When you have $500 to throw away

Some people just have too much money and too much time on their hands. I mean, why on earth would you do this after purchasing an iPhone, the cheapest of which is $499?

This is just sheer stupidity; it doesn't even show very well how the thing is put together because they basically just destroy it. These guys must be either really loaded to the point that throwing away $500 means nothing to them or they're just plain dumb.

(Via Gizmodo.)

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I dont have sound.. do they say anything that explains *why* they are doing it?

It could be a couple of rich kids pissing away money.

Or, a person could break one open to find out who the parts suppliers are, with a view toward making investments in those companies. And that could be big bucks.

A better autopsy was done by Wired: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/06/iphone-autopsy-.html

By MaybeCrazy (not verified) on 02 Jul 2007 #permalink

I had pangs of regret when I bought my iPod. I mean, $249 for an 8GB nano?

Now that I have it I can't figure out how I lived without it. I'm still discovering features of the thing a couple months later. And it's fairly solid, I've dropped it, stepped on it, etc. and it still works.

That being said, I'll probably never get a Mac Book. Why? Because the machine I have now is completely user serviceable. An Mac Book or heaven forbid, Power Book isn't.

Maybe it wasn't their money, they stole it or had it bought for them?

Yeah it's odd. They could have put this video on one of the non-Youtube sites that pays you when people watch the video. Good chance to make their money back that way.

"An Mac Book or heaven forbid, Power Book isn't [user servicable]."

The Mac Book is actually pretty decent. You can replace the hard drive yourself without major surgery: you take the battery out, then the hard disk slides out of a compartment in the side of the battery compartment.

RAM is also replaceable. I believe it's also in the battery compartment.

The MacBook Pro also has user-replaceable RAM, but alas no user-replaceable hard drive. (I was really hoping for that in the latest version!) On the plus side, the new LED backlights ought to stay bright longer than the fluorescents in the older MacBook Pros. Speaking from experience, replacing a backlight tube is *not* easy.

I'm not aware of any non-Apple laptops that offer much "user servicability" beyond that offered by the MacBook. RAM and disk is usually as good as it gets.

To Tony P., re. user-serviceability of Mac laptops:

I'm typing on a 12" PowerBook G4 that I bought a week after the model was released in Jan 2003. The RAM's a two-minute job with a watchmaker's screwdriver, but the PB is more user-serviceable than that. Let's see now:

I've dropped it from above waist height (three times: once the little retracting lid catch broke - it was a bugger to get hold of the spare part but not too bad to replace). The hard disk was definitely spinning on at least one of those occasions!

Once I knocked a glass of Ribena off my desk once, right into its ports. There was a horrible fizzing sound; I whipped out the battery as quick as I could but it wouldn't turn back on after 24 hours of gradual drying - but miraculously started working again after I opened it up and judiciously applied isopropanol. I did need to get hold of a tiny Torx bit and Allen key to get in.

And last year the optical drive gave up. That, I admit, was a somewhat time-consuming task - 42 tiny screws to remove, along with the logic board and chassis, before the optical drive was accessible 2 hours into the operation - but DiY saved me $525 of the Apple Centre's $700 quote.

BTW, if you haven't seen the iFixit website I linked above, have a look. I've found it extremely useful. This laptop wouldn't still be running without it after the abuse I've heaped on it!

By Peter Barber (not verified) on 02 Jul 2007 #permalink

macbooks are definitely user servicable. I've replaced HD's in sevral as well as adding more ram. It is very easy. Dont know where you heard otherwise.if you're the type that can swap an optical drive in a win laptop then you can also do it in macbook. Why do people keep saying things like that?

The battery in the iPods are also easy to replace. I've done several. The same cannot be said for the iPhone though. Much harder to get into it seems. I'm typing this on an iPhone :) so I guess I'm not worried about that either:) I'll either figure it out in 2 years or just pay them to do it.

By planetaryGear (not verified) on 02 Jul 2007 #permalink

As I sit here this evening, not entirely sure how I am going to pay July's rent, that actually kind of pissed me off. I am not one for caring how people throw away their money, I don't grudge anyone what they have. But crap like that is just irritating.

I'm reminded of Derek Zoolander trying to get the files from inside the iMac, and digressing in a monkey.
What were they trying to get out of this thing?

What were they trying to get out of this thing?

Information. Apple shot up almost $6 today based on an analysis of how much the components cost and a guesstimate as to their gross margins.

While the guys in the video were pretty crude about it, they most certainly weren't the only ones busting it open to see what was on the inside and who was doing business with Apple.

Read all about it:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070703/apple_iphone.html?.v=9