[NTLK] FW: iFixit: Apple ¹ s Diabolical Plan to Screw Your iPhone

[Lord Groundhog]

~~~ On 2011/01/22 21:50, J.M. Heinrichs at minicapt1 at mac.com wrote ~~~

> See my second last sentence, it's a design decision.
Phillips-head screw are
> inferior fasteners and are prosaic to point of ugly. You can get away with
> using undersized drivers , and even no-srewdrivers on occasion. Imposing the
> 5-lobe head does not prevent one from opening the Mac; it merely requires one
> to acquire the proper tool in advance. They could have chosen another type of
> screwhead: would you be content with 'Torx' again? And the original
> 'anti-disassembly measures' on the original Macs was less the use of the Torx
> but rather the unnecessarily extra long screw holes put in the case, plus the
> case spreader. Dell, HP and other computer makers may be content with the
> Phillips screw, but that's no recommendation for Apple.
The 5-lobe screws are
> actually quite attractive, but my concern is whether they will holdup during
> disassemblies 'to see what's there'.



Hi again John.  First, you'll notice I *never* argue in favour of Phillips
head screws.  I dislike them and any other kind of cross-head screw.  Ugly
and prone to damage because noobs can't always tell *which kind* of
cross-headed slot they have and use the wrong screwdriver.

Second, as I said before, yes, I wouldn't mind some variety of Torx.  To me
they're the right balance of "this screw isn't for casual tinkering" with
access if you have the right tools.  I haven't tried working with the
pentalobes yet but I like the sureness of grip I get with Torx.

On a side note and speaking merely of aesthetics, IMO the Torx heads are
nicer looking than the pentalobe:  I like the kind of symmetry you get from
an even number of points/lobes over an odd number.   Also, when tightening
the screws I think it'll be easier to achieve a uniform arrangement of heads
while still securing the screws properly.   (OK, so I fuss over the details
of appearance when I do things; as long as I get "hold" without
over-tightening, why not?)  That's just down to geometry:  a six-pointed
shape has a higher order of rotational symmetry.

Now, on a side-note of absolute relevance to us here, if Apple had
instituted the kind of control over access on the Newtons that they're
putting in place on on iPhones, iPads, and even MacBooks, where would we be?
Should we start with routine repairs of the kinds of little things that can
go wrong and just need servicing, like that pesky retaining clip for the
stylus?  An then should we go on to talk about all the hardware mods
(display/digitizer replacements, accelerated processors, updated ports,
enhanced size of storage, added connectivity of Bluetooth and wifi, etc.)
that would be extremely hard or impossible for the majority of Newt-owners
to do if it were locked up like an iPhone?  What about all the battery
rebuilds folks have done, with some folks even experimenting with higher
capacity battery cells than the original specs?  The Newt would've died by
the turn of the millenium.  And as we can see, there's just nothing else
quite like it out there, even 13 years later.

And I'm not even writing as someone who does all my own Newton work
(although truth be told they haven't needed much), just as someone who has
the option to learn from things like Frank's excellent guided tour through
the guts of a machine and tips posted here from time to time.  For the rest
of the time I would rely on the subset of our group whose expertise will
continue to blow someone like me away until I become more knowledgeable in
all things Newton. 

Still just my two small and nearly worthless copper coins.  :-)

 
Shalom. 
Christian 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

³Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a Newton.²
            -- ref.:  Arthur C. Clarke

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ZzpdPJ7Zr4
(With thanks to Chod Lang)
http://tinyurl.com/29y2dl
http://www.diyplanner.com/node/3942


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