[at_]

I recently replaced my Macbook screen after living with a half cracked LCD for over a year because I had assumed it was impossible to DIY and a hefty charge was inevitable. I followed the relevant guide on ifixit and found the whole process pretty straightforward. I would have grappled with it much earlier if there was more messaging out there that says "hey, if you have nothing to lose, and more spare time than cash, you actually can fix these things yourself", because you totally can! And you also get to feel smug about it afterwards because you hear so much to the contrary.

[bserge]

Yeah, you totally can. Anything that's been assembled can be disassembled.

But the number and complexity of tools has increased a lot. Used to take 2 screwdrivers to fix a phone or a laptop. Now you need special screwdrivers, a heat gun, pry tools, glue, small tweezers at least.

And a whole BGA rework station if you want to replace components with a decent quality of work.

[ac29]

> Anything that's been assembled can be disassembled

Sure, but can you reassemble it after the disassembly? There are certainly products for which that is essentially impossible: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+2+Teardown/121471

[fortran77]

A Macbook is a very different beast from a latest-gen iPhone.

[jjoonathan]

It's different in that the latest-gen iPhone is a bigger challenge.

It's the same in that loads of people say it's impossible when it actually just requires a new bag of tricks.

[kipchak]

Part of the confusion was over the T2 chips that were added back in 2018 that were reportedly[1] bricking computers if non genuine parts were used locking out independent repairers.[2] I'm not sure if that functionality is actually active though.

[1]https://www.extremetech.com/computing/280501-apple-confirms-...

[2]https://www.ifixit.com/News/11673/t2-mac-repairs-test