Broken AirPods

I love my AirPods Pros, but they started crackling yesterday. I did the obvious thing, I headed to my nearest Apple Store to get them fixed. Turns out I was part of the unlucky bunch with this manufacturing defect. However. Since I ordered them from Amazon, they couldn’t replace them and told me to chuck these and buy a new pair.

I have a recent MacBook Pro. It’s speedy, has nice speakers, a great screen and awesome battery life. The RAM and storage are soldered to the motherboard, next to the CPU and GPU, which makes for great performance - but - there’s a big but.

If the CPU broke, it would cost $1,318.24 to replace.
If the GPU malfunctioned, it would cost $1,318.24 to replace.
If the RAM was defective, it would cost $1,318.24 to replace.

Integration has a price.

The Fairphone Fairbuds are a bit bulky and don’t look that nice, but they are “repairable”. You can replace their batteries, $15 for the case and $12 for the buds. It’s also possible to get parts for the case. But that’s about it. I would have still had to get new ones if I had the same problem as with AirPods. I’ll probably stick with my $20 wired earbuds for now.

Framework popped up in 2021 with their 13” laptop, that’s, in contrast to the norm, designed to last. Since then it has always had an option to upgrade to the latest CPU. Not a new computer, just the latest silicon. They have an enclosure for the old mainboards, so they can be reborn as a tiny desktop computer. The screen is fine. The performance is good. The keyboard is great.

I might just switch.

But damn, I loved those AirPods.