How most 16" Macbook Pros often kill themselves & why they're unfixable
Louis RossmannCited 4× on HN, 2023-2025
1.6M views · 4 years ago · commentary · dated
Louis Rossmann explains why many 16-inch MacBook Pros fail and are difficult to repair, focusing on power design on the logic board. He argues the design leads to failures that are hard to fix.
HN mentions are mostly critical or incidental, using it in discussions of Apple hardware design and repairability rather than recommending it.
18:27Apple botches Macbook board design: again!
Louis Rossmann
280K views • 7 years ago
24:48The horrible truth about Apple's repeated engineering failures.
Louis Rossmann
3.9M views • 8 years ago
33:32Apple's soldered-in SSDs are engineered in the worst way possible
Louis Rossmann
589K views • 3 years ago
11:34How Apple authorized repair refurbishes Macbooks to fail again! GPU kernel panics
Louis Rossmann
338K views • 8 years ago
14:09Why I don't use Apple products
Louis Rossmann
2.5M views • 11 years ago
11:03We need to talk about failing keyboards on these new Macbooks.
Louis Rossmann
614K views • 8 years ago
1:03:42Apple uses spite to force planned obsolescence.
Louis Rossmann
3.5M views • 11 years ago
16:56Fixing Apple's Engineering in an Hour
Linus Tech Tips
3M views • 6 years ago
29:57Microsoft Surface laptop: unrepairable junk
Louis Rossmann
395K views • 9 years ago
4:46Louis opens new Macbook Air, immediately loses mind.
Louis Rossmann
3.2M views • 7 years ago
8:31Fixing Apple's GOOD Engineering - M1 MacBook Air thermal pads
Linus Tech Tips
1.9M views • 5 years ago
12:44Genius Bar caught ripping customer off ON CAMERA by CBC News
Louis Rossmann
9.2M views • 8 years ago
18:43Reballing flip chip GPUs is BULLSHIT - the truth about dead laptop GPUs & repairing them.
Louis Rossmann
773K views • 12 years ago
7:49Apple REFUSED to Fix our iMac Pro
Linus Tech Tips
11.5M views • 8 years ago
7:17Apple & Customs STOLE my batteries, that they won't even provide to AASPs.
Louis Rossmann
1.6M views • 8 years ago
18:46A COMPLETELY Upgradeable Laptop? - Framework Laptop Review
Linus Tech Tips
6.2M views • 5 years ago
16:22iPhone 12 Anti Repair Design - Teardown and Repair Assessment
Hugh Jeffreys
11.6M views • 6 years ago
13:47What is Right to Repair? An introduction for curious people.
Louis Rossmann
188K views • 6 years ago
17:20iPhone 13 A Repair Nightmare - Teardown and Repair Assessment
Hugh Jeffreys
4.4M views • 5 years ago
16:04iPhone 14 Pro Programmed To Reject Repair - Teardown and Repair Assessment
Hugh Jeffreys
1.8M views • 4 years ago
4 comments from Hacker News
You forgot: - inadequate cooling - fried NAND chips - screens spontaneously cracking - flexgate (not to be confused with bendgate) And that’s only a subset of the engineering failures with MacBooks. You even bring it up in your post: the only reason they have “dead silence” is because Apple is literally baking your laptop and leaving you to pay the bill. I’ll give Apple that their custom chips are pretty great for power and efficiency, but their actual product design is bad. I mean, who designs a laptop with the fan pointing the wrong way?[0] Or a power bus alongside a data bus?[1] These are literally basic errors that go into production for a company that is far too big for this to be happening. [0] - link [1] - ▶ this video
If your strategy is working for you then that's great. I do wonder why you need a new computer every 3 years, but I don't know your personal circumstances. The things you do might actually make perfect sense. But for me personally, you lost me at "Macbook": ▶ this video Then again, life is often about tradeoffs. For me, Framework offers the best tradeoff.
Engineers have become experts in selecting components so that they fail right after the warranty period. Replaceable batteries just means they will make something else weaker instead, preferably something that fries the device once it fails (see ▶ this video ). It's too dangerous not to, as nowadays phones (or computers in general) don't really need to be upgraded that often to remain useful. No manufacturer wants a repeat of the 1080Ti.
Louis Rossman gives lots of examples on hist YouTube channel. For example, in one case Apple appears to have cut some corners when designing the power supply for the SSD, so that when it fails it dumps 13 volts into the 2.5 volt SSD which permanently damages it: ▶ this video In other videos he shows how Apple puts display data lines right next to high-voltage lines instead of separating them with a ground line, which means you’ll fry the board if you get a tiny bit of moisture in that area. So you will notice these cut corners when your device breaks and the repair costs almost as much as the original device.