So no upgradable RAM, no upgradable storage. If either stops functioning, you have to change the entire logic board (including the CPU and GPU? I'm not sure). Wow this is a crappy design. But expected, since this is Apple that we're talking about.
What's interesting about this perception is that PC vendors who do the same things don't catch flak. Presumably because there are still options for PC that are at least theoretically repairable and built to last.
I wonder what would happen in a hypothetical world where there were pro and non-Pro Apple laptops, but the only real difference between them were that the Pro laptops had replaceable parts, and were however much larger/heavier/pricier they need to be to make that happen, while the non-Pro ones are all soldered and riveted together.
My guess is that the ones that are soldered together vastly outsell the pro line because that's what most Apple consumers want. And then economies of scale kick in until everyone's just mad that Apple is charging $500 "tax" just to be able to replace the hard drive and upgrade the RAM.
In my experience they do catch fairly significant flak. It's usually in the form of: This other laptop is pretty much identical except you can replace the ram and storage, so buy that instead.
That's because Apple is the only hardware provider for Mac OS X. If you just want Windows or Linux, you have a lot of choices. If you want OS X, there's no choice but to put up with whatever hardware Apple gives you.
That's only for exalted characters with nice hats and beards.
If you want to run MacOSX legally without risking a lawsuit from Apple (they even went after a repair shop, FFS), you must use their hardware, as per the license agreement.
