Upon return, Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro on EPEAT Gold status list

14 years ago

“The sudden pullout, and subsequent return, of Apple from the EPEAT certification program it helped create increasingly appears to have been a dispute over the status that have been given to the Retina MacBook Pro if it were submitted, as the two 15-models with the high-resolution display may have been threatened with a lower-than-top ranking, a first for the company,” Electronista reports. “The Retina models now appear on the EPEAT website with Gold rankings.”

“The rating, which also assigns the same overall score to the Retina models as to the rest of Apple’s notebook lineup, may surprise critics who complained that the models are substantially less ‘repairable’ than other notebooks, and that the fusion of the display to the casing and the gluing of the battery make both components more difficult to recycle than in models that don’t have those features,” Electronista reports. “The scoring for the Retina MacBook Pro is identical in all categories to the scoring for the non-Retina 15-inch MacBook Pro.”

Electronista reports, “Apple’s downloadable PDF brochure for the Retina MacBook Pro’s environmental ratings already includes the new EPEAT Gold certification. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Bob Mansfield issued a statement apologizing for Apple’s dropping of EPEAT to customers, but pointed out that the entire rest of the product line, though originally withdrawn from the organization’s consideration, was still rated ‘Gold,’ and that now the Retina and refreshed MacBook line had also achieved the same rating… Mansfield’s statement also hinted that Apple had returned to the EPEAT fold once it had won some concessions from the ranking body on improving its rating system, which is based loosely on the IEEE 1680.1 standard but has not changed in years. Mansfield implied that Apple was now working with EPEAT to bring its standards more closely in line with the full IEEE 1680.1 implementation, which could also see EPEAT expand its rankings to cover mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, devices that are not currently rated.”

Read more in the full article here.

Nidhi Subbaramanal reports for Fast Compnay, “Although Apple’s newest model, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, has been listed as Gold certified in EPEAT’s public registry, EPEAT CEO Robert Frisbee told Fast Company that the computer has not been vetted by EPEAT itself.”

“The way the certification process works, companies are made aware of EPEAT standards and list products in the registry themselves. Later, EPEAT conducts what Frisbee called a ‘post-market verification’ of a selection of products–sort of like a spot check of select product lines,” Subbaramanal reports. “‘We choose certain product lines and certain requirements each year, and go through 6 different rounds each year. It’s both a broad and narrow view,’ Frisbee says, adding, ‘It is not a 100% verification of all products each year.'”

“Due to the recent focus on the relationship between Apple and EPEAT, though, Frisbee says it’s likely the MacBook Pro with Retina display will jump the queue and an EPEAT verification of the computer will likely be a priority,” Subbaramanal reports. “‘We have a process to establish surveillance rounds like that,’ Frisbee said, inspired by ‘market events.’ As to how soon we’ll see a report: ‘Sorry, I don’t have a time frame for it,’ Frisbee said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Entreat. Retreat. Browbeat. Drumbeat. EPEAT defeat complete.

As “Apple Authorized Service Provider,” replied to a post at the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, “The industrial-strength glue easily releases the MacBook Pro with Retina display’s batteries after warming on the case side from a common hair dryer. The batteries remain intact. They are removed with a common a putty knife. The same way iPads and iPhones are disassembled. A 5-point (pentapoint) screwdriver opens the case. Everything else inside comes out with ease. Construction that lasts twice as long and uses less material is greener than one that lasts half as long [and] uses more material.”

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jeremy” for the heads up.]