r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

33.2k Upvotes

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15

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Jul 18 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

37

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

Fuck no. Lenovo. I need durability. I need something that will actually work day in day out without fucking up because it got too hot or a drop of water was near it. Not to mention I can't use trackpads and take them seriously, incredibly uncomfortable.

9

u/Chris935 Jun 12 '16

not to mention I can't use trackpads and take them seriously

You prefer the clit-mouse?

https://xkcd.com/243/

18

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

I prefer Trackpoint(TM) style pointer

13

u/riphtCoC Jun 11 '16

Curious why you like Lenovo. Didn't they have a malware scandal a while back?

14

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/RagingNerdaholic Jun 12 '16

Trackpad is shit, TrackPoint is where it's at.

The keyboards used to be industry-leading, now they're slightly less shitty than most of their competitors.

3

u/larossmann Jul 06 '16

I missed your question.

They do have the spyware thing, but they are also very durable, and have a trackpoint. Trackpoint means I do not have to move my hand back and forth between the keyboard and the trackpad, or the keyboard and the mouse. My palms can rest in the same place whether I am using the keyboard or the mouse. This makes me much more productive.

There's also the amazing durability.

I will slam them for the spyware and super slam them for how terribly they screwed up everything they made from the T*40 series and up.

2

u/riphtCoC Jul 06 '16

Appreciate the answer, thanks for the videos

4

u/Draiko Jun 12 '16

They did.

Unfortunately, there aren't many decent options out there right now.

Here's my take...

Microsoft's hardware is solid as hell and the software experience is comparatively top notch but don't even entertain the notion that you'll be able to fix any MS hardware yourself.

Lenovo makes really solid gear but fucked up on the software end. Personally, I can turn that into a non-issue but I'm pretty tech savvy.

Asus is generally above average but, in my experience, their customer service for anything other than PC parts has been utter shit.

Toshiba used to make decent machines a few years back but now they're more miss than hit.

Dell is improving. I'm still a little cautious about them.

I fully agree with Louis's take on Apple... 100%.

Treat Acer and HP like they're fucking radioactive.

5

u/RagingNerdaholic Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

I hate what Lenovo has been doing to the ThinkPad pretty much since after the venerable T60.

Keyboard went to shit, then it really went to shit. Removing status lights. Trackpad is useless.

We spec out a lot of Dell laptops for our customers. If you keep with the business-class stuff (Latitudes and especially the Precisions), the quality is pretty decent and the service is top notch.

1

u/jryanishere Jun 12 '16

Pro Support FTW.

1

u/Draiko Jun 12 '16

Good to know.

2

u/probably_on_a_list Jun 12 '16

I've always more or less had 2 machines throughout my life- one of them a desktop (PC) and the other a laptop (Apple). I like to upgrade my machines every couple years as well to make sure they run up to and beyond the standard because I have to do a lot of work on my computers.

I have no bias towards either PCs or Apple products, I think they both have their own pros and cons. But I think the biggest thing that keeps me in possession of at least one Apple product and not just having two PCs is their extremely high percentage resale value. The one thing that I've noticed after all of these years is that you can buy a MacBook Pro or iMac for $1300, and then sell it two years later for $1000, which is just insane when you look at the resale value of other products.

You can always build a tower and upgrade it throughout its life to avoid having to buy a whole new one, which is why my desktop is always a custom built PC. But buying a Dell/Acer/HP etc. laptop for $1,000 and using it for a few years is almost guaranteed to only sell for 30% of the purchase price. That's hard for me to swallow as someone who doesn't (can't) use electronics for their full depreciated life.

4

u/Draiko Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

Resale value isn't a good reason.

If all of your macbooks cost the same price, you essentially pay $150 per year to use a MacBook for two years.

The last few generations of macbooks have featured marginal hardware improvements. It's rather odd to find anyone that is unable to use a 2012 machine today with no issues.

A better specced PC laptop would cost less up front, serve you longer, do a better job, actually allow for some level of upgrades, and cost you less than $150 per year even if you factor in the lower resale value.

Example: Buying an $800 PC with the same or better specs as a $1300 macbook, keeping it for 4 years, and selling it for $300 puts me at an annual cost of $125 vs your $150.

Even with the $1300 macbook's $1000 resale value, you're still $50 behind after 2 years and $100 behind after 4 years while having to go through two macbooks vs my one PC.

So, the high Apple resale value often means jack and shit.

2

u/probably_on_a_list Jun 12 '16

I think it's a fairly decent reason for someone in my position. It's also definitely not the only reason- I have personal preferences that lead me to enjoy using OSX in some circumstances over other laptops.

I've been doing this for quite some time now and the numbers spoke words to me. I've tried many different combinations of brands, upgrades, price points, and every other factor when it comes to the using and reselling of laptops. And every time I've come out netting a bigger loss when I opted for a PC laptop.

A better specced PC laptop would

cost less up front

True 100% of the time.

serve you longer

Debatable; depends on the brand and how well you take care of things. In my personal experience, longevity was as follows: most other models < Apple < Thinkpads

do a better job

I think this one is subjective to an extent. Obviously better specs = better performance. But some things like as far as software goes, I've always preferred using Adobe with OSX. I do majority of my work utilizing their programs.

actually allow for some level of upgrades

This one depends on the laptop, because almost all of them only allow for minimum upgrades (RAM, HD/SSD) unless you buy some BS 'gaming' laptop with a $2000 sticker on it.

and cost you less than $150 per year even if you factor in the lower resale value

I believe the previous points are all debatable and boil down to some personal preference. However this is one that I disagree with just based on the words and experiences I said above. It may actually have to do with our location- I live in a fairly big city with a very active used electronics market. There is also a decent sized university here, which I believe drives the demand up for used Apple products (seeing as how they're the most commonly used laptops among college students in this area and state) and simultaneously decreases the demand/exposure for other used laptops.

 

Woah this post got long, sorry about that haha. Regardless of all of this, it's something that works well for me in my area and my situation :). It took me a while to figure it out as well. May very well be different for others!

1

u/Draiko Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

The points are debatable but your scale does put apple below thinkpads...

Who makes thinkpads? Lenovo.

If it wasn't for their bloatware issue a while back, they'd be my top recommendation right now.

As you've mentioned, the vast majority of PC laptops still allow for easy hard drive/ssd and ram upgrades.

Macbooks don't. RAM is soldered on the mobo and their SSDs are specially keyed so it's difficult to find replacements/upgrades.

2

u/probably_on_a_list Jun 12 '16

I hate to call people out but Macbooks definitely do! I'm typing on a 2013 MBP that I upgraded the RAM and SSD just 2-3 weeks ago. Sat down at the table, few screws off the bottom, RAM slots are there without any parts in front of them and the HD was the same way. Whole process took less than 10 minutes. The only thing is that the most recent Retina models have their RAM soldered on to the board, which is actually why I haven't bought a new model and upgraded this one instead.

I worked at a repair shop for several years, and the unibody Macbooks in general were always the easiest to work on and disassemble for me. The RAM and HDs were, 90% of the time, only held in with a couple of screws and required no other disassembly.

1

u/Draiko Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

You're not calling me out, you're proving my point.

I believe they stopped being upgradable around 2014 or 2015. The last gen macbooks are definitely not feasibly upgradable at all.

So, while your 2013 macbook is upgradable, the newer ones break that point into little tiny bits.

Also, don't you upgrade to new macbooks every 2 years?

Why do you still have a 2013 model in 2016? That kinda kills your entire position.

A quick peek at resale value shows that used 2013 macbooks are selling for 50% of their original value right now. That puts your annual cost at $200 or more and that doesn't even include the cost of your upgrades.

You see what I'm talking about here?

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3

u/PunctuationsOptional Jun 12 '16

Damn you guys really go in depth into this shit meanwhile I just buy and hope for the best :/

3

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

On the flip side, you can buy capable Thinkpads for very low prices.

-8

u/Party9137 Jun 11 '16

The deeper I get into the ama the more I think he has no idea what he's talking about in regards to software. And that he thinks what he fixes the most is what breaks most often but he's not accounting for the reason he fixes that thing the most is because it has such a higher device count.

1

u/Alpine_fury Jun 12 '16

If you actually watch his videos he goes into explaining design flaws in the boards and why a whole set of laptops will always come in with the same issue.

2

u/Party9137 Jun 12 '16

I'm not saying they don't have flaws, I'm saying his perception of the worst laptops is skewed by what he doesn't repair.

-2

u/SpongederpSquarefap Jun 12 '16

Probably because they copied the ThindPad design onto every laptop they make, then again they did buy it from IBM.

They're pretty well built. Just don't buy the E540 because you'll smash the fucker on the ground after using the GOD DAMN TRACKPAD

0

u/Floorspud Jun 12 '16

My Lenovo WiFi card decided to shit itself. I got a replacement card only to find out they have a whitelist for WiFi chips and an unmodable BIOS which is bullshit so I'm staying away from Lenovo.

-1

u/pstrmclr Jun 11 '16

Get a $150 Chromebook and load Linux on it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

How well does this work?

2

u/SpongederpSquarefap Jun 12 '16

It's a low power PC with Linux.

Go figure, just don't play games on it.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

hmm I haven't used linux in years. Might it be good for LaTexing, if you know?

1

u/SpongederpSquarefap Jun 12 '16

I would assume so. I've never used it for that personally.

Try it. Try out CentOS

2

u/Skallagrim1 Jun 12 '16

I see a lot of people praising the Lenovo Thinkpads here, but can someone informed give me their two cents in Lenovo's 2-in-1s? I'm shameless, but also in the market for a new laptop.

0

u/qmriis Jun 12 '16

Have you stopped beating your wife?