Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Perfectly Good MacBooks Wasted”.
All right uh, why don’t we move into our next big topic here perfectly good two-year-old MacBooks are getting scrapped because of activation lock, while new Pro Models, SSD is found to be worse than the predecessor ooh, some bad news for Apple this week last week, computer repair Store owner John Bumstead claimed that shops like his are being flooded with MacBooks. That cannot be refurbished or resold thanks to Apple’s activation, lock feature leaving no option but to sell them for parts or more likely for scrap the feature which comes on Max with the t2 security chip introduced in 2018 allows the user to encrypt their data, so that Only the user can access it using Touch ID. The problem is that nothing, even a factory reset can disable the lock unless the original owner turned off, find my or used the erase assistant prior to turning the laptop in Bumstead says that previous owners are rarely responsive. Being in large part companies and schools that are upgrading, hundreds or thousands of machines and while he’s heard of ways to bypass the t2 lock, those methods don’t survive, a reset which would screw over whoever buys the resold device.
Oh as Apple Insider points out Apple does have a process for removing activation lock from used devices, provided that eBay or whatever gave you a receipt, but the method doesn’t work if the previous owner hasn’t removed the device from their account Bumstead wants that fixed like this? Oh, I have a link here, apparently ah cool, so here’s a here’s, a solution that is proposed when we come upon a locked machine that was legally acquired, we should be able to log into our Apple account, enter the serial and any given information. Then click a button and submit the machine to Apple for unlocking, then Apple could explore its records. Query the original owner, if it really wants to and then if at the end of the day there are no red flags, the original owner and the original owner doesn’t protest within 30 days. The device should be Auto unlocked, so I’m never going to fly. If it has to go through Apple, absolutely never going to fly if it has to go through apple and even if it didn’t have to go through Apple, like one of the things that I pitched to our writer before, even looking at John bumstead’s ideas was, you Know how uh? Okay, no you probably don’t, but okay Dan.
You know how, when you’re logging in on an Apple device, it’s pretty common for a two-factor code to just kind of pop up on your other Apple device. That’S logged into the same account yeah. We had that a lot the other day yeah. I get that a lot on our teleprompter, which is really annoying anytime.
Mac address, is off-site shooting somewhere and it’s like oh you’re logging. In from an unusual location, I am trying to read the script anywho um. You know, I think that it would be pretty chill if the device is still in my account. If someone else had it and was like Hey requesting an unlock, I could see apple selling that as a feature hey for that previous owner, or potential theft victim um. Here’S the current whereabouts of your machine, did you uh like know about this. That could be pretty useful and for the recent acquirer of said machine, it would be great to be able to send a ping to the previous owner. That’S like hey! I bought this um. It’S still in your account can can I use it.
That would be great, however, that also assumes that everyone would kind of act in good faith in this situation would say. Fair play here is going to be an issue which could which could be a big problem, and I could see Apple getting stuck as like kind of like uh, an Arbiter of of these kinds of disputes, which they’re not going to want to do. They won’t do it yeah and I think they’re going to make privacy arguments about. You know locations of devices being passed to to new owners, and things like that uh, but bottom line is we’ve got ta, we got ta have some kind of solution right and if this other news is anything to go by, the new solution is not to simply Just upgrade to the newest MacBook in somewhat related news, the SSD and Apple’s newest entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro.
So this is with the M2 Pro processor 512 gigs of storage. It is significantly slower than its predecessor in the 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro so with the M1 processor and 512 gigs of storage. Uh, though, confirmed by multiple reports, evidence was first shared by Daniel of YouTube channel zone of tech, who clocked the 2023 models SSD at just shy of three gigabytes, a second right and 2700 megabytes a second it reads, and that is wow half a gig and over A gig slower, respectively than the 2021 model, he guessed uh correctly. That apple is apparently pulling the same thing that they did back in June, replacing the Dual nand chip configuration in the M1 model with a single chip, and this was confirmed by YouTuber, Max Tech and nine to five Mac. Uh Tom’s Hardware. Further notes that the new M2 Mac Mini features similar SSD performance degradation compared to the M1 Mac Mini from 2020, confirmed by Twitter user at and YouTuber Brandon geekabit, I mean the new one comes in a hundred dollars less than the original MSRP, but like what is What is what is with this? It’S kind of whack like really not a fan.
I wonder if it’s I wonder if it’s like the YouTube quality thing in what way I wonder, if they like know people, don’t care yeah, I could see that I mean it’s just it just sucks, though right like as a consumer, if I buy M2, is it Not a fair assumption that it is better in every way than M1, just as good or faster yeah. I mean there are certain situations where sure I can. I can see some justification for this okay, so say, for example, an electric car. If you go with a top performance, spec um, it might have less range, but there’s a there’s a there’s, a logical reason for that.
If I get an M2 processor theoretically, I would expect it to have a better storage controller, like it shouldn’t like that. That’S not that the only thing you could reasonably really assume is that maybe the battery dies fast, sure yeah, maybe it’s in the same kind of exactly exactly the same sort of trade-off yeah but yeah. No, I I think you’re absolutely right. I think it’s pretty clear that apple is taking a you know. Whatever these plebs won’t notice approach. You know, realistically it’s less about the hardware and it’s more about the experience, it’s more about the ecosystem and it’s just it’s frustrating and the thing is like I’m, not the one who should be mad about this Apple users are the ones who should be mad and Yet it feels like Apple’s users are the ones most likely to just take it, not really care over and over and over and over again – and I don’t understand it, which is probably why they’re doing it.
I don’t know, I, I really suspect it’s the man. Speaking of which I’ve brought up the YouTube quality, a few things YouTube quality thing a few times today, because it’s plaguing me it will refuse to play any video that I open at anything other than the lowest possible quality, and I have to change it every single Time, nice there’s no learning happening, because I do it every single time nice and out of spite, I put it on the maximum possible one. Despite that, like I, don’t need that, necessarily I’m usually playing it in a small window on a side monitor. I don’t care, but no now it’s going full screw.
You man take that I’m so annoyed. I have a feeling that, like because I’ll leave open like uh, say the Lo-Fi thing or whatever sure, because I’ll like just listen to music or it’s on my speakers. So the birds will hear it or whatever I I play for premium but boy I use it. I’M like wondering if they’re like oh, it’s he’s using too much. Let’S make him use less or something I don’t know, but wow that’s annoying. I don’t know going back to the the locks on the on the MacBooks like and then there’s a lot of different ways that you can kind of try to tackle this right, like obviously, if you just had removable ssds that are not tied to the t2 chip That would address the refurbishation.
The main issue is data privacy right, but that wouldn’t well. No, the other main issue is device. Ownership right, like we talked just last week about the benefits of encrypting devices, reduces the value in stealing one exactly. It makes them worth so much less for a thief, and so it’s not like, I don’t understand the benefits of doing it this way, but there has to be a way to tackle it right. So one of the one of the ideas here was uh from Jam. Amp uh have students or parents.
You know sign that they agree to pay for locked laptops that are returned. You know, instead of Shifting the blame to Apple shift, the blame to the users, who are not unlocking these bloody things. Yeah, like it was said that uh, if it’s like last week, computer repairs top owner claimed that shops like his are being flooded with MacBooks. That cannot be referred.
Well, they’re, coming to you directly, it sounds like so just try to get them. Do it at the door? Obviously, if it’s a school, the delivery person might just be like I don’t know, I just leave them, but, like some effort should be done there I think there’s got there has got to be a way to do this and, if Apple actually cared about the environment. The way that they posture that they do, then they would solve it like. Let’S, let’s be real here, their r d budget has enough room in it.
If they were legitimately motivated to deal with this problem that they could find a solution, and it’s one of those things where I I realize I’m coming in here, just kind of going yup, here’s a problem, uh see you later like, I I don’t. I don’t have the perfect solution, but I also I’m not the one who should have to like I’m, not the one who is manufacturing mountains of E-Waste that do not need to be shredded. I’M not the one saying. Oh, I just care so Huggy, muggy much about the environment that we I make the greenest devices ever.
That’S you! That’S you! That’S you’re, you’re, the one doing that it’s Apple’s hypocrisy that bothers me so much about them. I saw I saw a comment on um on a float plane exclusive recently that was Jonathan, Horst reacting to something or other from Apple uh, like their new announcement of something – and it was like you know, you’ve corrupted them the longer. He works there, the more he sounds like a like a cynical like non-mac person. I’Ll tell you something about Jonathan Horst, so he was hired because he is analytical and maybe a little cynical um, but still loves Apple.
That was exactly that was exactly who we were looking for for a role like that, because we didn’t want to be like every other Apple Channel where we just go. Oh yes, yes, please, please, just ah put it in my mouth right like we wanted to. We wanted to love Apple, but not in like a super submissive kind of way.
We’Re not talking 50 Shades here, yeah yeah, yeah yeah we’re talking like a healthy 50 Shades of space gray. Okay, that’s pretty good thanks! .