iPad 4 Hard To Fix And Wastes Space

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iFixit says that, even though the iPad 4 is hard to fix, wastes space and is full of glue, Apple will still sell millions of them.

Anyone attempting to repair Apple's 4th-gen iPad will face a rough job, according to the folks at iFixit. Examining the innards of the iPad 4, the fixit site found that the unit is glued shut through adhesive. Taking apart the tablet required iFixit to apply heat to soften the adhesive and then pry it open with guitar picks, which fortunately didn't damage the device.
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In fairness most tablets are glued together these days in a similar fashion. I wouldn't have any easier time taking apart any x86 tablet I have as all but one is glued together.
 
Yes but waste of space and filled with glue just means when the iPad 5 goes out it'll be 9% thinner!!!!!!!

THINNER MAN THINNER!
 
The Palm V was glued together too and you had to use like a hair dryer to heat the glue goop so you could take it apart, then use binder clips to hold it together while you heated it again to put it back together. OEMs are totally dumb about this because they get, I dunno, 3 mm less thickness and completely flush the ability to open it and stick things like yarn and spare whiskers inside. :(
 
ninjaturtle said:
WTF is this! iPad 4? Did Apple go all ninja release?
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Full announcement for it along with the Mini. So yes, they discontinued the iPad 3 in less than a year to replace it with a model stuffed with glue.

Stay classy, Apple.
 
Why are we bitching about products that aren't technically supposed to be opened anyway? It's one thing to complain about a Macbook Air and barely having room to service components on the bottom (where you can OPEN it), but a tablet that is glued together? Like every other tablet? Or most phones now? HOW DARE THEY
 
markt435 said:
Like every other tablet? Or most phones now? HOW DARE THEY
Click to expand...

[citation needed]

If you look at the various teardowns on iFixIt, only Apple is permanently sealing the batteries inside their products with amounts of glue that make it impossible to user service them.
 
no different than soldering a stick of ram into their air products.

Only apple could take the absolute easiest thing to upgrade in the ENTIRE computer world that bumps performance -- and lock it down.

With a product life cycle of 7 months -- I suppose "who cares" right? It's kinda funny - watching Apple squeeze their user base in this manner... wonder how long till people wake up and go "hey! wtf" and actually take their money somewhere else.
 
How do I need a citation? The majority of consumer electronics aren't meant to be taken apart by the consumers themselves anymore. Is that not the truth? That was the larger point I was making.
 
markt435 said:
How do I need a citation? The majority of consumer electronics aren't meant to be taken apart by the consumers themselves anymore. Is that not the truth? That was the larger point I was making.
Click to expand...

You only get a possible majority if you combine televisions, microwaves, monitors, etc... with computers, phones, etc.. Your comment is way to vague when when it comes to electronics, and you most lilekely meant it that way.

I wonder if the glue is imbued with platinum... would explain that cost:D
 
Damn, I need to buy some stock in the company that provides them the glue! :D
 
Guys, if any of you have ever developed consumer level electronics (I have), I can tell you this is normal. The tooling to create internal snaps for the Ipad would have proven to difficult in manufacturing and would have required a scrap rate/Yield of product that would have been unacceptable for them in terms of the internal price point to manufacture. They have a target of net fabrication costs and they need to hit that target or they start digging into profit basically.

The fact they used glue is indicative to that if a repair had to be done, it's probably more feasible to simply give you another unit and trash the broken/repair unit instead. Since in this case adhesives are better suited for an application like this it makes total sense and will not be going away for the need to have thinner devices. In face as soon as flexible displays come to a larger mass market, they will be held in place with nothing but adhesives. This is most likely how it's going to get done. Look at the adhesives market and you will see a change in and ramp up of more of their use. If you knew how much cynoacrylate/super glue is produced for electronics and textile production, fabrication it would make your head spin. And that's just one type of adhesive.
 
collegeboy69us said:
no different than soldering a stick of ram into their air products.

Only apple could take the absolute easiest thing to upgrade in the ENTIRE computer world that bumps performance -- and lock it down.

With a product life cycle of 7 months -- I suppose "who cares" right? It's kinda funny - watching Apple squeeze their user base in this manner... wonder how long till people wake up and go "hey! wtf" and actually take their money somewhere else.
Click to expand...


Wont argue your point too much, but I will say this. After the countless android tabs, and the OS craziness that is called android, my first apple product was the Ipad 3. Bought it 4 months ago. And it simply works. I can do what I want with it because it works. I don't have to re flash this or pray that the next OS update makes it smoother, etc..


Or that since there are 50 different androids tabs, and most of them are cheap pieces of shit, I prefer the one constant.

Apple products are made with quality and they just work. :)
 
collegeboy69us said:
no different than soldering a stick of ram into their air products.

Only apple could take the absolute easiest thing to upgrade in the ENTIRE computer world that bumps performance -- and lock it down.

With a product life cycle of 7 months -- I suppose "who cares" right? It's kinda funny - watching Apple squeeze their user base in this manner... wonder how long till people wake up and go "hey! wtf" and actually take their money somewhere else.
Click to expand...

I think the point is that their user base doesn't actually care. Those who do care don't buy Apple products.
 
techrat said:
Full announcement for it along with the Mini. So yes, they discontinued the iPad 3 in less than a year to replace it with a model stuffed with glue.

Stay classy, Apple.
Click to expand...

You forgot to mention the part where all the iPad 3's were permanently bricked the moment the 4 was announced.
 
jordan12 said:
Wont argue your point too much, but I will say this. After the countless android tabs, and the OS craziness that is called android, my first apple product was the Ipad 3. Bought it 4 months ago. And it simply works. I can do what I want with it because it works. I don't have to re flash this or pray that the next OS update makes it smoother, etc..


Or that since there are 50 different androids tabs, and most of them are cheap pieces of shit, I prefer the one constant.

Apple products are made with quality and they just work. :)
Click to expand...

i don't see the "OS craziness that is called android" argument against any google/android powered device anymore. anything past froyo is a nice solid device. Speaking from my point of view, I bought my wife a transformer prime. it originally came with IceCreamSandwich running on it. she went to the google play store, downloaded whatever she wanted to run on the device and, to quote all the Apple apologizers "it just works". Even better now with JellyBean on it. she doesnt care to root it, and reflash god knows what ROM the XDA forums have cooked up. bone stock from asus/google, the device just runs. the only complaint i have is that it doesnt have a damn pico nuclear reactor in it so it runs forever and i never have to recharge it. the excuse that iOS is better software is very quickly drying up with each new generation of Android. i just find it amusing to watch the apple crowd get sand in their vagina as real competition and equal or better devices are available.
 
B1zz said:
i don't see the "OS craziness that is called android" argument against any google/android powered device anymore. anything past froyo is a nice solid device. Speaking from my point of view, I bought my wife a transformer prime. it originally came with IceCreamSandwich running on it. she went to the google play store, downloaded whatever she wanted to run on the device and, to quote all the Apple apologizers "it just works". Even better now with JellyBean on it. she doesnt care to root it, and reflash god knows what ROM the XDA forums have cooked up. bone stock from asus/google, the device just runs. the only complaint i have is that it doesnt have a damn pico nuclear reactor in it so it runs forever and i never have to recharge it. the excuse that iOS is better software is very quickly drying up with each new generation of Android. i just find it amusing to watch the apple crowd get sand in their vagina as real competition and equal or better devices are available.
Click to expand...


I do see your point. I have had the Asus TF101 and the TF201. They were OK, but the screens weren't all that fantastic. It had light bleed, etc...And a lot of things with android weren't as smooth, and I had a hard time really enjoying it because of the immaturity and the various "small" issues with some apps...

I almost got the infinity until it was determined that it had IO issues and also had some troubling issues with screen, and the dock. So I went Apple to see why people liked it so much.

I have had small issue with my Ipad 3. When I load up the walking dead game, it takes a second to get going and it stutters for a second before it is fine after that.

Just my 2 cents. We all have opinions. ;)
 
markt435 said:
Why are we bitching about products that aren't technically supposed to be opened anyway? It's one thing to complain about a Macbook Air and barely having room to service components on the bottom (where you can OPEN it), but a tablet that is glued together? Like every other tablet? Or most phones now? HOW DARE THEY
Click to expand...
On any device I buy I expect to be able to replace things with a known short life. That is, batteries (3 years usually) and hard drives (pretty random, but still won't last).
 
B1zz said:
i don't see the "OS craziness that is called android" argument against any google/android powered device anymore. anything past froyo is a nice solid device. Speaking from my point of view, I bought my wife a transformer prime. it originally came with IceCreamSandwich running on it. she went to the google play store, downloaded whatever she wanted to run on the device and, to quote all the Apple apologizers "it just works". Even better now with JellyBean on it. she doesnt care to root it, and reflash god knows what ROM the XDA forums have cooked up. bone stock from asus/google, the device just runs. the only complaint i have is that it doesnt have a damn pico nuclear reactor in it so it runs forever and i never have to recharge it. the excuse that iOS is better software is very quickly drying up with each new generation of Android. i just find it amusing to watch the apple crowd get sand in their vagina as real competition and equal or better devices are available.
Click to expand...

As an owner of a Nexus 7, that day may yet come. Until Google stops releasing beta shit that won't happen. Instead of being a jack of all trades, can Google concentrate long enough to make all of the base Android applications very very good?

Chrome was so poor at launch that users resorted to installing Browser. Still lags depending on the content. Oh, but maybe I should replace it with Firefox? Firefox doesn't play certain video types by default. Time to hunt for another player or browser. It feels like I'm reliving XP all over again.

Text selection? Poor. Not possible on GTalk (how the hell does this slip through year after year?). The Google widget keeps deciding that Weathering Heights is my favorite book. It isn't. Stock keyboard? First thing that had to go.

If I were to lose my Nexus 7 I wouldn't feel too bad about it.
 
markt435 said:
How do I need a citation? The majority of consumer electronics aren't meant to be taken apart by the consumers themselves anymore. Is that not the truth? That was the larger point I was making.
Click to expand...

I laugh at the stickers that say "no user serviceable parts inside".

I have a soldering iron and I'm not afraid to use it :)
 
The Nexus 7 uses retention clips and you definitely can open it without massive amounts of pain.
 
Pylon said:
The Nexus 7 uses retention clips and you definitely can open it without massive amounts of pain.
Click to expand...

Its bootloader is also unlocked and you can install anything else you want onto it.
 
Part of the problem is miniaturization; things get harder to repair as they get smaller. The Nexus 7 is 10.42mm thick and is really easy to open, while the iPad Mini is only 7.2mm thick and a load of hurt to open. Thinness sells, unfortunately.
 
SkribbelKat said:
The Palm V was glued together too and you had to use like a hair dryer to heat the glue goop so you could take it apart, then use binder clips to hold it together while you heated it again to put it back together. OEMs are totally dumb about this because they get, I dunno, 3 mm less thickness and completely flush the ability to open it and stick things like yarn and spare whiskers inside. :(
Click to expand...
Or service broken components, upgrade memory, or replace the lithium battery which will have reduced capacity or fail (just a matter of time).
 
Ducman69 said:
Or service broken components, upgrade memory, or replace the lithium battery which will have reduced capacity or fail (just a matter of time).
Click to expand...

Apple sorta expects you'll replace the device every 1-2 years so the battery being replacable is kinda not on their agenda. It's lame because lots of electronics like those could be used for easily twice as long if it was not for stuff like this whole using glue to stick everything together and not letting you replace a battery.

Still though yarn storage is more important than replacing batteries. They need a secret compartment for yarn.
 
darkstarcow said:
You only get a possible majority if you combine televisions, microwaves, monitors, etc... with computers, phones, etc.. Your comment is way to vague when when it comes to electronics, and you most lilekely meant it that way.

I wonder if the glue is imbued with platinum... would explain that cost:D
Click to expand...
Better be Rhodium baby! :cool:
 
SkribbelKat said:
Apple sorta expects you'll replace the device every 1-2 years so the battery being replacable is kinda not on their agenda. It's lame because lots of electronics like those could be used for easily twice as long if it was not for stuff like this whole using glue to stick everything together and not letting you replace a battery.

Still though yarn storage is more important than replacing batteries. They need a secret compartment for yarn.
Click to expand...

I replace my laptop, workstation every 1-2 years. My phone pretty much every 6 months. I might be one of the few who don't care if they glue it together so long as it is done well and doesn't come apart and the feel of the device is solid. In fact I didn't even have my last laptop for a year before I bought my new W8 Hybrid to replace it. As for phones I have replaced more android phones in the past two years than ever before (on avg. in the last 2 years I replaced a phone every 3 or so months) for various reasons such as the phone stopped working correctly, battery life is terrible, OS isnt getting updated, locked boot loader, no support from company, etc. etc. In fact I havent had so many problems with phones until I started buying Android phones haha (been using smartphones since symbian and windows mobile 2003). Seems like every android phone I "upgraded" to fixed one problem but broke something else or another major problem popped up that the next phone fixed but broke something that was fixed before. I am consigned to the fact that I have to root it, custom rom it, and tweak it myself extensively every time I buy one to get it right. Also Android OEMs still dont have battery life down with the exception of a few phones most Android phones I've had were garbage in the battery life dept.
 
I like devices that last. Even if I personally don't use them for long (I usually do), I like to give them away to some person or institution that will have good use for it, or find another purpose for it inside my house.

I have lots of computers around that are 6+ years old and still rocking no problem, all parts original. Some hardware pieces are 10+ years old. I had some cellphones from around 2004 that are still working according to their new owners.

All that means less waste. Yea I know, I'm not a hippie/tree hugger by any means, but seriously, why buy new stuff for the sake of it? When people start gluing stuff so they're 0.0001 thinner, something is wrong. In the end, it feels like you're renting the device, because as soon as the contract is up, it's fubar anyways so you'll get a new one. Screw that.
 
Apple doesn't make any money if you fix it. You gotta buy a new one. That's why they call them Apple Geniuses.
 
///AMG said:
I replace my laptop, workstation every 1-2 years. My phone pretty much every 6 months. I might be one of the few who don't care if they glue it together so long as it is done well and doesn't come apart and the feel of the device is solid. In fact I didn't even have my last laptop for a year before I bought my new W8 Hybrid to replace it. As for phones I have replaced more android phones in the past two years than ever before (on avg. in the last 2 years I replaced a phone every 3 or so months) for various reasons such as the phone stopped working correctly, battery life is terrible, OS isnt getting updated, locked boot loader, no support from company, etc. etc. In fact I havent had so many problems with phones until I started buying Android phones haha (been using smartphones since symbian and windows mobile 2003). Seems like every android phone I "upgraded" to fixed one problem but broke something else or another major problem popped up that the next phone fixed but broke something that was fixed before. I am consigned to the fact that I have to root it, custom rom it, and tweak it myself extensively every time I buy one to get it right. Also Android OEMs still dont have battery life down with the exception of a few phones most Android phones I've had were garbage in the battery life dept.
Click to expand...

I can understand that. I sort of like to make a computer last a long time, but if other devices are more disposable, I don't really think it's a huge problem. I do like the idea of being able to easily change the battery though. In the case of Android phones, being able to replace the back with a bulging thing that lets you stick a much bigger battery inside is also nice since so many of them go dead faster than an average laptop. :(

One of the reasons I quit using Androids last year was because they had really bad battery life compared to Blackberries which seem to be able to easily last through an entire day of heavy use or several days just being ignored. Even though they've gotten faster, larger, and have better screens, smartphones in general haven't improved in endurance. In fact, reviews of new phones make it seem like usable time is going further down.
 
There's a solvent out there for every glue whether its water, alcohol, or something else most of which can be found in the home. I'd rather have something more secure even if it added thickness at current tablet prices.
 
cdr_74_premium said:
I like devices that last. Even if I personally don't use them for long (I usually do), I like to give them away to some person or institution that will have good use for it, or find another purpose for it inside my house.

I have lots of computers around that are 6+ years old and still rocking no problem, all parts original. Some hardware pieces are 10+ years old. I had some cellphones from around 2004 that are still working according to their new owners.

All that means less waste. Yea I know, I'm not a hippie/tree hugger by any means, but seriously, why buy new stuff for the sake of it? When people start gluing stuff so they're 0.0001 thinner, something is wrong. In the end, it feels like you're renting the device, because as soon as the contract is up, it's fubar anyways so you'll get a new one. Screw that.
Click to expand...
Apple making so many "throw away" devices and trying to get people to upgrade at an ever increasing rate doesn't exactly fit the "green" image they're trying to portray does it? They say, "Oh, it's recycleable", but they don't mention all it resources takes to recycle the ever increasing number of devices. Sounds like a contradiction to me. Silly Apple.
 
///AMG said:
I replace my laptop, workstation every 1-2 years. My phone pretty much every 6 months. I might be one of the few who don't care if they glue it together so long as it is done well and doesn't come apart and the feel of the device is solid. In fact I didn't even have my last laptop for a year before I bought my new W8 Hybrid to replace it. As for phones I have replaced more android phones in the past two years than ever before (on avg. in the last 2 years I replaced a phone every 3 or so months)
Click to expand...


And you are bragging about this? I guess the proctice you keep makes you the perfect idiot...err...I mean, Apple customer.

You should switch to Ferrari's as well.
 
cdr_74_premium said:
I like devices that last. Even if I personally don't use them for long (I usually do), I like to give them away to some person or institution that will have good use for it, or find another purpose for it inside my house.
...
but seriously, why buy new stuff for the sake of it?
Click to expand...
That's pretty much my thought as well. I like my technology to last, even if it's not lasting in my hands. My eeepc is 4 years old I think, my old desktop is 6 years old and now being used by my Mum with nothing more than a video card swap. My first smartphone was a 3GS and I'm still using it now, works perfectly fine.

That said, I also still drive a 1979 model car back in Oz and a 1997 Saturn in the US. While all these crazy people are taking out loans on cars they can't afford, my cars are only a tiny fraction of my net worth (which isn't tons, I'm a researcher :p). I've spent less on my cars than many people spend on just the interest paying back the loans for their cars :p

It seems so wasteful to just upgrade to the newest thing all the time and for the most part completely unecessary, especially if you take care of your shit and don't let it get busted all to hell.
 
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