Apple’s self service repair makes ‘MacBook Pros less repairable’

SAN FRANCISCO: After Apple expanded its self service repair programme to MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks with the M1 chips, iFixit said that the tech giant's repair programme is creating an aexcruciating gauntlet of hurdles'.

According to iFixit's Sam Goldheart, the self repair programme seems like good news -- but as it turns out, their programme "makes MacBook Pros seem less repairable".

"This time, along with the manuals, Apple is presenting DIY repairers with an excruciating gauntlet of hurdles," Goldheart wrote on a blogpost.

"Now, if a 'Top Case with Battery and Keyboard' that a laptop is literally built into sounds expensive to you, it is! It costs more than 500 bucks -- with an $88 core return, it will run you $439. That's about 30-50 per cent of the cost of a brand new MacBook," Goldheart added.

The procedure stretches to the last page of a 162-page document, making it essentially a 162-page guide with multiple steps per page.

This week, Apple said it will provide repair manuals and genuine Apple parts and tools through the Apple Self Service Repair Store, beginning in the US.

Self Service Repair for iPhone was launched earlier this year, and the programme will now expand to additional countries -- beginning in Europe -- as well as additional Mac models later this year.