Very good point!

I don't want to back the idea that Apple does make long-lived laptops, only that it's hypothetically possible they do sometimes :-)

My 2013 MBP is still going strong thankfully, I'm very happy with it still after all these years.

My last 2013 MBP is still alive only because I was able to source third party battery / power connector...

Though, somehow, if I trust some argument made here, it would be better for the environment to buy a whole new laptop rather than fix the existing one... Though, I'm not doing it for the environment, I'm just cheap as f*ck.

> if I trust some argument made here, it would be better for the environment to buy a whole new laptop rather than fix the existing one

No, I don't think that argument is being made by anyone.

The argument being made is that to make the laptop more able to have replaceable components could potentially require more environmental costs up front in making that laptop.

I doubt that argument works for the power connector. I suspect that's more to do with making sure Magsafe is really solid, but it might for the battery due to the pouch design instead of extra battery casing, I'm not sure.

There's no question that if you can repair it afterwards you probably should.

By the way, literally all my other laptops either died due to the power connector failing, or I repaired the failing power connector. Sometimes I had to replace the motherboard to sort out the power connector properly, which seems like poor design.

The Apple has been the only one that hasn't failed in that way, which from my anecdote of about 5 laptops says Apple's approach has worked best from that point of view so far. Of course Apple power supply cables keep fraying and needing to be replaced, so it balances out :-)