Why it’s so fun to modify a MacBook Air

My new MacBook Air has a nice, big, glowing WordPress logo on its lid. I like it a lot. Not just because it looks great, but as I realized the other day, because ripping open a MacBook and arranging some of its parts is so clearly not what Apple wants us to do.

I’m old fashioned in that I like to modify my stuff. It could be switching out the handle bars on my bike or souping up the engine on my moped as a kid, or changing around the software that runs my websites or swapping my car to biodiesel today. It’s fun and satisfying and creative. I like computers that can be modified too. Not so long ago, we could make PCs last many years by swapping faster CPUs or new CD-ROMs into them. Then the “new Apple” came along and decided that all our devices had to be hermetically sealed. I assume it’s to sell more of them – just buy the next model instead of tuning up the old one. It’s one of the reasons I decided to hold off on buying an Apple laptop for many years (even though they seemed awfully nice). Then Matt found a place that takes Macs apart and swaps in new logos and that got me over the hump. Now every time I open up my computer I get to show off a glowing advertisement for modifying your Apple. It’s a small step, but in the right direction 🙂