APPLE & REPAIRABILITY
The piece about Apple ‘allowing’ owners to repair their products (MacFormat Investigates, MF381) raised a wry smile.
I’ve been an Apple fan for 15 years, and the elephant in the room is the way Apple offers OS updates without warning that this may make some accessories inoperable. So being able to open up your Apple stuff is a bit of a red herring, verging on the equivalent of greenwash.
So far, I have had to replace a perfectly functioning Canon LiDE 600 flatbed scanner, and since updating to Big Sur (11.6.8) my perfectly serviceable HP OfficeJet Pro 8100 is now bricked. I have replaced both with an HP DeskJet 2710e combined printer/scanner. Apple will, of course, say that other manufacturers’ accessories are nothing to do with them, which is a grade-A cop-out.
Another example that annoyed me was when the excellent Final Cut Express (and Aperture, I think) was disabled by some OS update. Photos is not as good a replacement, and I find iMovie completely incomprehensible. Although I started with Apple because of the close integration of OS with hardware as well as the outstanding aesthetic of Jonny Ive. After the terrible trouble I had with Windoze and viruses, I fear Apple is losing its shine, as these upgrades do little for me.
BY ALASDAIR LAWRANCE
ROB SAYS…
We sympathise. Every OS update brings its fair share of incompatibilities – but Apple is caught in a double-bind – it can’t support everything in perpetuity, and third-party device makers aren’t always very good at updating their drivers and software either, especially once their products get a little long in the tooth. Luckily, there are two possible solutions…
First, we’d suggest VueScan (from £35, hamrick.com), which supports a wide range of older scanners and is fully compatible with Big Sur and Monterey. Second, there’s AirPrint, which should work with many printers across macOS, iOS and iPadOS. AirPrint is Apple’s suggested solution now many printer makers have adopted ‘driverless’ technologies, such as AirPrint and IPP Everywhere. Apple did maintain a list of supported printers and scanners at bit.ly/mac382printsupport, but this is no longer updated and has been archived.