Wow - this topic is on fire!
I know it’s not necessarily historically accurate, but I did find it fascinating in the Sorkin Steve Jobs movie where they talked about the 128k Mac having proprietary tools to disassemble, and the debate about expansion vs closed systems (Apple II vs Mac). Apple has ALWAYS wanted to make closed hardware. Even back in the 80s & 90s, expansion was external (SCSI).
There have just been a few glimpses of open-ness in hardware (PowerMac 8600/9600, Powerbook 1400, Powerbook G3, PowerMac G5, Cheesegrater Mac Pros) but otherwise it’s almost entirely only ever been RAM that’s officially upgradable internally. And at least now it’s soldered, Apple actually ship their machines with a decent amount of that!
I’m in the camp that says “why does there only have to be one way?” not “all machines should be expandable”. I don’t want an upgradeable laptop, but I do want options for better battery life. I’d happily carry an extra 500gms of battery. I’d also love a 17-inch MacBook Pro again.
On the desktop side, I am fine with the iMacs not being upgradable, but it’s a sin that the 21-inch comes with a 5400RPM drive. If it had SSD across the line, I’d be happy. As it is, at least I can replace those shitty drives with standard 2.5-inch SSDs for people… I’d like to see an expandable Mac Pro, because I personally think external expansion is messy and don’t understand why Apple don’t see that no-one other than massive edit houses like Pixar uses just a Mac Pro and a thunderbolt display. They all have external storage, audio interfaces, etc. etc. A well specced cheese grater + 30-inch cinema display from 10 years ago looks WAY less cluttered, while having all that internally.
I want options for different users. That to me is the most frustrating part about Apple. The continual slide towards consumers who don’t need power, battery life or expandability as the only option annoys me. Why can’t I buy a slightly thicker iPhone if I know I’ll never get a full day out of a 6? We have 4 different colours, and one specification of battery. The priorities are all wrong (and to be honest, completely shallow!). The criticisms people levelled at Apple’s OS in the past (“it’s pretty but not powerful”) have now come true of the hardware… (OS X killed the previous arguments!).