Not Apple's biggest fan 
He's in a good mood really, only 1 swear word I think.
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Louis's M1 video
- Thread starter stevenaaus
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Would someone be so kind to provide a short synopsis? I can't watch this guys videos, he makes me cringe.
Well, Apple made him rich, so it's a give and take...
Well, Apple made him rich, so it's a give and take...
I accept many don't seem to like Louis, but I cannot really fault him.
What is he doing? Customers come to him to try and repair their Apple equipment, and he will do his best to repair the device for them, often/always cheaper than Apple will do it, quicker than Apple will do it, more Privately than Apple will do it, and many time he will do a repair for a customer that Apple simply will not do, as they wish to swap out an entire $1000+ board as opposed to some $20 part on the board.
I really cannot see anyone disliking him for trying to help members of the public in this way.
He is just pointing out in the video that he's not really interested in how fast Apple machines run etc, as he is a repair shop.
He points out that pretty much every model, ever year has some defining flaw, but that this flaw won't generally come to light until any new machine has been out for 12 to 18 months and then he will start to see a repeating pattern on a specific machine and then get to know whatever problem this model is having.
He is also of course, always frustrated by the inability to obtain circuit layouts and spare parts so he can help fix customers machines, as Apple are doing every single thing that possibly can to make sure he and others like him are unable to help customers.
Forcing everyone to go back to Apple directly and most times pay vastly higher amounts of money to get items repaired or replaced.
Honestly I can't see why anyone would be against this guy for what he's trying to do for customers.
Even though you may not like his personality, the way he speaks or his attitude towards Apple (which I'm sure is mostly based out for frustration)
He is trying to help people who want to use his services. No one is forced to seek him out.
I can't fault the guy for wishing to help people who come to him.
What is he doing? Customers come to him to try and repair their Apple equipment, and he will do his best to repair the device for them, often/always cheaper than Apple will do it, quicker than Apple will do it, more Privately than Apple will do it, and many time he will do a repair for a customer that Apple simply will not do, as they wish to swap out an entire $1000+ board as opposed to some $20 part on the board.
I really cannot see anyone disliking him for trying to help members of the public in this way.
He is just pointing out in the video that he's not really interested in how fast Apple machines run etc, as he is a repair shop.
He points out that pretty much every model, ever year has some defining flaw, but that this flaw won't generally come to light until any new machine has been out for 12 to 18 months and then he will start to see a repeating pattern on a specific machine and then get to know whatever problem this model is having.
He is also of course, always frustrated by the inability to obtain circuit layouts and spare parts so he can help fix customers machines, as Apple are doing every single thing that possibly can to make sure he and others like him are unable to help customers.
Forcing everyone to go back to Apple directly and most times pay vastly higher amounts of money to get items repaired or replaced.
Honestly I can't see why anyone would be against this guy for what he's trying to do for customers.
Even though you may not like his personality, the way he speaks or his attitude towards Apple (which I'm sure is mostly based out for frustration)
He is trying to help people who want to use his services. No one is forced to seek him out.
I can't fault the guy for wishing to help people who come to him.
He's got a fair point. If Apple would build a car, if the battery dies, Apple tells you to buy a new $150.000 car instead of just replacing the battery cheaply.
Just pray nothing goes wrong with your M1 Mac, because if any of those components fail, you will have to buy a new laptop.
And Apple said they care about the environment?
Just pray nothing goes wrong with your M1 Mac, because if any of those components fail, you will have to buy a new laptop.
And Apple said they care about the environment?
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I didn't watch the view but read the summary above. I have seen some of his videos and for me, he is too vulgar, melodramatic, and whiny. He creates his own drama and then accentuates with hyperbole for the YouTube camera.
Louis is a very skilled technician, and an even better entrepreneur as well as an excellent showman. I am also sure that his customers are satisfied with his services. The reason why I personally dislike him is because I consider him to be a dishonest person who utilizes his charisma and knowledge to create and fuel controversy for personal enrichment and fame. Some specific points:
- He regularly uses his expert knowledge to manipulate his viewers. His typical tactics is to build up elaborate rants regarding a specific flaw he can identify, while at the same time leaving the audience oblivious to the wider context. Like when he is complaining that his Apple laptop suffers from USB/WiFi interference (but neglects to mention that this is a known design flaw in the USB protocol that all hardware suffers from) or when he is criticizing the MBA cooling design (but "conveniently" leaves out that the MBA uses a 5-7Watt CPU, that's lower nominal power usage than an iPad...)
- He has admitted to selling low-quality, potentially hazardous parts to his customers (like the factory rejected, untested batteries he was smiling in from China).
There is of course the point that he provides an important service... I'll comment on this below.
Here is the thing, component level repair that Rossmann advocates for is largely economically unfeasible in post-industrial countries. Component level repair is a time- and skill-intensive process. Somewhere in eastern Europe you can go to one of the "radio bazaars" and have your phone resoldered for a bottle of vodka and a chicken (but then again, my grandma was a university professor and she had to sell vegetables on the marker to make the ends meet), but in a developed country labor of a skilled technician is very expensive. The main reason why devices are replaced these days instead of repaired because it's cheaper.
Now, Rossmann can do it because he has built a great business spinning controversies. His videos alone are bringing him very good $$$ and they are excellent advertisement. He is a snowmen first and a technician second, and he managed to built quite an empire. But this is not a scalable model — not every technician can be a YouTube star. As I've written before: Apple made Rossmann rich. Without the huge target to make rant videos about, he'd never have the exposure necessary to built up his business.
Oh please... Apple offers certification services and will provide you with all the information and tools you need to repair their products. In the last decade years we have bought hundreds of Macs and have sent dozens of them for repair via our service partner (not Apple). Somehow they were always able to solve our problems and we never paid a dime. The reason why Rossmann doesn't want to be a certified Apple service provider is because he can make more money by going on YouTube.
This is complete nonsense. You are aware of the fact that they offer a battery replacement service? It costs $129 to replace a battery on a 13" MacBook Pro, which I consider very reasonable given that an Apple battery usually lasts four to five years. I have managed hundreds of Macs, I don't remember a single time where we had to replace a battery — because these machines become obsolete long before the battery becomes a problem.
Besides, you think that an independent repair technician would do it for less? It's a labour-intensive process that takes at least half an hour for someone who is skilled.
Or you can go and have it repaired under the extended warranty you were smart enough to purchase, since you knew that you plan to own the laptop for a long time and that over 30% of laptops are expected to fail after 3 years. I've looked around, you can get a 5 years extended warranty for a MacBook Pro for $200 or less. Surely it's same price (or likely cheaper) than going for an uncertain component-level repair with Rossmann.
He indeed does that, his rants can be all over the place and as @leman said it sometimes feels like typical grooming, that is getting the user into an over-emotional (and thus irrational) state to weaken their defences, and that's how you lose your moral advantage over those you are accusing of the same thing.
That said, we can't really let it cloud our own judgement as a fact will remain a fact irregardless of what we feel of the messenger, polite lies are not worth more than a potentially rude truth.
On a side-note, the Constant Geekery channel is amazing in this regard, it's such a breath of fresh air listening to the guy.
I agree with Louis and though he has an attitude and words that I would normally never use, I agree with him and like that he is fighting back and telling us about the real Apple and what they’re doing to the independent repair industry and to us
Not all, some stuff is unavailable even for certification services. And you cannot repair much in modern macs sadly.
You can replace battery with any other part, that cannot be repaired, instead of defeating Apple policy in making everything cheaper for production and less durable for longer periods. Why people still doing that everytime... Maybe Apple should make non-replaceable screens next time, so we can save 10$ with such engineer solution.
It’s in the interest of people like him for everything to be repairable and upgradable. ?
They want processor chips, memory, logic board chips, storage, battery to be replaceable. ?
That means everything has to be on separate modules or compartments. ?
That contributes to enormous ecological waste and pollution because when a part fails and is replaced, the failed part goes into a landfill or the ocean. ? ?
The real solution is to bring all the memory, storage, controllers and processors into one reliable SoC with great durability. The M1 is a giant step in that direction. ✌️?
The reliability of displays is still not in the hands of Apple as they come from Samsung or Toshiba etc
The batteries should not end up in landfills destroying the eco system because some third party repair man threw it in the trash. ?
The battery and the chassis should go back to the manufacturer at the ‘end of life’ stage so that they can recycle it and safely dispose chemicals. ??
Don’t fall for this David vs Goliath crap. This isn’t about the little guy fighting the big corporation.
This is about selfish individuals putting their interests first when a corporation sees ecology and sustainability as a great business decision for our future ???
They want processor chips, memory, logic board chips, storage, battery to be replaceable. ?
That means everything has to be on separate modules or compartments. ?
That contributes to enormous ecological waste and pollution because when a part fails and is replaced, the failed part goes into a landfill or the ocean. ? ?
The real solution is to bring all the memory, storage, controllers and processors into one reliable SoC with great durability. The M1 is a giant step in that direction. ✌️?
The reliability of displays is still not in the hands of Apple as they come from Samsung or Toshiba etc
The batteries should not end up in landfills destroying the eco system because some third party repair man threw it in the trash. ?
The battery and the chassis should go back to the manufacturer at the ‘end of life’ stage so that they can recycle it and safely dispose chemicals. ??
Don’t fall for this David vs Goliath crap. This isn’t about the little guy fighting the big corporation.
This is about selfish individuals putting their interests first when a corporation sees ecology and sustainability as a great business decision for our future ???
Can see where he's coming from. Earlier, when you're traveling, you can take your macbook to a local repair shop and get things sorted. Ofen ends up being cheap too.
Rossman is an interesting figure, there is no doubt in my mind he is someone who likes to get people riled up by being sensationalistic, but he does have some good points sometimes. It's clear to me that he's competent, but I cannot stand his "style" of presentation and video making.
He used to post on these forums, in the late 2000s but not sure if since then. I remember agreeing with his posts especially those that pertained to the Unibody MacBook vs MacBook Pro screen debate, and I still do agree with certain points he makes in his videos, the times that I do end up clicking on one. I don't very often though because I don't enjoy watching the videos themselves, makes a big deal of nothing or minor issues sometimes and he is way too vulgar for the topic at hand.
He used to post on these forums, in the late 2000s but not sure if since then. I remember agreeing with his posts especially those that pertained to the Unibody MacBook vs MacBook Pro screen debate, and I still do agree with certain points he makes in his videos, the times that I do end up clicking on one. I don't very often though because I don't enjoy watching the videos themselves, makes a big deal of nothing or minor issues sometimes and he is way too vulgar for the topic at hand.
This is obviously a complex topic, but ultimately it boils down to three big: profitability for the manufacturer, longevity for the user and environmental impact. These days it's popular to talk about repairability as a way to "save the planet and the wallet", but frankly, things are not that trivial. Computers are not tractors. Yes, you can make everything modular and easy to repair, but let's not forget that modular components use extra resources, are less efficient, more bulky and sometimes less reliable (due to more points of failure and higher tolerances). If you expect that 20% of sold computers to be repaired and your modular approach uses 30% more materials, you are actually wasting more than you would be saving if you'd just replace the entire machine. Of course, it's a silly example as we don't have proper numbers, but it is just supposed to be food for thought. The point is: modularity/repairability only makes sense if a component is actually prone to failure. If you look close enough, you'd see that Apple products are designed in such a way that things that are more likely to fail or break can be replaced separately, and things with very low rates of failure (like CPU or RAM) require a full logic board replacement — because it's actually the more economical setup. Basically, designing things in a reparable way is no always the best, most economical or most environmentally friendly way to do it — it has to be considered on a case per case basis.
Now, repairability is a desirable thing for customers that want to keep a product for a while — because it protects them from financial risk (expensive repair). This is one of the core arguments used by repair advocates, but this argument often fails to mention the cost of repairability itself. In a way, right to repair as applied to most consumer electronics is dictatorship of minority — most people don't care about repairing their stuff because they'd buy a new laptop or phone after three years anyway. There is a good solution to this though: it is called insurance. Want to keep the laptop for longer? Buy extended warranty. It will be significantly cheaper than any repair cost you are likely to pay (since it is subsidized by everyone else ho buys insurance), and it will allow the manufacturer to continue designing the devices in the way that make most sense economically.
P.S. I want to reiterate — computers are not tractors. I fully support right to repair where it comes to things like John Deere is pulling. But consumer electronics is a completely different thing. You can make a tractor easy to repair without sacrificing much. A phone or a laptop? Much more delicate topic.
Finally, I firmly believe that component level repair is the only proper way forward. Just not the way how Rossmann and co. advocates it. I believe that faulty devices should be dismantled (either partially or fully), their components tested, and then reused to assemble new machines. This way you are producing minimal e-waste and achieve best possible resource reuse. Incidentally, this is where Apple has been heading for a while. They are already using prototype robots to take apart iPhones and I hope something similar is in work for Macs as well. Only drawback: high cost. But again, insurance + surcharges can be used to amortize these costs.
I agree, but talking about too big cost of repairability is silly without any real information, not an argument in such form, there should be more technical discussion about ram/ssd/etc cases with knowledgeable persons.
About your warranty solution: 3 (4 for US) years is not enough for 1000$+ laptop lifetime. And not everyone can buy new laptop every three years, it doesn't even make sense with current technological progress, that seems slower for me for every year.
At current hardware state even people are not good enough for such tasks, so we need modularity anyway? Also, it is hard to imagine that repairable things are less environmentally friendly in any way. Basic use case: you want to repair your laptop, but you need to replace full motherboard, so you just buy new one and move broken one to trashcan, instead of specific broken part. What a point to send this dead laptop to apple, there is some customer goodies from recycling?
all the drama best for high view . Some accurate some not.Real repair "paul daniels"
He does seem to articulate the points very well but he get animated and offends with his extreme conclusions. He probably needs to tone down the swearing and giving the finger to the camera. What he said is mostly true and correct that installing third party adapters that kill your machine is a design flaw and shoddy testing by Apple. Also, the excessive wear for writes to M1 systems is a well-documented and potentially hardware limiting to millions of users.
Very true, would be interesting to see some stats. Unfortunately, people who have access to the data are very unlikely to divulge that. All I can tell is the following: I have managed several hundreds of Mac portables in the last couple of years and we had a few dozens hardware failures. Most of them were related to keyboard, ports or the display. Couple were due to battery issues. One or two were a general logic board failure (fried capacitor here or there). I don't remember a single case where we had an SSD or RAM failure. Anecdotally, SO-DIMMs on my gaming desktops back in the day were burning down regularly.
A five-year warranty can be purchased for as little as 5-10% of the laptop value. I understand that some people want to keep the computer for longer... but does the interest of these people outweigh everyone else's interest? Besides, over five years are a very long time given the progress in this industry. Should the manufacturer be obliged to keep around or even manufacture completely hopelessly outdated parts just because some folks might want to repair their 10 year old computer? This is again putting financial burden on the manufacturer, and by extension, on the regular customer.
Robots can do this task much faster and with higher precision.
If you population doesn't recycle, what is even the point in environmental protection initiatives? In my country it is illegal to throw electronics into the trashcan (there are some pretty hefty fines) and you have to pay money to bring it to a recycling center. The shop will take it back for free. I suppose there should be incentives for bringing electronic back, maybe in-store credit or something, but this is the question to your legislators.
To make it clear: the recycling scenario I was describing is obviously hypothetical, it's how I want things to be. Right now, only few devices are properly recycled. Most is just shredded and if one is lucky, there is some sort of rare mineral reclamation, or it might go back to the landfill. But things are slowly improving in that regard.
His videos are posted for one reason only: to drive customers to his business. The issues with some of his business practices (especially using low-quality replacement parts that are NOT approved by Apple) should raise concern for anyone. He could go through the process of becoming Apple Certified for repair, but he refuses to do so and blame Apple for the lack of access to certain information. He tells his viewers a story, but it is a one-sided, carefully crafted story designed to make him look good and make Apple look like hot garbage.
Yeah, I broadly agree with him but the constant vulgarity just rubs me the wrong way.
Lots of claims, lots of drama, little hard information. Also, his experiences contradict those of a lot of us who are also experts in the field. Personally, I'm suspect of his real level of knowledge. If he does have deep knowledge it seems to be well hidden. He comes across like a lot of corner cutters I've encountered in my career. Any really good pro tech/engineer is pretty neutral about product and manufacturer specifics. I've seen enough of his stuff that I'd avoid it due to the danger of being deliberately fed misinformation. YMMV.
That's a very odd point of view, and pretty negative towards normal members of the public which makes me sad.
Imagine if you were struggling for money as a parent, working from home perhaps, and your macbook had a fault.
Apple refused to fix a component as they don't do that type of repair and quoted you perhaps $1000 for a totally new board swap, which would take 2 weeks.
Or you found Louis who was able to spot the problem, let's say a burned out capacitor and damaged resistor and would charge you $300 and be ready in 4 days.
That could be a giant difference for you and your family and your income/job.
And yet you are totally against someone who would be able to do this type of work.
It's sad you are so negative towards people who are able to help others out
In fact let me say it again:
I find it incredibly sad that any individual would be so nasty to another person who is able to mend a broken product owned by another human being in the quickest and cheapest way possible.
What a horrid world we would be in, if everyone felt and acted in this way
So so sad we have people here that hold this viewpoint, and wanted people who were able to help others to no exist/go away
As a final follow up, my views above have zero to do with me liking or not liking Louis as a person or his personality.
When I take my car to a local independent garage to have new brake pads fitted or a worn suspension arm replaced, instead of travelling much father to a very expensive main dealer.
I am not concerned about the personality of the man or woman carrying out the repair for me, how they talk, what they wear, what language or race they talk/are or what religion they follow.
All I wish is for my car to be repaired at a location continent for me to get to at a price and level of service I am happy with.
I'm sure I'm not alone in finding the level of service at small independent stores for many products can at times be far higher and friendlier than what is found as a giant main company.
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Or you would have bought 5 year warranty for under $200 that would cover the repairs. And if your MacBook is over 5 years old? Then it is worth almost nothing and paying $300 to fix is is a waste of money. I mean, would you pay 10k to fix an old car that costs 20k?
The situation you describe is trivially avoidable by using basic financial discipline and planning. You just need to understand that laptops are tools that will depreciate and eventually break down. If you treat at them as a recurrent expense (e.g. $30 per month for a $1800 laptop that you want to keep for 5 years) instead of a one-time purchase and properly budget it, you will be fine.