As Apple’s star continues on it’s merry way through the night sky, their products are being targeted more and more frequently for modifications and adjustments by those who want more than “it just works.”

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30103/82/

Interesting, Daemon.  Not surprising, except, perhaps, that it took so long, but very interesting.

Thanks for the heads up.

You gotta love hacks that start off by first pointing out how effective they are at voiding your warranty.

Looks like I’ll be waiting at least until next June to try this, by which time I’ll bet Apple has grown the ATV’s functionality anyway.

iPhone and Apple TV, anyone? Imagine the possibilities!

And the mostly forgotten but still wonderful AirPort Express. I could get really excited about an iPhone that could stream to AirPort Express and AppleTV via the built-in wireless. Just like I do with my MacBook and AP Express, except without actually having to have the laptop out.

[quote author=“coaten”]You gotta love hacks that start off by first pointing out how effective they are at voiding your warranty.

Looks like I’ll be waiting at least until next June to try this, by which time I’ll bet Apple has grown the ATV’s functionality anyway.

iPhone and Apple TV, anyone? Imagine the possibilities!

Hacks change software and hardware on a device to expand functionality. Changing software/hardware on just about anything you buy voids the manufacturer’s warranty. So what is your point?

And the mostly forgotten but still wonderful AirPort Express. I could get really excited about an iPhone that could stream to AirPort Express and AppleTV via the built-in wireless. Just like I do with my MacBook and AP Express, except without actually having to have the laptop out.

Oh, it will happen. Third parties already are working on it.

http://www.appletvhacks.net/2007/07/06/iphoneinterface-lets-you-tweak-your-iphone/

Not that I can speak for Coaten, but I took his comment about the warranty to simply mean that he is wary of any sort of hack that will void a warranty.  For many folks, that an issue.  For those who want to tinker and improve, it’s usually not an issue.  Big world, and all that.

So what’s your point? Are you trying to say that if I install, say, Filemaker Pro on my Mac, or add RAM to it, which is a “user serviceable” component last time I checked, that I’ve voided a warranty? ‘Cos that’s how your second sentence reads.

Sorry, I thought I was being reasonably clear regarding my concerns that if a hack involves cracking open a casing which is not an approved action as far as Apple is concerned, then voiding my warranty is something I would rather not do.

Are you suggesting otherwise?

[quote author=“coaten”]
So what’s your point? Are you trying to say that if I install, say, Filemaker Pro on my Mac, or add RAM to it, which is a “user serviceable” component last time I checked, that I’ve voided a warranty? ‘Cos that’s how your second sentence reads.

Ever bother to read your hardware warranty? Adding RAM yourself when you are not an authorized technican for the company that produced the computer does void your warranty. Replacing your hard drive, adding a new video card, replacing your motherboard, changing your cpu, and adding or replacing your cd-rom also voids your warranty. Most manufacturers offer no warranty on the software that comes on a computer. Hence you typically have little to worry about when it comes to software, since it’s not covered anyways.

Software you don’t own, you license, if you violate the license agreement, you no longer have a license to use the software. So while installing a program on a MacBook might not violate your license agreement, hacking the operating system to change it’s functionality typically does violate the license agreement when you are using proprietary software in a way not intended by the licensing company.

http://images.apple.com/legal/warranty/docs/cpuwarranty.pdf

http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iphone.pdf

This is becoming tiresome, but nevertheless…

We have established in this forum on a prior occasion that Apple decided some time ago, I believe it was with the G5 iMac but possibly later, to make RAM a user-installable component. The design of the iMac makes this not only easy, but just about idiot-proof. Why? I’ll bet it was because Apple decided it’s technicians and approved service agents had more pressing concerns than driving RAM cards into a slot.

I would have thought this page,

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303084

would be enough to indicate that Apple is quite happy for its users to upgrade RAM - providing, of course, the RAM is Apple-qualified. The same instructions are printed in the documentation that came with my iMac. Perhaps it’s different in Australia. Perhaps that’s the source of our differing point of view.

Re-reading the warranty on display at the link you so kindly provided indicates that user-installable parts are covered under warranty. Of course, I am applying a measure of interpretation with regards to the exclusions of the warranty and we could probably argue the point long and hard, but I can assure you of this: that if I take my Intel iMac in for repair for its faulty iSight, there is a negligible degree of likeliness that the repair will be denied as the 1GB RAM that was user-installed challenged the warranty provisions. I can assure you that the Mac technician who will undertake the warranty repair to my Macs wouldn’t care and certainly wouldn’t report it to Apple. I’ve been spending money at his place of business for more than a decade. For the sake of maintaining our relationship, he wouldn’t mix any bad blood over such a trivial matter. Trust me on this.

But this is splitting hairs, don’t you think, and really - you want to make an argument over voiding software? Where is this coming from?

If you were capable of reading a post without taking it either to heart or too literally, you would have noticed, as one other respondent who is familiar with my contributions to this forum did notice, that I was speaking to a measure of acceptable risk which, in my case, was not acceptable, especially given the added functionality meant little to me. I have an Apple TV and am quite satisifed with the way it works. In fact, any of the three Macs on my LAN can sync H.264 files to it with the minimum of fuss thanks to Quicksilver and the wonders of Applescript, and I have no issue with its support for a singular video format.

As to your other points about replacing CPU, etcetera, umm… I think I made it pretty clear that I’m not the kind of person who would void a warranty by doing such a thing and so reminding me of this would ... seem ... a ... bit ... of ... a ... mystery.

I’m sure you have a rebuttal. So please make it, you are more than welcome to the last word, and then let’s move on, shall we?

Daemon, you’re right—there are many things that void the warranty of both hardware and software.

As I said above, some folks are comfy with actively doing that.  Some aren’t.  There’s not really anything to fight about with that in mind.

Also, note that I moved this post to the Browse. Mix. Share. forum, which is for topics relating to iPod, iPhone, iTunes, and Apple TV.

[quote author=“Bryan”]Daemon, you’re right—there are many things that void the warranty of both hardware and software.

As I said above, some folks are comfy with actively doing that.  Some aren’t.  There’s not really anything to fight about with that in mind.

Also, note that I moved this post to the Browse. Mix. Share. forum, which is for topics relating to iPod, iPhone, iTunes, and Apple TV.

You seem to be reading into my posts more emotion than I feel.

Here is Apple’s stance on user-installable upgrades. Pretty straight-forward.

[quote author=“coaten”]This is becoming tiresome, but nevertheless…

Yes, you’re tired, I’m tried, we’re all tired. Now if you’re done being a ccondescending prick…

We have established in this forum on a prior occasion that Apple decided some time ago, I believe it was with the G5 iMac but possibly later, to make RAM a user-installable component. The design of the iMac makes this not only easy, but just about idiot-proof. Why? I’ll bet it was because Apple decided it’s technicians and approved service agents had more pressing concerns than driving RAM cards into a slot.

I would have thought this page,

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303084

would be enough to indicate that Apple is quite happy for its users to upgrade RAM - providing, of course, the RAM is Apple-qualified. The same instructions are printed in the documentation that came with my iMac. Perhaps it’s different in Australia. Perhaps that’s the source of our differing point of view.

Re-reading the warranty on display at the link you so kindly provided indicates that user-installable parts are covered under warranty. Of course, I am applying a measure of interpretation with regards to the exclusions of the warranty and we could probably argue the point long and hard, but I can assure you of this: that if I take my Intel iMac in for repair for its faulty iSight, there is a negligible degree of likeliness that the repair will be denied as the 1GB RAM that was user-installed challenged the warranty provisions. I can assure you that the Mac technician who will undertake the warranty repair to my Macs wouldn’t care and certainly wouldn’t report it to Apple. I’ve been spending money at his place of business for more than a decade. For the sake of maintaining our relationship, he wouldn’t mix any bad blood over such a trivial matter. Trust me on this.

But this is splitting hairs, don’t you think, and really - you want to make an argument over voiding software? Where is this coming from?

If you were capable of reading a post without taking it either to heart or too literally, you would have noticed, as one other respondent who is familiar with my contributions to this forum did notice, that I was speaking to a measure of acceptable risk which, in my case, was not acceptable, especially given the added functionality meant little to me. I have an Apple TV and am quite satisifed with the way it works. In fact, any of the three Macs on my LAN can sync H.264 files to it with the minimum of fuss thanks to Quicksilver and the wonders of Applescript, and I have no issue with its support for a singular video format.

As to your other points about replacing CPU, etcetera, umm… I think I made it pretty clear that I’m not the kind of person who would void a warranty by doing such a thing and so reminding me of this would ... seem ... a ... bit ... of ... a ... mystery.

I’m sure you have a rebuttal. So please make it, you are more than welcome to the last word, and then let’s move on, shall we?

I guess you aren’t.

[quote author=“Intruder”] Here is Apple’s stance on user-installable upgrades. Pretty straight-forward.

I agree, but it doesn’t define “user installable parts.”

In my opinion, anything in a computer is a “user installable part.” You just need to know how to take it apart without destroying it.

For the love of Zeus, can’t you stop bickering around?

Yes, you’ve both made your points, now can we be done with it?