll learn is that updates to anything suck. While they might add features, or fix things, there's an equal chance they'll break something else. Generally if you haven't seen anything go wrong that needs fixing, then you don't need an update. The only exception would be security vulnerabilities. But then in enterprise environments, even those get delayed for testing (though there are more often than not other existing protections in place, e.g. IPS systems at the network layer, so it's usually not a big deal.)

Anyways, it has absolutely nothing to do with the OEM trying to hold you back. Updating your personal computer in your personal environment is one thing, but issuing updates to others is another.

Originally Posted by Redeemed View Post
Yeah but I'd wager money you can't solder a GTX580M to fit in the place of a 6970M. Or going from a GTX560M to a GTX580M. Pin layout is different, power requirements are different, thermals are different. And I would wager a year's salary you've never and will never separated the GPU die from the CPU die in an APU from either AMD or Intel. There are some things a mere soldering iron just can't accomplish.
Well you don't use a soldering iron for most (95%ish) of SMC rework, but yeah.

Originally Posted by Redeemed View Post
Then I stand corrected about this. That is how you were making it sound, at least how I interpreted your stance.

My point is Slawter is more correct about the average joe caring about how easy his new computer is to fix. Most folks would rather pay guys like you and I to do it for them. It's easier and more convenient.
Except you won't be doing any repairs on those. With a typical PC or Laptop, you can send it to just somebody you know (who is 9 time out of 10 better than the so called "professionals") with these mac POS computers you can't. I just read an article that nails it:


Basically apple is the new Compaq of the 90's. I remember back then people used to always ask me what computer they should get, and I always told them no matter what stay away from Compaq because you can't upgrade them when you need to, and when something goes wrong they're impossible to fix in any practical way.

Originally Posted by Redeemed View Post
Until that changes you and I will continue to have jobs performing these repairs.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Though that doesn't bother me a whole lot, because I've mostly given up PC repair, I've moved on to enterprise scale and datacenter networks.


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