OSNews

So computers shouldn't be upgradeable now?

*cough*like laptops you mean*cough*.

Perhaps your general contractor should tell you you can't add that wing on your home

But if you build the wing itself and the house falls down around your ears, they won't take the blame

New car stereo?

And if you burn out all your car's electrical system while installing it.....

Apple are absolutely within their rights. They support the machine they sold you, and there are upgrade instructions for those areas that are meant to be upgradeable, for which you can also get support if you find the instructions difficult to follow, or whatever.

As someone who used to work the helpdesk for a major OEM, I can categorically state that we would not support the installation of new drives, video cards, sound cards, external modems, soundcards etc; basically only RAM, hdd and processor upgrades, and then only installation. If they suffered problems we would tell them to put the machine back to its original configuration before continuing with support. Although these parts were available, the stock was for replacements, not for general retail sale to satisfy the whims of the customer, who would be told that upgrades were not within the support conditions apart from that stated, and that were they to attempt unauthorised upgrades their warranty would be voided. One could hardly expect the support desk to help customers void their own warranty. To do other would have meant a whole new retail parts sales operation, to say nothing of the consequent additional support costs that would be incurred after a hamfisted installation, and believe me it's tragic to the point of tears what some people do to their machines while 'upgrading'. Furthermore, because we were selling OEM machines, users weren't even entitled to support from Microsoft, only from us. Therefore if they experienced say, driver related problems with their new video card, it was not up to us to support them.

This article also struck me as a whine of epic proportions. Apple's support terms and conditions are clearly explained, and available for perusal before you buy - Caveat emptor (buyer beware) Apple's practices are basically no worse than most other manufacturers, and in many respects a wole lot better.