I have long wondered why high end luxury brands don't do exactly this and introduce their own signature versions of smartphones and tablets. That said, I'm sorry but there is so much misinformation, or more generously uninformed commentary, in this article that it's hard to take it seriously.
First of all, "planned obsolescence" is mostly a myth subscribed to by anticapitalist tree hugger types who don't know how the modern world works and just generally hate big companies. Today is not like 60 years ago, which seems to be the frame of reference as indicated by the industrial design seen in the accompanying photos. Back then things evolved slowly, and people kept everything for years of lifetimes. Today, technology advances so fast that everyone wants to replace their electronics often to get the latest features. So building them like tanks to last 20 years or longer is actually what economists call "excess utility" - most customers don't care about it, so why spend the extra money to put it into the product. Secondly customers are relentlessly demanding lower prices, although admittedly that is possibly due to being taught to think like that by companies. They don't want to pay extra for features they don't care about, like a 20 year lifetime when 3 is enough.
Next, the issue of repairability is directly tied to cost as well as quality. If an item is repairable, it's modular, and that drives up cost as well as size. Again customer price pressure limits the ability to make some things repairable. Electronics aren't like tinker toys where you can just pull out one part and replace it with basic mechanical knowledge that might have served you in 1962. The high level of integration is the result of reducing cost, increasing performance, and also improving reliability.
Repairing a circuit board is out of reach by almost everyone on the planet, and even if it could be done, the risk of damage is high, and any such damage would result in a lot of angry customers demanding help for problems of their own making. For quality, cost, and customer satisfaction reasons, it's far better for today's delicate electronics to be repaired only by the experts who made them. My own company follows the typical industry standard - all repairs must be done by us, and if a customer attempts a repair, the warranty is immediately void, because we can no longer guarantee that the product has been handled in a way that will maintain its integrity and reliability, and we don't want to have to deal with an unhappy customer who broke their own product but blames us.
Finally, the proof is in the pudding as they say. Customers flock to Apple because overall their formula is superior. Nothing is perfect, and certainly some things could be improved with any product. But overall the Apple value proposition is one that the world finds appealing, hence their tremendous success. (Of course the same is true for any successful company.)
That is an amazing breakdown of reality. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Progress does not happen when you have people who try to dictate how they think the world should be and run counter to the tastes and mores of the people living in society. Anyone who thinks they know best for the rest of society should never have the proximity or power to do anything.
Clearly there is a mismatch between what companies think of as "excess utility" and what consumers think of as "planned obsolescence." I hear many people--people who are NOT anti-capitalist tree-huggers--complain about products that die long before people wanted them to.
I grew up in the 70s. My dad replaced things only when he wanted a new feature, not because the old one broke. The first stove I remember, the burners had to be lit with a match. It was replaced with one that had pilot lights, and later by one with spark ignition. But that one lasted decades. My mom's dryer lasted 40+ years--it did what it needed to and there was no reason to upgrade.
In contrast, my husband and I purchased brand new appliances when we bought our current house 17 years ago. The only one that hasn't had to be replaced is the fridge. Just last week I had to buy a new toaster to replace one that had lasted less than a year. And yet my mom's hand mixer--at least 50 years old--is still operational. These are not objects that are going to be made obsolete by ones with new-and-better features.
My personal experience and observation makes it difficult to take your commentary fully seriously.
"I hear many people--people who are NOT anti-capitalist tree-huggers--complain about products that die long before people wanted them to."
Absolutely yes, Celia. I used to be able to repair my own stove, washer, and dryer, for instance, because the joins were mechanical--bolts and screws--and parts available on the Internet. No longer. The average lifespan of a new appliance is four years. That's reprehensible.
The comment that we don't know what "planned obsolescence" means is insulting. We know exactly what it means, and it applies. The hardware in an iPhone might not become obsolete for many years. But the continual software-upgrade dumps, week after week, wind up creating so many bugs and micro-mismatches that the phone becomes overwhelmed and quits working. Clear it back to factory spec and start over? "This phone is no longer supported. You must upgrade."
Celia, you’ve hit on one of my pet peeves! Household appliances. Ugh. So many problems.
First of all, how can it possibly be environmentally sound to build appliances that break down after only a few years, and cost almost as much to repair as to replace? No one over the age of 45 will remember replacing stoves, refrigerators, washer/dryers, etc. every few years, as we are forced to do now. My extremely high end Wolf oven died after 10 years (exact replacement would’ve cost $7-10k) -- repair would’ve cost $2k, but the repairman said the heating element probably wouldn’t last much longer... how could it possibly be better for the planet to junk my old oven (landfill) in favor of a new one that had to be mined, manufactured, and shipped around the world?
I also hate how many kitchen appliances are now being made as “smart appliances”. My fridge (which I detest) is connected to Wi-Fi, so if you do not buy a brand name chip-encoded water filter, the water dispenser and icemaker will not work. What a scam! And unlike phones, where new and better features are significant, the relative benefits of “new features” for household and appliances seem very small indeed. I would’ve been perfectly happy to have my older Wolf oven for another 15 to 20 years. It did all the things an oven was supposed to do, and it did them well.
It really *isn't* environmentally friendly to build appliances that die within 10 years. And considering that most appliances perform functions that don't get or need constant improvement, there is absolutely no good excuse (except greed) for building them to die within a few years.
The first VCR my parents bought was in 1981, for my birthday. I took it with me when I got married, and it lasted for DECADES. It finally died in the early 00s as a result of toddlers shoving pennies into it. *facepalm* But I haven't been able to buy a Blu-ray player yet that has lasted more than 3 years. And interestingly, they seem to have fewer and fewer useful features, not more.
As you noted, the price does not seem to make a difference (as with your very expensive oven). As a result of observing that, I now go with the cheapest model that has the features I want. Paying more doesn't ensure it will last.
A little off topic, but...In my 7th grade Home Ec class, I noted that the school was replacing what seemed (to my pre-teen eyes) to be a brand new fridge. I was told it was 2 years old and had to go. (This was in the early '70's and our fridge at home was an early 60's model!) Even then I knew this was wrong-headed. My guess is that the district had a deal w/ some appliance supplier. I guess no one's pockets get lined when we build to last and/or don't trade in for bells and whistles!
The basic idea for home appliances is to design the features to do the job at the least possible cost to manufacture.
And where some appliance manufacturers think about the need to replace degradable parts, most of them could care less if you have to replace the clutch coupling on your washing machine. (It helps to have very small hands and good eyesight.)
We did for a couple of years when the sparkers on our previous range gave out. Good thing I already knew how to do that! LOL
We finally got a new stove when we started on the kitchen remodel a year ago. The spark system appears to be sturdier than the kinds we've had previously. *crosses fingers*
very charitably yes it's true that one could probably make 'repairable hair dryers' and 'repairable table fans,' but likely these would be clunkier, less agile in terms of updates, more expensive, etc. than people actually particularly care for / are interested in.
To me it seems that you're being somewhat disingenuous by conflating ifixit style right to repair with modifying circuit boards. Phone (and laptop) batteries probably last two years before there's a noticeable degradation in charge. A college student who dropped their laptop likely would be perfectly fine with a new screen ($100) rather than a new computer ($1000). Replacing batteries and screens typically are not (and should not be) difficult. Apple doesn't allow user battery replacement for its computers, but batteries and screens for the phones are definitely user replaceable (though complicated in the latest models by the water protection sealing).
Warranty for computer and phones is a bit of a joke. I had a SSD fail on an HP laptop just after two years. Intel had a ten year warranty on the part, but since I purchased it in HP's laptop instead of directly from Intel, I only had HP's two year warranty. "Voiding a warranty" is not at all a concern in most repair scenarios--the warranty simply doesn't exist for more than a couple of years.
Gaming PCs are meant to be up-gradable by the end user. Same with gaming laptops to a certain extent (the one I'm writing on now came with an additional open RAM slot). There are new phones that embrace modular design for the same reasons. I'd call replacing these parts very similar to tinker toys.
I have no interest in the glorified typewriters described in this article, but to say all repair is beyond an average consumer seems silly.
Aren't screens and batteries usually replaceable at various shops? I had my screen replaced a year ago. I have a Samsung. Maybe Apple doesn't allow it. My ATT phone account includes "insurance" to replace the screen for some very low fee, maybe $15 or $25.
Gaming PCs are sold to DIYers so they have to be upgradeable, that's the dynamic of that market. Most people don't want to or are downright afraid to mess with their electronics.
Oh well there are a million ways to see things. I was just trying to point out what I see as the general center of gravity of the issue. Of course there is going to be a constellation of ideas and attitudes and preferences.
I'm no college student, but i dropped my Apple laptop, and I had to replace the screen recently, and it cost me close to $500! A new laptop would've been about 2k.
That's fair! My numbers were ballpark for my hp laptop when I did it 10yrs ago. Obviously times have changed (and I didn't charge myself labor XD), but didn't realize how much!
Various shops do repair/replace batteries & screens! But the extent to which they're able to complete the repair does depend on the manufacturer. Apple's history with independent shops, especially with iPhones has been a bit rocky--no iphone repair for independent shops, then authorized shops are charged a fee and allowed to have replacement parts, and now Apple is controlling replacement hardware with software controls (previously it was just the fingerprint detector).
There are time/privacy/cost concerns with sending a device out to be worked on as opposed to ordering the replacement part online and installing it yourself when it arrives. I've been to a car dealer who tried to charge me $180 to replace a bulb in the headlight ($7 from AutoZone, 10min of my time) and worked with multiple printers which refuse to print (even in black and white!) if cyan is empty. I'm a bit wary of situations where companies have the market cornered on their own maintenance/parts.
I do definitely appreciate your point that it makes sense to design for a particular lifespan. And the cheaper something is the less economic incentive exists for a repair. To me though a few phone/computer components are consumable in the same way as engine oil or light bulbs and I'd like to continue to be able to swap them out myself.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond! I enjoyed reading your perspective above, especially in contrast to the article. I obviously just lean on the DIY side.
Thanks. This whole comment thing really exploded way beyond what I expected. I thought maybe 3 people would like or reply. Well yes I guess there's a consensus, make DIY repair possible when "reasonable". I think it depends on the cost vs. ease of repair vs. likelihood of causing further damage. I repair my suitcases, bicycle, furniture, even an old cassette deck. I'm an engineer but I don't think I would like to repair my own screen.
Funny, the topic of the main article isn't even about this at all, it's about an expensive, hand-built toy computer and the belief that it represents somehow getting back to basics and isn't that so much better than the cookie cutter computers we all use, which take over our lives and are an indication of our collective loss of soul and domination by evil big industry.
As an aside I am not a gamer but my last two laptops have been gamer systems because I think they are faster and the graphics are better. I have not been disappointed.
The very best, and generally least expensive, is expanding computer memory to the maximum and splurging on a reasonable-sized (say, 500GB) hard drive on which to host the operating system and TEMP directory.
A more expensive option would be to upgrade the CPU to the highest capability offered for the CPU socket on the motherboard.
These are both easy for the consumer to handle himself if he is careful.
Your comment is way over-thought out! None of it is wrong, and most of it is correct, but the "proof in the pudding", as you put it, is really affordability! Who is going to spend $10K on a computer? Are YOU? Definitely not ME! I keep my laptop for about 5 years before I replace it, and even if it is fixable, who wants another device that will require MORE fixing in the future? Just look at the auto industry in the past 30 years or so. People will opt out of the "fix and repair daily" scenario for a new product that will give them 5-10 years of functionality before service time escalates. And as for Apple, they are a proprietary company that forces you to stay with the product.
In my former occupation, I stayed away from proprietary systems, basically for customer satisfaction purposes. The market is the determiner. Take the iPhone as an example. Why pay over $1000 for a phone that a $250 one will do just as well? It is because people get locked into the mystique and get used to the proprietary functions that lead them to spend even MORE money for the latest and greatest! Not me! I'm fine with my Android phone of two+ years, and my 5 year-old laptop that still functions fine for $400.
The car analogy is the right one. I get mad if I don't get at least 250,000 miles out of a car before the repair costs go parabola. When I was a young man, if you got 100,000 miles you would be happy. Warranty work on a car forces you to a dealer to get it fixed. Dealers charge you more than you local mechanic for the work, sometimes 2 times the cost. But, most of the maintenance can be done by your local mechanic. Most people just take their car to the dealership and get rid of them long before their time is up. Leases encourages this. Financially speaking this is really dumb. But it makes people happy so people do it.
Until three years ago, the rabbitmobile was a Canadian 1997 Honda Civic Si. Only had two repairs over $1k in the entire time, plus regular maintenance. I loved that car, and didn’t really care that I was the only person I knew whose car had to be opened with a physical key (no key fob back then)...but the timing was right financially, and I was increasingly leery of major repairs looming (belts, timers, whatever). I suspect that car ultimately saved me tens of thousands of dollars in the long run -- all of which were available to help rehab our fabulous ’50s mid-century modern home.
Yup. I just went through this exact process myself. I was looking at a Toyota SUV vs another (less reliable but cooler looking/feeling) brand. In the end, I chose the LESS reliable brand because I don't really want to hold onto the thing for 250k miles.
I did that with my Honda Accord (268k and counting) and realized that I should have gotten rid of years ago. Not because it's a bad car it's brilliant. But because I was getting bored of it.
I agree. I have my vehicles regularly serviced and think two of the best words in the English language are "Paid For". My last vehicle though was a Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd. - 4 wheel drive with a Hemi and lots of bells and whistles. With about a 100,000 miles the engine was very mechanically sound but one of the bells or whistles was failing monthly. So I faced not just the cost but the down time.
No, not necessarily. I have a friend who is still running Windows 95, and for HIM it is all he needs. If you want to keep up with the latest and greatest then, yes, you have to move on. Today I am using Windows 11, but I can't tell you the difference between that and XP.
"Why pay over $1000 for a phone that a $250 one will do just as well?" I don't think we all agree on what "just as well" means here...
I'm glad you have the option to buy the products you prefer, but why the need to disparage other people for their choices and say they are "locked in the mystique"? Even setting aside the proprietary features, a $1,000+ iPhone is faster, lasts longer, has a better screen, plays better games, and takes vastly better pictures than your $250 model... so I'm glad I have the option to buy one if that's what I prefer.
This is what bugs me about the whole "right to repair" movement... what about my right to buy non-repairable phones? Maybe I want something that's slim and fully waterproof and am willing to take it to the Apple store if it needs to be fixed.
Well Nitch, no one is taking away your right to spend all that money for a non-repairable item. You can STILL spend it. But the "Right To Repair" also allows others to repair what Apple already holds a lock onto. Not everyone wants to have to make an appointment for Apple personnel to do what the user COULD do themselves. And if aesthetics are what turn you on, then go ahead, spend the money. But if just pure functionality is what you want then the iPhone is more than the average person needs. Better quality pics? Why? iPhone users have THOUSANDS on their phones that they don't even look at! You've been captured by the desire to have more and better! Apple knows who they are aiming at, and it is YOU! Cook should offer a large "Thank You" to the customers. Oh, and also to the customers for supporting slave labor in China! Merry Festivus!
Um. I am a professional photographer who uses iPhones exclusively for my imaging. In the right conditions their images cannot be differentiated from something taken by a pro-level Nikon or Canon. (The latter are far better for ulltra-zoom and ultra-low-light conditions; the iPhone does everything else supremely well.) So, "better quality pics? Why?" To that I say, "Why not? Is a portrait of my dying father not worth being great instead of just OK?"
"Slave labor in China is ridiculous." Whatever computer or phone you wrote that on was also produced by "slave labor in China." Lousy working conditions are hardly unique to Apple.
Nope, "Right to Repair" absolutely means Apple will have to change features on their phones, mostly in the anti-theft area.
I really like the high-quality photos I take of my children, as do their grandparents when I share them. But you are correct – and I readily admitted – that I am part of Apple's target market ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Finally, you think your cheap Android phone was made under better conditions?!? Haha...
I am a contrarian so am naturally against what everybody else craves. So no I-phone for me. But my Samsung 8 took fabulous pictures. I called it a camera with a phone. My Samsung 21+ camera sucks though. So newer is not always improved.
Agree and disagree with your take, Mr. Miller. My Apple MacBook Pro once allowed me to change out the battery and upgrade both RAM and hard drive through bottom ports. That was a huge cost savings because I wasn't stuck buying Apple's hideously overpriced parts. (Three times market price for a hard drive. Twice market for RAM.) The last few models sealed those bottoms, meaning I had to max out the build and pay Apple's horrendously overpriced prices for it.
Note I'm not talking about repairs, which are beyond my ken. I'm happy to pay for AppleCare in order to have an expert do that. But basic upgrades? Those should be consumer-doable, plug-and-play, with the computers openable with a single screwdriver.
Not all of us want a new computer and phone every year or every three years. And "built like a tank" is not a bug, but a feature, that's disappeared in consumer electronics to our annoyance. I should be able to drop a phone or computer from a table without needing to have it rebuilt, because accidents happen.
I agree with your sentiments, and I also hate the fact that you can't replace the battery in a lot of these newer products. Part of that is to help keep 1 billion batteries a year (well ok, maybe only half a billion...) out of landfills. If the battery can't be replaced, then eventually you'll trade in the phone vs. throw the old battery in the trash, and then it can enter the recycling stream in one form or another. You can't please everyone, so I think that the overall best decision for the market and for the planet is to make the battery last as long as possible and do everything you can to get the old ones recycled.
I too prefer sturdy reliable things. I buy more expensive furniture and clothing and shoes hoping to get longer life out of them. I keep clothes for 20 years, and all my furniture is lifetime purchases. But those things don't evolve fast if at all. Computers advance rapidly, and people want, and downright need, higher performance on a regular basis to keep up with society. Your phone from 10 years ago couldn't handle the applications that everyone uses every day. Not everyone wants or needs to be at the cutting edge, but again the center of gravity in the market is moving in the direction of constant and rapid innovation.
All in all I like the idea of the entrepreneur in the article and I applaud his courage and efforts to create something unique and meaningful to people. I'm just saying that some of his motivations, or maybe the explanations in the article, aren't as noble or universally true as the article makes them out to be. It's more of an individual craftsman's pursuit than a deeply meaningful, illuminating statement on society's ills.
Thanks, Jonathan, I agree completely with this take. The story about the craftsman was fun, but a computer that doesn't connect to the Internet is--while beautiful--absolutely useless to me.
Yes, digital electronics evolve so rapidly that they "obsolete out" every couple of years. My main objection, like yours, is that we cannot upgrade even the simplest thing--batteries, RAM, flash drive--and have to scrap the entire package just to upgrade those items. I don't want to make phones and laptops "repairable" per se, but upgrades of simple items should be a no-brainer. Apple used to allow that, which saved me a fortune in upgrade costs, but got rid of that feature several iterations ago.
My other objection is that those who are satisfied with their level of technology cannot keep it more than X generations. Many people don't want or need to Net or camera capability of an iPhone 15 Pro like I do. They're happy with the phone and simple Net of, say, an iPhone 6. But Apple quits supporting old models--as does Microsoft, as does everyone--which forces people to upgrade against their will. While I don't see a way to force tech companies to support everything they ever sell, there should be an easy aftermarket way for owners to get that support. Otherwise, we're all choked by that type of "planned obsolescence."
A pleasure discussing this with you, we're on the same page.
Back in the early 1990s, one of my coworkers convinced five of us to build our own computers. The 486 was state of the art back then, so we were building the latest and greatest.
It became a social activity - we researched components and their features, decided on what we wanted and saved some money making a group purchase. Then we had an assembly party.
Prior to my friend's suggestion, I would never have considered buying individual components (motherboard, processor, graphics card, memory, hard drive, disk drives, etc) and putting them together. But with encouragement and guidance, I overcame that mental barrier and built a device that lasted over a decade. I was able to add memory to it and replace the hard drive.
Eventually it became too feeble to handle modern software, and the power supply couldn't support a more powerful processor. I gave it to a charity that refurbished old electronics. Since then, I have built two more desktops, each lasting over 10 years. One is still going strong. I have also purchased ready-made computers, and they have been of greatly inferior quality.
I don't know when manufacturers decided that hot melt glue was preferable to screws for holding devices together. Probably when people demanded waterproof phones. Right to repair is forcing manufacturers to go back to screws, so even if the users can't replace components on a motherboard, they can swap out the motherboard - as we used to do with BlackBerrys 15 years ago.
I had the same experience. I pored through catalogs looking at motherboards, cases, add-on boards, etc. I built my first computer that way and started my company on it. I still have it today on a shelf in the back of a closet. I keep thinking I'll put it in a display case one day in our lobby. I haven't heard of hot melt glue being used in computers, but every time I open a chassis I'm surprised at the latest innovation to reduce cost and assembly time. I don't always agree with them, but I'm sure all of these changes are done for these reasons, and manufacturers are making a knowledgeable tradeoff between advantages and disadvantages. Nothing is done arbitrarily. In my industry reliability and ruggedness are everything, so everything I've been saying here about cost relates to the consumer world, not my own industry. I'm only now finally learning that many of our customers don't care about cost, that's the least of their concerns. I wish I had realized this 10 years ago...
"Planned obsolescence" is mostly a myth subscribed to by anticapitalist tree hugger types who don't know how the modern world works and just generally hate big companies."
Thank you for insulting the intelligence of most of the commenters here, we sure appreciate when an expert lectures us on our mis-virtue.
Sigh. Seriously? Virtually none of us here are anticapitalist OR tree-huggers. We like big companies fine, we don't like being gouged or jobbed by them. And we know exactly how the modern business world works because many of us are part of that world.
To that end, we certainly know "planned obsolescence" when we see it. I know damn well it lives in my iPhone and MacBook Pro. To be clear, I love them and use them exclusively for personal and professional work. I made a fortune financially over the years by using both for my writing and photographic enterprises.
But their planned obsolescence is no myth. The cases and hardware will stand up for years, so they will not become obsolete easily. The software that powers them is a different matter, and THAT'S what makes the rest obsolete years before their time. How?
1. Companies quit supporting products more than X years old. Someone happy with his or her iPhone 5 or 6 can no longer get software upgrades, and if the phone quits working, tough luck. A user prefers Windows 95 to any modern version? If the Blue Screen of Death shows up, you're shit out of luck, 95 is no longer supported by MS tech. The physical computer itself would click along another 20 years--aluminum lasts forever. But the inability to run new software on older components means you have to toss everything and start over.
2. The constant software updates, patches, and fixes--day after day for Microsoft products, week after week for Apple--introduces their own bugs, which then have to be fixed, and mixes micro-clashes into the code. That becomes so corrosive after a while that the product no longer works. For a couple years you can trash everything back to factory specs and rebuild. After X number of years . . .
3. See No. 1: the product is "too old and therefore not supported."
This is the "planned obsolescence" you claim doesn't exist. Of course it exists, just not on the physical side, as titanium will last forever. It's on the software side.
Same thing with cars. Modern vehicles are rolling computers filled with not mechanical linkages and parts, but modules. One module fails, it can take the rest of the modules with it.
In days not long ago, if a door latch broke, I could still drive my car till I fixed it or the shop fixed it. Now, if the computer module containing the door latch fails, the car becomes inoperable because that module also controls brakes, fuel injector, and other essentials.
You seem to be the one on this page who doesn't understand that "planned obsolescence" comes in forms beyond metal fatigue and stripped screws.
And I'll add my personal #4 - the 'constant upgrades' etc..being thrust upon us are often not as good as the 'old' stuff it's replacing. It gets bewildering when faced with something new overnight on your phone, and what you expect to see on your trusty app(s) isn't the same as what it was the day before. And when you do find it or relearn it, you realize it shouldn't have been replaced in the first place. Anyway, I'm ranting..Sorry!
Your rants are welcome here, my friend. It appears that we and Jonathan are on the same page after all, which I learned only after some back and forth with him just now. So I happily withdraw any snark bullets shot his way by me!
I agree, the forced "improvements" can be really annoying. I don't have time to relearn things every week, and "improvements" are often only different, not better. Security upgrades, sure, those are welcome and needed. But functionality changes should have an easy way to opt out of.
I take great offense at your denigration of us tree huggers! I live in the forest, and there is nothing that fills me with greater joy than looking out at all these magnificent trees every day. It's a great balance for an otherwise suffocating office existence staring at a screen 15 hours a day.
Back to the topic, what you describe I see as a necessary tradeoff in return for innovation, utility, and general business efficiency. My company is similar to what you describe: We just can't afford to support every product forever. Should Ford still sell parts for their model T? What is the cutoff point? The answer is different for everyone and every industry. In business we have to make decisions like this all the time. At some point we have to abandon certain customers and products and move on to the next arena. No product comes with a promise of forever, except maybe a cast iron skillet.
Regarding the nonstop software upgrades and even software obsolescence: In addition to the obvious desire to keep up with the competition and add new features, I think the main justification is to keep up with hackers who are getting ever more sophisticated, necessitating constant security patches or downright replacement of software that can no longer ensure reasonable security. For this we have the criminal element to thank. We should be appreciative that software vendors take on the expense and effort to fight this battle on our behalf and provide us free updates to stay safe.
LOL!! I am a certified tree hugger as well, in that I love trees and consider firs and pines my spiritual brothers :-)
Good point on the Model T. But, there are a zillions aftermarket shops that will happily provide service on the good old T without violating Ford's warranty. (Well, you know what I mean.) Big Tech rarely, if ever, allows non-warranty-killing aftermarket service on its products. I'd be quite satisfied if Big Tech adopted an aftercare system that allows any repair service that meets an independent standard of X--such as the ASI standards for auto repairs, or Microsoft Certified for that product's repair--to be able to repair and upgrade any tech product without warranty violation. If aftermarkets can pick up that work, they'd be willing to pick up work on older products that are out of factory support.
Sorry for any snark in my original post, clearly we are on the same page.
'Today, technology advances so fast that everyone wants to replace their electronics often to get the latest features.'
Not everyone. I for one can't stand most of the latest updates or new OS thrust upon me for my Iphone or laptop simply because more often than not the updates do not improve the experience I have with these devices and even makes it worse.
Great analysis and breakdown. I work in User Experience design, with a focus on digital product and thus, am concerned professionally with end user needs in both an abstract and concrete sense. While I applaud the vision of a bespoke physical aesthetic, and the importance of owner-accessible repair, it’s difficult for me to discount the decades of PC product design, development and testing that specifically synthesized expansive, critical user needs in terms of performance, consistency, interface accessibility, and portability.
Only to someone who doesn't understand how business works. Every business by definition is offering a value proposition. Buy this phone for $1,000, or buy this candy bar for $1, it's exactly the same. If the customer accepts the value proposition, he buys. The goal is to create the most powerful value proposition to get as many customers as possible with the greatest profit possible. Business 101.
My first thought when I saw the headline was that the concept screamed “luxury belief.” Then I saw that this kid is from Boulder, CO. Could not have stronger confirmation.
The retail cost of the products he advocates would have to be 5x those of other computers, and contrary to his screed against “planned obsolescence” (again, luxury belief!!!), the chips in gos won’t last appreciably longer.
He was inspired by historical trinkets that the super-rich owned as status symbols, and that’s what he’s building.
Exactly. These things are just collectables for rich people. They likely won't actually use them more than a few times. Then they'll go back to their regular computers that offer 10x the capabilities for 0.1x the price.
Years ago I bought a “dead” dehumidifier from a garage sale - took it apart oiled it up and it worked great - same with a bathroom fan - it’s replacement many years later was encased in plastic and when it died got thrown in the garage - consumers have been conditioned to throw things away - they can also be reconditioned to repair things again.
I’m confident it’s because there’s an extreme disconnect between the techies who can build computers and the I barely know what to call them I’m so alien to them, the fashionistas (that sounds wrong) who create luxury items for the wealthy.
There's def't a missing sweet spot for things like kitchen aides, cuisinarts, the classic pop-toast toaster, coffee machines, sewing machines, table saws, power drills, things that just have a motor and they spin - variable speeds - etc where updates aren't all that fast - the new kitchen aide that replaced my last kitchen aide does all of the same things, and there's no reason it shouldn't last as long or longer, be as repairable or more repairable etc.
But yeah many devices (hair dryers, curling irons, washing machines, refrigerators) are constantly getting better designed, better tech integration, etc. but there does seem to be a gap for endurance and repairability gap for them (ok maybe not hair dryers and curling irons) - but yes to fridges ( esp say mini fridges) being more repairable and enduring and likely not costing a whole lot more to do so.
I came to the computing world through room-size computers operating off programs coded onto punch cards. I was the first person in my company to put a PC on my table and a 10K hard drive on my desk. The monitor was an amber-colored, glorified TV screen.
The productivity of my group soared in comparison to others, particularly as regards quality and cost control. My PC was the source of our wisdom, and we figured out how to use the data to improve the entire manufacturing and rework processes.
A comparable Apple product was more than double the cost at the time. And as elegant as the Apple software might have been, a good grounding in mathematics allowed me to get the most out of 1-2-3, and MS Word allowed me efficiently to write the reports that upper management wanted to see.
I certainly would have found it difficult to justify the price of an Apple product. And, as the capabilities and speeds of computers doubled and tripled every few years, it was even more difficult to consider an "upgrade" unless there was significant added value to the latest edition.
The drive behind my experiences with upgrades has been hardware-oriented, not software. There were some basic software programs--Word and 1-2-3, specifically--that were extremely well thought out and extremely well executed. The learning curves on each of those were short.
I found hardware upgrades every four to five years got me a good return on my investment, and building my machine meant that I could easily salvage all of the peripherals hanging off the backs of the motherboards.
What astounded me then, and still has me shaking my head in wonder, is the cult-like devotion to Apple hardware to the point that many Apple users replace their equipment every time Apple wants to redress their hardware and sell it as must-have stuff to fools that want the newest just to have the latest and greatest.
In many ways, it is the cult that keeps Apple alive as, since the death of marketing genius Steve Jobs, they have not turned out a truly innovative product that warrants the price premiums that Apple likes to charge.
Make no mistake, Apple computers are good, and their software has an elegance to it that the PC world can only mimic. But why, if the mimed stuff does the same job at a significantly lower cost, buying Apple makes little sense.
He couldn’t have built his computer with his computer. He needed YouTube videos to solve problems…but his creation is unable to go online and watch YouTube videos.
I think one of the bigger aspects I resonated with were how his computers were stripping off all the distractions and leaving it with its core pieces. We're seeing this with how many others are leaving their smart phones and going back to flip phones and blackberries - ditching the bells and whistles that come with distractions.
That's the beauty of technology, it comes with the ability to change the world, but it can also tie your soul due to the cage of temptation that comes with it. When we learn to use the technology w/o being slave to distractions, we can really use the beauty that comes with the knowledge of the fruit of "good and evil"
I went from a slide phone with an actual keyboard for texting to a "smart phone" for work purposes. I was able to search the internet for manufacturer's website, searching for accessibility of parts, and solutions to common problems. Anything other than that was a distraction.
When Verizon stopped supporting 3G, my husband and I finally had to upgrade to smartphones. But I still use mine primarily as a phone.
I admit it's nice to be able to do internet searches wherever I am. But I don't *want* to use my phone as a computer. I have a tablet if I need to compute away from home.
You know you can turn off all notifications on your computer with a single switch in settings, right? You don’t have to install or visit any social media sites. You can even put time limit usage restrictions on yourself you want.
This article sounds like someone who wanted a combination hobby/complaint factory and just chose this one.
I’m all for people making their own anything, but this is just an eccentric tinkerer not a grand philosophy.
This article is a gem. The very best of the FP. Buried within a nice story about a quirky guy is a clever expose of the utter mendacity of Apple, the infuriating products it pushes and how far the evil Cook has taken it from Jobs's vision.
Proprietary systems contain the germ for its own failure! Apple is priced for the prosperous, but when times get tough Apple suffers. Plus, if it were not for production in China by slave labor, where would Apple be?
Aaron, there are other companies that I refuse to patronize because of systemic issues. It just so happens that Apple came up in this post, so Apple gets the bullseye treatment. While many criticize the garment industry for using child labor in Asia, they then use their slave produced iPhones to post their views. Go figure!
Can you refer us to evidence of widespread slave labor? I'm not denying it but I'd like to see proof, not just conjecture. 20 years ago there may have been widespread unfair labor practices, but in the last 1-2 decades the Asian manufacturing countries have come amazingly far in improving working conditions and pay. In fact many of my Taiwan business partners tell me that it's now cheaper to build in Taiwan again because of the increasing cost of factory labor in mainland China. Every factory I've ever visited in the last 10 years has been top notch quality, with no children anywhere. Upstream I can't say, maybe some component manufacturers like inductor winders are less noble.
What do you think of using prison laborers in the US at 85 cents an hour? This is standard practice in all 50 states, including the most "progressive" ones like California. Why is this tolerated? These are our own citizens, literally enslaved. Where is the outrage?
There's no end to it. It would be best to connect your bank acct. to the company and they can send you whatever is new and take the money from your acct.
I'm an analogue person, stuck in a digital world, and don't know what a TRS-80 is.
Give me a knob, slider, or lever and I'll figure it out. Give me a digital object and it's a foreign language. I once took a Fortran class and after 1 week I was completely lost.
I just love The Free Press. I read most of the article and was impressed by the devotion to aesthetic and longevity described therein. Then I read the comments and was impressed by the informed and intelligent counterpoints to the article. One can enjoy both (or many) sides of the debate. Once again, BRAVA Bari!
I love this idea, and fully understand the probably out of reach price tag for most consumers, so I look forward to a next step perhaps. I would love my grandkids to have computers without access to the internet, but which could communicate with me, sending pictures and emails. One with word processing skills that would enable them to print papers for school and perhaps some method to create videos for educational purposes. I think having an esthetically appealing laptop which could become part of a traditional family great room would be really cool. And I fully support the whole right to repair movement too. Being a baby boomer, my life has straddled the repair shop era and the built in obsolescence era which I find to be despicable. Being only a generation removed from the Great Depression, I recall my parents and grandparents talking about how things were made to last and everyone knew at least a bit about such things as home repair. If this idea really takes off, I will be surprised but pleased. It may be far too late, but I would enjoy a renewal of a slower pace of life for all ages...
Of course we can and do. More tools to make a slower pace & longer lasting equipment easier to come by might be nice in addition, however.
For example, our public education system is a disaster. I’m not sure my tax dollars are being put to best use by providing little kids with iPads and Mac books. I think one of the take aways from the insanity of COVID days is that kids do NOT learn best by sitting in front of screens at home or at school.
I do believe strongly in public education, but I am not a fan of teacher unions or such things as CRT. Higher teacher salaries yes! Better staffing so teachers actually have planning periods again, yes! Smaller and better working administrative offices, yes!
And last but not least, keeping gender identity and ideologies out of the schools is an absolute must. I am not writing from nostalgia. We need not go backwards. But something needs to happen and soon. We are bleeding teachers and students whose parents can afford private school. Those kids without that option deserve better as do our many hard working teachers keeping up the fight.
I’ve gone off subject except to say that computers in every child’s backpack & ones that are outdated almost every year are not a good idea.
Why would you want to limit the ability of your grandchildren to explore and learn? The internet has collectively made the global population indescribably smarter and more capable. It comes with perils for sure, but the tradeoff is unquestioningly worthwhile.
It is. As is any other technological invention IMO is a tool. I am typing or searching, using my brain and my language ability. Just as I used my design skills with AutoCAD, which is a design and drafting tool you cannot utilize without having spatial design skills. Sure, it is a greatly superior tool. But unless someone is a billionaire with means for a custom-built PC in a shape of old clock, I don't see much value in this discussion. My income brackets allow me to consume only mass production stuff. Therefore, of course, I totally depend on their proprietary tactics. But I choose Apple because I find it easier to use, fully aware of pits and snares they prepared for me. it is my conscious choice - for convenience.
The notion that someone will pass this luxury item on to their grandchildren seems extremely unlikely: technological advances will have moved so far beyond this format that it will be simply an odd piece of sculpture by then, like inheriting an early typewriter, or a Model T.
This seems more like a very high-end niche product for people with too much money, rather than a visionary new direction.
My dad built beautiful furniture after a career as a Navy pilot and then tax assessor for California until Prop 13 ended that job! I loved everything he made and he often offered them to us, but since we live so far away weight and moving costs made it prohibitive.
This is a bespoke typewriter that stores files but can’t connect to anything. This is a novelty project for the 1%. Personally I can’t trust a product that won’t publish its price. There are plenty of artisanal efforts and industrial design in the world. Products that are utilitarian and beautiful…furniture, clothing, architecture, even food. The tech world has to marry its design to functionality and use materials that are lighter, sleeker, faster. The “serenity” of this wooden computer is in its inability to go online. One can always use airplane mode.
Seems I read the right to repair really effects farm machinery where manufacturers have a lock on repairs costing farmers tens of thousands in higher than necessary repair costs.
And cars. The proprietary electronics and especially computers in cars are prone to malfunctions. What should be a simple headlight change is now a total PITA. Not so much technically difficult but designed to be such a drag as to discourage self repair. And even reasonable modifications can set off voltage gremlins which in turn freak out the ECU or canbus etc. causing in some cars for the entire system to fail due a voltage error which shouldn’t really affect anything to do with actual function of the vehicle🤬
Refurbishing IDM GEM BDM PCM ECM so forth. An amazingly capable team of widgetty geeks. If you own older vehicle/vehicles which utilize electronic engine or components control modules they're my go to. No funny business if they say its yes. Furthermore they 100% stand behind the repair work.
I use a desktop computer 90% of the time. And I've been building my own since the early '80s. It's wonderful to choose the case that you want based on it's beauty and functionality, and then to match all the components to exactly what you need. Yes, mine does have some lighting but it's serene soft blue lighting. And being a software engineer myself, my desktop computers typically last me 5 to 6 years at least as they are very powerful on day one and upgradable. After that, I typically pass them on to family members who use them for even more years. It's not unusual for the computer side bill to last for 12 or 14 years. I've also been using Linux exclusively since 2008. It's amazing how little power you need to run Linux for typical office type applications. I would never buy a computer off the shelf.
My youngest has built his own desktops from the time he was a boy. Of course it all baffled me. When I was a young lawyer secretaries typed out our court briefs and we spent long nights at the printer reading the proofs. How our world has changed in the last few decades....
In your law office, did you have a decent sized desk and bookcases? I would be surprised if you didn’t.
Did you do any word processing yourself? For the last 28 years of my 42 year practice I had a desktop computer. I used Dragon Dictate to compose the first draft of all letters. These letters were usually composed before the clients so that any errors could be efficiently corrected.
Eventually I was able to use the same system to prepare the first draft of pleadings and factums. Proofreading one’s own work is always difficult but my secretaries picked up and corrected the inevitable errors.
It was a very large NYC law firm. In the early 1980s we had vast staff of secretaries, proof readers, paralegals, night staff etc. all toiling away manually. Then cane the introduction of the selectric typewriters followed shortly by office wide word processing, I think one was called ATEC. Within a decade we were heading to desktops. And soon thereafter (or it seems like it) we were doing our own research and composing briefs on laptops. And now I'm in "emeritus" status. How did that happen?
I was one step away from having what was quaintly called a "secretary" (and/or an office with an actual door) my entire time in office duties. Back in the field now; I am told there are no more secretaries. Or doors. Something lost. Can't say exactly what.
I'm a few years behind you but still remember word processing staffs and even a few Selectrics in our large Chicago firm. They made us get desktops in the early 90s, but they couldn't really do much of anything. Then Windows 3.1 came out and we got to struggle with WordPerfect, luckily we still had secretaries so THEY could struggle with WordPerfect instead.
Now and for the past few years I'm happy doing everything- research, writing, dep prep etc- from a ThinkPad in my home office. My firm, about 35 lawyers, makes me pay for a corner office that I never use. I love my ThinkPad, it's worked for years. I'll get another one when it slows down.
Good you have the skills and time to build your own. Funny............is " It's not unusual for the computer side bill to last for 12 or 14 years" suppose to be "computers I built"? Is this a technology glitch? I only point this out as more and more folks are depending on this type of technology (voice recognition) that screws up all the time. Which is going to be a problem of humans dependency on technology.
By the time Linux became widely available I was tired of having to learn a new language. DOS was the first, and then Windows 3.1. After that I was not really interested in more. Windows ended my learning curve, and Apple's OS was just plain too expensive.
I realized long ago that one part of the solution to the enormous waste in our world is a higher focus on quality and personalization.
If mass production leads to mass consumotion and mass waste, then the farthest antipode is this: individual creation, individual use, and only absolutely necessary waste.
My husband and I use our daughter’s 2014 MacBook Air and we’re good. We’ve replaced the battery once and it’s starting to drain more quickly again but we just keep it charged. We only use it for surfing the web, checking my email etc. He has his own computer for work and I’m a Pre-K teacher so I don’t have to do spreadsheets or power points for my 4 year olds. (Maybe by the end of the year they’ll be ready for some). 😃😆
I have long wondered why high end luxury brands don't do exactly this and introduce their own signature versions of smartphones and tablets. That said, I'm sorry but there is so much misinformation, or more generously uninformed commentary, in this article that it's hard to take it seriously.
First of all, "planned obsolescence" is mostly a myth subscribed to by anticapitalist tree hugger types who don't know how the modern world works and just generally hate big companies. Today is not like 60 years ago, which seems to be the frame of reference as indicated by the industrial design seen in the accompanying photos. Back then things evolved slowly, and people kept everything for years of lifetimes. Today, technology advances so fast that everyone wants to replace their electronics often to get the latest features. So building them like tanks to last 20 years or longer is actually what economists call "excess utility" - most customers don't care about it, so why spend the extra money to put it into the product. Secondly customers are relentlessly demanding lower prices, although admittedly that is possibly due to being taught to think like that by companies. They don't want to pay extra for features they don't care about, like a 20 year lifetime when 3 is enough.
Next, the issue of repairability is directly tied to cost as well as quality. If an item is repairable, it's modular, and that drives up cost as well as size. Again customer price pressure limits the ability to make some things repairable. Electronics aren't like tinker toys where you can just pull out one part and replace it with basic mechanical knowledge that might have served you in 1962. The high level of integration is the result of reducing cost, increasing performance, and also improving reliability.
Repairing a circuit board is out of reach by almost everyone on the planet, and even if it could be done, the risk of damage is high, and any such damage would result in a lot of angry customers demanding help for problems of their own making. For quality, cost, and customer satisfaction reasons, it's far better for today's delicate electronics to be repaired only by the experts who made them. My own company follows the typical industry standard - all repairs must be done by us, and if a customer attempts a repair, the warranty is immediately void, because we can no longer guarantee that the product has been handled in a way that will maintain its integrity and reliability, and we don't want to have to deal with an unhappy customer who broke their own product but blames us.
Finally, the proof is in the pudding as they say. Customers flock to Apple because overall their formula is superior. Nothing is perfect, and certainly some things could be improved with any product. But overall the Apple value proposition is one that the world finds appealing, hence their tremendous success. (Of course the same is true for any successful company.)
That is an amazing breakdown of reality. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Progress does not happen when you have people who try to dictate how they think the world should be and run counter to the tastes and mores of the people living in society. Anyone who thinks they know best for the rest of society should never have the proximity or power to do anything.
Amen, brother!!
I agree. But oh man would we ever do with them?
Clearly there is a mismatch between what companies think of as "excess utility" and what consumers think of as "planned obsolescence." I hear many people--people who are NOT anti-capitalist tree-huggers--complain about products that die long before people wanted them to.
I grew up in the 70s. My dad replaced things only when he wanted a new feature, not because the old one broke. The first stove I remember, the burners had to be lit with a match. It was replaced with one that had pilot lights, and later by one with spark ignition. But that one lasted decades. My mom's dryer lasted 40+ years--it did what it needed to and there was no reason to upgrade.
In contrast, my husband and I purchased brand new appliances when we bought our current house 17 years ago. The only one that hasn't had to be replaced is the fridge. Just last week I had to buy a new toaster to replace one that had lasted less than a year. And yet my mom's hand mixer--at least 50 years old--is still operational. These are not objects that are going to be made obsolete by ones with new-and-better features.
My personal experience and observation makes it difficult to take your commentary fully seriously.
"I hear many people--people who are NOT anti-capitalist tree-huggers--complain about products that die long before people wanted them to."
Absolutely yes, Celia. I used to be able to repair my own stove, washer, and dryer, for instance, because the joins were mechanical--bolts and screws--and parts available on the Internet. No longer. The average lifespan of a new appliance is four years. That's reprehensible.
The comment that we don't know what "planned obsolescence" means is insulting. We know exactly what it means, and it applies. The hardware in an iPhone might not become obsolete for many years. But the continual software-upgrade dumps, week after week, wind up creating so many bugs and micro-mismatches that the phone becomes overwhelmed and quits working. Clear it back to factory spec and start over? "This phone is no longer supported. You must upgrade."
Celia, you’ve hit on one of my pet peeves! Household appliances. Ugh. So many problems.
First of all, how can it possibly be environmentally sound to build appliances that break down after only a few years, and cost almost as much to repair as to replace? No one over the age of 45 will remember replacing stoves, refrigerators, washer/dryers, etc. every few years, as we are forced to do now. My extremely high end Wolf oven died after 10 years (exact replacement would’ve cost $7-10k) -- repair would’ve cost $2k, but the repairman said the heating element probably wouldn’t last much longer... how could it possibly be better for the planet to junk my old oven (landfill) in favor of a new one that had to be mined, manufactured, and shipped around the world?
I also hate how many kitchen appliances are now being made as “smart appliances”. My fridge (which I detest) is connected to Wi-Fi, so if you do not buy a brand name chip-encoded water filter, the water dispenser and icemaker will not work. What a scam! And unlike phones, where new and better features are significant, the relative benefits of “new features” for household and appliances seem very small indeed. I would’ve been perfectly happy to have my older Wolf oven for another 15 to 20 years. It did all the things an oven was supposed to do, and it did them well.
It really *isn't* environmentally friendly to build appliances that die within 10 years. And considering that most appliances perform functions that don't get or need constant improvement, there is absolutely no good excuse (except greed) for building them to die within a few years.
The first VCR my parents bought was in 1981, for my birthday. I took it with me when I got married, and it lasted for DECADES. It finally died in the early 00s as a result of toddlers shoving pennies into it. *facepalm* But I haven't been able to buy a Blu-ray player yet that has lasted more than 3 years. And interestingly, they seem to have fewer and fewer useful features, not more.
As you noted, the price does not seem to make a difference (as with your very expensive oven). As a result of observing that, I now go with the cheapest model that has the features I want. Paying more doesn't ensure it will last.
A little off topic, but...In my 7th grade Home Ec class, I noted that the school was replacing what seemed (to my pre-teen eyes) to be a brand new fridge. I was told it was 2 years old and had to go. (This was in the early '70's and our fridge at home was an early 60's model!) Even then I knew this was wrong-headed. My guess is that the district had a deal w/ some appliance supplier. I guess no one's pockets get lined when we build to last and/or don't trade in for bells and whistles!
The corrupt will always find ways....
first mistake.. believing the repairman who also sells appliances.. second. not looking on You Tube.. has saved me THOUSANDS
The basic idea for home appliances is to design the features to do the job at the least possible cost to manufacture.
And where some appliance manufacturers think about the need to replace degradable parts, most of them could care less if you have to replace the clutch coupling on your washing machine. (It helps to have very small hands and good eyesight.)
I still use matches to light the oven top... 🤭
We did for a couple of years when the sparkers on our previous range gave out. Good thing I already knew how to do that! LOL
We finally got a new stove when we started on the kitchen remodel a year ago. The spark system appears to be sturdier than the kinds we've had previously. *crosses fingers*
very charitably yes it's true that one could probably make 'repairable hair dryers' and 'repairable table fans,' but likely these would be clunkier, less agile in terms of updates, more expensive, etc. than people actually particularly care for / are interested in.
we got a dishwasher. but my Mom didnt break
To me it seems that you're being somewhat disingenuous by conflating ifixit style right to repair with modifying circuit boards. Phone (and laptop) batteries probably last two years before there's a noticeable degradation in charge. A college student who dropped their laptop likely would be perfectly fine with a new screen ($100) rather than a new computer ($1000). Replacing batteries and screens typically are not (and should not be) difficult. Apple doesn't allow user battery replacement for its computers, but batteries and screens for the phones are definitely user replaceable (though complicated in the latest models by the water protection sealing).
Warranty for computer and phones is a bit of a joke. I had a SSD fail on an HP laptop just after two years. Intel had a ten year warranty on the part, but since I purchased it in HP's laptop instead of directly from Intel, I only had HP's two year warranty. "Voiding a warranty" is not at all a concern in most repair scenarios--the warranty simply doesn't exist for more than a couple of years.
Gaming PCs are meant to be up-gradable by the end user. Same with gaming laptops to a certain extent (the one I'm writing on now came with an additional open RAM slot). There are new phones that embrace modular design for the same reasons. I'd call replacing these parts very similar to tinker toys.
I have no interest in the glorified typewriters described in this article, but to say all repair is beyond an average consumer seems silly.
Aren't screens and batteries usually replaceable at various shops? I had my screen replaced a year ago. I have a Samsung. Maybe Apple doesn't allow it. My ATT phone account includes "insurance" to replace the screen for some very low fee, maybe $15 or $25.
Gaming PCs are sold to DIYers so they have to be upgradeable, that's the dynamic of that market. Most people don't want to or are downright afraid to mess with their electronics.
Oh well there are a million ways to see things. I was just trying to point out what I see as the general center of gravity of the issue. Of course there is going to be a constellation of ideas and attitudes and preferences.
I'm no college student, but i dropped my Apple laptop, and I had to replace the screen recently, and it cost me close to $500! A new laptop would've been about 2k.
That's fair! My numbers were ballpark for my hp laptop when I did it 10yrs ago. Obviously times have changed (and I didn't charge myself labor XD), but didn't realize how much!
Various shops do repair/replace batteries & screens! But the extent to which they're able to complete the repair does depend on the manufacturer. Apple's history with independent shops, especially with iPhones has been a bit rocky--no iphone repair for independent shops, then authorized shops are charged a fee and allowed to have replacement parts, and now Apple is controlling replacement hardware with software controls (previously it was just the fingerprint detector).
There are time/privacy/cost concerns with sending a device out to be worked on as opposed to ordering the replacement part online and installing it yourself when it arrives. I've been to a car dealer who tried to charge me $180 to replace a bulb in the headlight ($7 from AutoZone, 10min of my time) and worked with multiple printers which refuse to print (even in black and white!) if cyan is empty. I'm a bit wary of situations where companies have the market cornered on their own maintenance/parts.
I do definitely appreciate your point that it makes sense to design for a particular lifespan. And the cheaper something is the less economic incentive exists for a repair. To me though a few phone/computer components are consumable in the same way as engine oil or light bulbs and I'd like to continue to be able to swap them out myself.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond! I enjoyed reading your perspective above, especially in contrast to the article. I obviously just lean on the DIY side.
Thanks. This whole comment thing really exploded way beyond what I expected. I thought maybe 3 people would like or reply. Well yes I guess there's a consensus, make DIY repair possible when "reasonable". I think it depends on the cost vs. ease of repair vs. likelihood of causing further damage. I repair my suitcases, bicycle, furniture, even an old cassette deck. I'm an engineer but I don't think I would like to repair my own screen.
Funny, the topic of the main article isn't even about this at all, it's about an expensive, hand-built toy computer and the belief that it represents somehow getting back to basics and isn't that so much better than the cookie cutter computers we all use, which take over our lives and are an indication of our collective loss of soul and domination by evil big industry.
As an aside I am not a gamer but my last two laptops have been gamer systems because I think they are faster and the graphics are better. I have not been disappointed.
The very best, and generally least expensive, is expanding computer memory to the maximum and splurging on a reasonable-sized (say, 500GB) hard drive on which to host the operating system and TEMP directory.
A more expensive option would be to upgrade the CPU to the highest capability offered for the CPU socket on the motherboard.
These are both easy for the consumer to handle himself if he is careful.
Your comment is way over-thought out! None of it is wrong, and most of it is correct, but the "proof in the pudding", as you put it, is really affordability! Who is going to spend $10K on a computer? Are YOU? Definitely not ME! I keep my laptop for about 5 years before I replace it, and even if it is fixable, who wants another device that will require MORE fixing in the future? Just look at the auto industry in the past 30 years or so. People will opt out of the "fix and repair daily" scenario for a new product that will give them 5-10 years of functionality before service time escalates. And as for Apple, they are a proprietary company that forces you to stay with the product.
In my former occupation, I stayed away from proprietary systems, basically for customer satisfaction purposes. The market is the determiner. Take the iPhone as an example. Why pay over $1000 for a phone that a $250 one will do just as well? It is because people get locked into the mystique and get used to the proprietary functions that lead them to spend even MORE money for the latest and greatest! Not me! I'm fine with my Android phone of two+ years, and my 5 year-old laptop that still functions fine for $400.
The car analogy is the right one. I get mad if I don't get at least 250,000 miles out of a car before the repair costs go parabola. When I was a young man, if you got 100,000 miles you would be happy. Warranty work on a car forces you to a dealer to get it fixed. Dealers charge you more than you local mechanic for the work, sometimes 2 times the cost. But, most of the maintenance can be done by your local mechanic. Most people just take their car to the dealership and get rid of them long before their time is up. Leases encourages this. Financially speaking this is really dumb. But it makes people happy so people do it.
So true Dave. I’ve had the same car now for 20 years. Using local mechanics has certainly added to its longevity.
Until three years ago, the rabbitmobile was a Canadian 1997 Honda Civic Si. Only had two repairs over $1k in the entire time, plus regular maintenance. I loved that car, and didn’t really care that I was the only person I knew whose car had to be opened with a physical key (no key fob back then)...but the timing was right financially, and I was increasingly leery of major repairs looming (belts, timers, whatever). I suspect that car ultimately saved me tens of thousands of dollars in the long run -- all of which were available to help rehab our fabulous ’50s mid-century modern home.
Yup. I just went through this exact process myself. I was looking at a Toyota SUV vs another (less reliable but cooler looking/feeling) brand. In the end, I chose the LESS reliable brand because I don't really want to hold onto the thing for 250k miles.
I did that with my Honda Accord (268k and counting) and realized that I should have gotten rid of years ago. Not because it's a bad car it's brilliant. But because I was getting bored of it.
I agree. I have my vehicles regularly serviced and think two of the best words in the English language are "Paid For". My last vehicle though was a Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd. - 4 wheel drive with a Hemi and lots of bells and whistles. With about a 100,000 miles the engine was very mechanically sound but one of the bells or whistles was failing monthly. So I faced not just the cost but the down time.
The problem is the software updates will outrun you, rendering your 5-8 year old hardware useless.
No, not necessarily. I have a friend who is still running Windows 95, and for HIM it is all he needs. If you want to keep up with the latest and greatest then, yes, you have to move on. Today I am using Windows 11, but I can't tell you the difference between that and XP.
Software without the updates is more vulnerable to malware, so be careful.
True, but McNamara's overdressed electric typewriter doesn't have online capability, so malware is irrelevant.
"Why pay over $1000 for a phone that a $250 one will do just as well?" I don't think we all agree on what "just as well" means here...
I'm glad you have the option to buy the products you prefer, but why the need to disparage other people for their choices and say they are "locked in the mystique"? Even setting aside the proprietary features, a $1,000+ iPhone is faster, lasts longer, has a better screen, plays better games, and takes vastly better pictures than your $250 model... so I'm glad I have the option to buy one if that's what I prefer.
This is what bugs me about the whole "right to repair" movement... what about my right to buy non-repairable phones? Maybe I want something that's slim and fully waterproof and am willing to take it to the Apple store if it needs to be fixed.
Well Nitch, no one is taking away your right to spend all that money for a non-repairable item. You can STILL spend it. But the "Right To Repair" also allows others to repair what Apple already holds a lock onto. Not everyone wants to have to make an appointment for Apple personnel to do what the user COULD do themselves. And if aesthetics are what turn you on, then go ahead, spend the money. But if just pure functionality is what you want then the iPhone is more than the average person needs. Better quality pics? Why? iPhone users have THOUSANDS on their phones that they don't even look at! You've been captured by the desire to have more and better! Apple knows who they are aiming at, and it is YOU! Cook should offer a large "Thank You" to the customers. Oh, and also to the customers for supporting slave labor in China! Merry Festivus!
Um. I am a professional photographer who uses iPhones exclusively for my imaging. In the right conditions their images cannot be differentiated from something taken by a pro-level Nikon or Canon. (The latter are far better for ulltra-zoom and ultra-low-light conditions; the iPhone does everything else supremely well.) So, "better quality pics? Why?" To that I say, "Why not? Is a portrait of my dying father not worth being great instead of just OK?"
"Slave labor in China is ridiculous." Whatever computer or phone you wrote that on was also produced by "slave labor in China." Lousy working conditions are hardly unique to Apple.
Nope, "Right to Repair" absolutely means Apple will have to change features on their phones, mostly in the anti-theft area.
I really like the high-quality photos I take of my children, as do their grandparents when I share them. But you are correct – and I readily admitted – that I am part of Apple's target market ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Finally, you think your cheap Android phone was made under better conditions?!? Haha...
I am a contrarian so am naturally against what everybody else craves. So no I-phone for me. But my Samsung 8 took fabulous pictures. I called it a camera with a phone. My Samsung 21+ camera sucks though. So newer is not always improved.
THANK YOU!
Agree and disagree with your take, Mr. Miller. My Apple MacBook Pro once allowed me to change out the battery and upgrade both RAM and hard drive through bottom ports. That was a huge cost savings because I wasn't stuck buying Apple's hideously overpriced parts. (Three times market price for a hard drive. Twice market for RAM.) The last few models sealed those bottoms, meaning I had to max out the build and pay Apple's horrendously overpriced prices for it.
Note I'm not talking about repairs, which are beyond my ken. I'm happy to pay for AppleCare in order to have an expert do that. But basic upgrades? Those should be consumer-doable, plug-and-play, with the computers openable with a single screwdriver.
Not all of us want a new computer and phone every year or every three years. And "built like a tank" is not a bug, but a feature, that's disappeared in consumer electronics to our annoyance. I should be able to drop a phone or computer from a table without needing to have it rebuilt, because accidents happen.
I agree with your sentiments, and I also hate the fact that you can't replace the battery in a lot of these newer products. Part of that is to help keep 1 billion batteries a year (well ok, maybe only half a billion...) out of landfills. If the battery can't be replaced, then eventually you'll trade in the phone vs. throw the old battery in the trash, and then it can enter the recycling stream in one form or another. You can't please everyone, so I think that the overall best decision for the market and for the planet is to make the battery last as long as possible and do everything you can to get the old ones recycled.
I too prefer sturdy reliable things. I buy more expensive furniture and clothing and shoes hoping to get longer life out of them. I keep clothes for 20 years, and all my furniture is lifetime purchases. But those things don't evolve fast if at all. Computers advance rapidly, and people want, and downright need, higher performance on a regular basis to keep up with society. Your phone from 10 years ago couldn't handle the applications that everyone uses every day. Not everyone wants or needs to be at the cutting edge, but again the center of gravity in the market is moving in the direction of constant and rapid innovation.
All in all I like the idea of the entrepreneur in the article and I applaud his courage and efforts to create something unique and meaningful to people. I'm just saying that some of his motivations, or maybe the explanations in the article, aren't as noble or universally true as the article makes them out to be. It's more of an individual craftsman's pursuit than a deeply meaningful, illuminating statement on society's ills.
Thanks, Jonathan, I agree completely with this take. The story about the craftsman was fun, but a computer that doesn't connect to the Internet is--while beautiful--absolutely useless to me.
Yes, digital electronics evolve so rapidly that they "obsolete out" every couple of years. My main objection, like yours, is that we cannot upgrade even the simplest thing--batteries, RAM, flash drive--and have to scrap the entire package just to upgrade those items. I don't want to make phones and laptops "repairable" per se, but upgrades of simple items should be a no-brainer. Apple used to allow that, which saved me a fortune in upgrade costs, but got rid of that feature several iterations ago.
My other objection is that those who are satisfied with their level of technology cannot keep it more than X generations. Many people don't want or need to Net or camera capability of an iPhone 15 Pro like I do. They're happy with the phone and simple Net of, say, an iPhone 6. But Apple quits supporting old models--as does Microsoft, as does everyone--which forces people to upgrade against their will. While I don't see a way to force tech companies to support everything they ever sell, there should be an easy aftermarket way for owners to get that support. Otherwise, we're all choked by that type of "planned obsolescence."
A pleasure discussing this with you, we're on the same page.
Back in the early 1990s, one of my coworkers convinced five of us to build our own computers. The 486 was state of the art back then, so we were building the latest and greatest.
It became a social activity - we researched components and their features, decided on what we wanted and saved some money making a group purchase. Then we had an assembly party.
Prior to my friend's suggestion, I would never have considered buying individual components (motherboard, processor, graphics card, memory, hard drive, disk drives, etc) and putting them together. But with encouragement and guidance, I overcame that mental barrier and built a device that lasted over a decade. I was able to add memory to it and replace the hard drive.
Eventually it became too feeble to handle modern software, and the power supply couldn't support a more powerful processor. I gave it to a charity that refurbished old electronics. Since then, I have built two more desktops, each lasting over 10 years. One is still going strong. I have also purchased ready-made computers, and they have been of greatly inferior quality.
I don't know when manufacturers decided that hot melt glue was preferable to screws for holding devices together. Probably when people demanded waterproof phones. Right to repair is forcing manufacturers to go back to screws, so even if the users can't replace components on a motherboard, they can swap out the motherboard - as we used to do with BlackBerrys 15 years ago.
I had the same experience. I pored through catalogs looking at motherboards, cases, add-on boards, etc. I built my first computer that way and started my company on it. I still have it today on a shelf in the back of a closet. I keep thinking I'll put it in a display case one day in our lobby. I haven't heard of hot melt glue being used in computers, but every time I open a chassis I'm surprised at the latest innovation to reduce cost and assembly time. I don't always agree with them, but I'm sure all of these changes are done for these reasons, and manufacturers are making a knowledgeable tradeoff between advantages and disadvantages. Nothing is done arbitrarily. In my industry reliability and ruggedness are everything, so everything I've been saying here about cost relates to the consumer world, not my own industry. I'm only now finally learning that many of our customers don't care about cost, that's the least of their concerns. I wish I had realized this 10 years ago...
"Planned obsolescence" is mostly a myth subscribed to by anticapitalist tree hugger types who don't know how the modern world works and just generally hate big companies."
Thank you for insulting the intelligence of most of the commenters here, we sure appreciate when an expert lectures us on our mis-virtue.
Sigh. Seriously? Virtually none of us here are anticapitalist OR tree-huggers. We like big companies fine, we don't like being gouged or jobbed by them. And we know exactly how the modern business world works because many of us are part of that world.
To that end, we certainly know "planned obsolescence" when we see it. I know damn well it lives in my iPhone and MacBook Pro. To be clear, I love them and use them exclusively for personal and professional work. I made a fortune financially over the years by using both for my writing and photographic enterprises.
But their planned obsolescence is no myth. The cases and hardware will stand up for years, so they will not become obsolete easily. The software that powers them is a different matter, and THAT'S what makes the rest obsolete years before their time. How?
1. Companies quit supporting products more than X years old. Someone happy with his or her iPhone 5 or 6 can no longer get software upgrades, and if the phone quits working, tough luck. A user prefers Windows 95 to any modern version? If the Blue Screen of Death shows up, you're shit out of luck, 95 is no longer supported by MS tech. The physical computer itself would click along another 20 years--aluminum lasts forever. But the inability to run new software on older components means you have to toss everything and start over.
2. The constant software updates, patches, and fixes--day after day for Microsoft products, week after week for Apple--introduces their own bugs, which then have to be fixed, and mixes micro-clashes into the code. That becomes so corrosive after a while that the product no longer works. For a couple years you can trash everything back to factory specs and rebuild. After X number of years . . .
3. See No. 1: the product is "too old and therefore not supported."
This is the "planned obsolescence" you claim doesn't exist. Of course it exists, just not on the physical side, as titanium will last forever. It's on the software side.
Same thing with cars. Modern vehicles are rolling computers filled with not mechanical linkages and parts, but modules. One module fails, it can take the rest of the modules with it.
In days not long ago, if a door latch broke, I could still drive my car till I fixed it or the shop fixed it. Now, if the computer module containing the door latch fails, the car becomes inoperable because that module also controls brakes, fuel injector, and other essentials.
You seem to be the one on this page who doesn't understand that "planned obsolescence" comes in forms beyond metal fatigue and stripped screws.
Yep. Enjoyed your #1 through #3.
And I'll add my personal #4 - the 'constant upgrades' etc..being thrust upon us are often not as good as the 'old' stuff it's replacing. It gets bewildering when faced with something new overnight on your phone, and what you expect to see on your trusty app(s) isn't the same as what it was the day before. And when you do find it or relearn it, you realize it shouldn't have been replaced in the first place. Anyway, I'm ranting..Sorry!
Amen.
Your rants are welcome here, my friend. It appears that we and Jonathan are on the same page after all, which I learned only after some back and forth with him just now. So I happily withdraw any snark bullets shot his way by me!
I agree, the forced "improvements" can be really annoying. I don't have time to relearn things every week, and "improvements" are often only different, not better. Security upgrades, sure, those are welcome and needed. But functionality changes should have an easy way to opt out of.
I take great offense at your denigration of us tree huggers! I live in the forest, and there is nothing that fills me with greater joy than looking out at all these magnificent trees every day. It's a great balance for an otherwise suffocating office existence staring at a screen 15 hours a day.
Back to the topic, what you describe I see as a necessary tradeoff in return for innovation, utility, and general business efficiency. My company is similar to what you describe: We just can't afford to support every product forever. Should Ford still sell parts for their model T? What is the cutoff point? The answer is different for everyone and every industry. In business we have to make decisions like this all the time. At some point we have to abandon certain customers and products and move on to the next arena. No product comes with a promise of forever, except maybe a cast iron skillet.
Regarding the nonstop software upgrades and even software obsolescence: In addition to the obvious desire to keep up with the competition and add new features, I think the main justification is to keep up with hackers who are getting ever more sophisticated, necessitating constant security patches or downright replacement of software that can no longer ensure reasonable security. For this we have the criminal element to thank. We should be appreciative that software vendors take on the expense and effort to fight this battle on our behalf and provide us free updates to stay safe.
LOL!! I am a certified tree hugger as well, in that I love trees and consider firs and pines my spiritual brothers :-)
Good point on the Model T. But, there are a zillions aftermarket shops that will happily provide service on the good old T without violating Ford's warranty. (Well, you know what I mean.) Big Tech rarely, if ever, allows non-warranty-killing aftermarket service on its products. I'd be quite satisfied if Big Tech adopted an aftercare system that allows any repair service that meets an independent standard of X--such as the ASI standards for auto repairs, or Microsoft Certified for that product's repair--to be able to repair and upgrade any tech product without warranty violation. If aftermarkets can pick up that work, they'd be willing to pick up work on older products that are out of factory support.
Sorry for any snark in my original post, clearly we are on the same page.
'Today, technology advances so fast that everyone wants to replace their electronics often to get the latest features.'
Not everyone. I for one can't stand most of the latest updates or new OS thrust upon me for my Iphone or laptop simply because more often than not the updates do not improve the experience I have with these devices and even makes it worse.
Otherwise, an excellent post, Jonathan..
Great analysis and breakdown. I work in User Experience design, with a focus on digital product and thus, am concerned professionally with end user needs in both an abstract and concrete sense. While I applaud the vision of a bespoke physical aesthetic, and the importance of owner-accessible repair, it’s difficult for me to discount the decades of PC product design, development and testing that specifically synthesized expansive, critical user needs in terms of performance, consistency, interface accessibility, and portability.
'the Apple value proposition...."
Now that's funny.
Only to someone who doesn't understand how business works. Every business by definition is offering a value proposition. Buy this phone for $1,000, or buy this candy bar for $1, it's exactly the same. If the customer accepts the value proposition, he buys. The goal is to create the most powerful value proposition to get as many customers as possible with the greatest profit possible. Business 101.
I am.pretty sure he understands that. I am also pretty sure you missed his point.
Sure.
IF we had free markets.
My first thought when I saw the headline was that the concept screamed “luxury belief.” Then I saw that this kid is from Boulder, CO. Could not have stronger confirmation.
The retail cost of the products he advocates would have to be 5x those of other computers, and contrary to his screed against “planned obsolescence” (again, luxury belief!!!), the chips in gos won’t last appreciably longer.
He was inspired by historical trinkets that the super-rich owned as status symbols, and that’s what he’s building.
Exactly. These things are just collectables for rich people. They likely won't actually use them more than a few times. Then they'll go back to their regular computers that offer 10x the capabilities for 0.1x the price.
Years ago I bought a “dead” dehumidifier from a garage sale - took it apart oiled it up and it worked great - same with a bathroom fan - it’s replacement many years later was encased in plastic and when it died got thrown in the garage - consumers have been conditioned to throw things away - they can also be reconditioned to repair things again.
I’m confident it’s because there’s an extreme disconnect between the techies who can build computers and the I barely know what to call them I’m so alien to them, the fashionistas (that sounds wrong) who create luxury items for the wealthy.
There's def't a missing sweet spot for things like kitchen aides, cuisinarts, the classic pop-toast toaster, coffee machines, sewing machines, table saws, power drills, things that just have a motor and they spin - variable speeds - etc where updates aren't all that fast - the new kitchen aide that replaced my last kitchen aide does all of the same things, and there's no reason it shouldn't last as long or longer, be as repairable or more repairable etc.
But yeah many devices (hair dryers, curling irons, washing machines, refrigerators) are constantly getting better designed, better tech integration, etc. but there does seem to be a gap for endurance and repairability gap for them (ok maybe not hair dryers and curling irons) - but yes to fridges ( esp say mini fridges) being more repairable and enduring and likely not costing a whole lot more to do so.
Excellent comment.
Re: Apple and its success over the years.
I came to the computing world through room-size computers operating off programs coded onto punch cards. I was the first person in my company to put a PC on my table and a 10K hard drive on my desk. The monitor was an amber-colored, glorified TV screen.
The productivity of my group soared in comparison to others, particularly as regards quality and cost control. My PC was the source of our wisdom, and we figured out how to use the data to improve the entire manufacturing and rework processes.
A comparable Apple product was more than double the cost at the time. And as elegant as the Apple software might have been, a good grounding in mathematics allowed me to get the most out of 1-2-3, and MS Word allowed me efficiently to write the reports that upper management wanted to see.
I certainly would have found it difficult to justify the price of an Apple product. And, as the capabilities and speeds of computers doubled and tripled every few years, it was even more difficult to consider an "upgrade" unless there was significant added value to the latest edition.
The drive behind my experiences with upgrades has been hardware-oriented, not software. There were some basic software programs--Word and 1-2-3, specifically--that were extremely well thought out and extremely well executed. The learning curves on each of those were short.
I found hardware upgrades every four to five years got me a good return on my investment, and building my machine meant that I could easily salvage all of the peripherals hanging off the backs of the motherboards.
What astounded me then, and still has me shaking my head in wonder, is the cult-like devotion to Apple hardware to the point that many Apple users replace their equipment every time Apple wants to redress their hardware and sell it as must-have stuff to fools that want the newest just to have the latest and greatest.
In many ways, it is the cult that keeps Apple alive as, since the death of marketing genius Steve Jobs, they have not turned out a truly innovative product that warrants the price premiums that Apple likes to charge.
Make no mistake, Apple computers are good, and their software has an elegance to it that the PC world can only mimic. But why, if the mimed stuff does the same job at a significantly lower cost, buying Apple makes little sense.
Interesting article but hugely unrealistic. Only for the rich. Doesn’t go online but advertised on the internet. It’s like a million dollar diary.
He couldn’t have built his computer with his computer. He needed YouTube videos to solve problems…but his creation is unable to go online and watch YouTube videos.
I think one of the bigger aspects I resonated with were how his computers were stripping off all the distractions and leaving it with its core pieces. We're seeing this with how many others are leaving their smart phones and going back to flip phones and blackberries - ditching the bells and whistles that come with distractions.
That's the beauty of technology, it comes with the ability to change the world, but it can also tie your soul due to the cage of temptation that comes with it. When we learn to use the technology w/o being slave to distractions, we can really use the beauty that comes with the knowledge of the fruit of "good and evil"
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-beauty-of-good-and-evil
I finally bought a mobile phone. All it does is send and receive calls.
I like reading articles like this because it triggers thoughts like yours, not thoughts like “I should get a 100K wood computer.”
I went from a slide phone with an actual keyboard for texting to a "smart phone" for work purposes. I was able to search the internet for manufacturer's website, searching for accessibility of parts, and solutions to common problems. Anything other than that was a distraction.
When Verizon stopped supporting 3G, my husband and I finally had to upgrade to smartphones. But I still use mine primarily as a phone.
I admit it's nice to be able to do internet searches wherever I am. But I don't *want* to use my phone as a computer. I have a tablet if I need to compute away from home.
You know you can turn off all notifications on your computer with a single switch in settings, right? You don’t have to install or visit any social media sites. You can even put time limit usage restrictions on yourself you want.
This article sounds like someone who wanted a combination hobby/complaint factory and just chose this one.
I’m all for people making their own anything, but this is just an eccentric tinkerer not a grand philosophy.
Franklin O’Kanu
It seems to me that you are upside down. Surely the beauty of technology is not lack of it.
This article is a gem. The very best of the FP. Buried within a nice story about a quirky guy is a clever expose of the utter mendacity of Apple, the infuriating products it pushes and how far the evil Cook has taken it from Jobs's vision.
Proprietary systems contain the germ for its own failure! Apple is priced for the prosperous, but when times get tough Apple suffers. Plus, if it were not for production in China by slave labor, where would Apple be?
Still signaling its virtue and whining for racial equity even as Apple prospers from slavery.
Love you both a ton on here, but you guys definitely sound a little like loons weirdly fixated on one company you are free to patronize or not.
Aaron, there are other companies that I refuse to patronize because of systemic issues. It just so happens that Apple came up in this post, so Apple gets the bullseye treatment. While many criticize the garment industry for using child labor in Asia, they then use their slave produced iPhones to post their views. Go figure!
When Apple suffers Wall Street panics then consumers/people lose money in their retirement accounts.
This is the problem!
Can you refer us to evidence of widespread slave labor? I'm not denying it but I'd like to see proof, not just conjecture. 20 years ago there may have been widespread unfair labor practices, but in the last 1-2 decades the Asian manufacturing countries have come amazingly far in improving working conditions and pay. In fact many of my Taiwan business partners tell me that it's now cheaper to build in Taiwan again because of the increasing cost of factory labor in mainland China. Every factory I've ever visited in the last 10 years has been top notch quality, with no children anywhere. Upstream I can't say, maybe some component manufacturers like inductor winders are less noble.
What do you think of using prison laborers in the US at 85 cents an hour? This is standard practice in all 50 states, including the most "progressive" ones like California. Why is this tolerated? These are our own citizens, literally enslaved. Where is the outrage?
Finally! A computer for the Amish.
You have to pedal to power it.
Luddites.
It all sounded fantastic until discovering that these computers cost "tens of thousands" of dollars to buy.
And can't be used to go online. Sort of like a typewriter with storage.
IBM Selectric...or Olivetti, non-electric??
With it's rotating ball of characters.
And don't forget the extra font units that you have to buy!
Ha. This comment is lost to anyone below a certain age!
There's no end to it. It would be best to connect your bank acct. to the company and they can send you whatever is new and take the money from your acct.
TRS-80
I'm an analogue person, stuck in a digital world, and don't know what a TRS-80 is.
Give me a knob, slider, or lever and I'll figure it out. Give me a digital object and it's a foreign language. I once took a Fortran class and after 1 week I was completely lost.
Apple IIe, or IIc for the hip youngsters
LoL
I just love The Free Press. I read most of the article and was impressed by the devotion to aesthetic and longevity described therein. Then I read the comments and was impressed by the informed and intelligent counterpoints to the article. One can enjoy both (or many) sides of the debate. Once again, BRAVA Bari!
In a nut shell; great comment.
This is the only guy to ever visit the Arms and Armor exhibit with a girlfriend.
I once had a female friend who made it one hour…I stayed four more.
That made me cackle like Kamala. Thanks.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love this idea, and fully understand the probably out of reach price tag for most consumers, so I look forward to a next step perhaps. I would love my grandkids to have computers without access to the internet, but which could communicate with me, sending pictures and emails. One with word processing skills that would enable them to print papers for school and perhaps some method to create videos for educational purposes. I think having an esthetically appealing laptop which could become part of a traditional family great room would be really cool. And I fully support the whole right to repair movement too. Being a baby boomer, my life has straddled the repair shop era and the built in obsolescence era which I find to be despicable. Being only a generation removed from the Great Depression, I recall my parents and grandparents talking about how things were made to last and everyone knew at least a bit about such things as home repair. If this idea really takes off, I will be surprised but pleased. It may be far too late, but I would enjoy a renewal of a slower pace of life for all ages...
One can have whatever pace of life one wants. You have to decide what you're willing to do without and what's important to you.
Of course we can and do. More tools to make a slower pace & longer lasting equipment easier to come by might be nice in addition, however.
For example, our public education system is a disaster. I’m not sure my tax dollars are being put to best use by providing little kids with iPads and Mac books. I think one of the take aways from the insanity of COVID days is that kids do NOT learn best by sitting in front of screens at home or at school.
I do believe strongly in public education, but I am not a fan of teacher unions or such things as CRT. Higher teacher salaries yes! Better staffing so teachers actually have planning periods again, yes! Smaller and better working administrative offices, yes!
And last but not least, keeping gender identity and ideologies out of the schools is an absolute must. I am not writing from nostalgia. We need not go backwards. But something needs to happen and soon. We are bleeding teachers and students whose parents can afford private school. Those kids without that option deserve better as do our many hard working teachers keeping up the fight.
I’ve gone off subject except to say that computers in every child’s backpack & ones that are outdated almost every year are not a good idea.
School choice/vouchers. Competition breeds excellence. Monopolies are terrible for “consumers”.
But we cannot even get it through here in Texas where it is not only needed it is popular. The bashing of it was 2020 election quality.
Agree.
Troof
Why would you want to limit the ability of your grandchildren to explore and learn? The internet has collectively made the global population indescribably smarter and more capable. It comes with perils for sure, but the tradeoff is unquestioningly worthwhile.
Got kids? Got grands yourself?
I don’t think either.
Downthread people say it’s a typewriter. Actually it’s like one of those old word processors. In a wooden box.
It is. As is any other technological invention IMO is a tool. I am typing or searching, using my brain and my language ability. Just as I used my design skills with AutoCAD, which is a design and drafting tool you cannot utilize without having spatial design skills. Sure, it is a greatly superior tool. But unless someone is a billionaire with means for a custom-built PC in a shape of old clock, I don't see much value in this discussion. My income brackets allow me to consume only mass production stuff. Therefore, of course, I totally depend on their proprietary tactics. But I choose Apple because I find it easier to use, fully aware of pits and snares they prepared for me. it is my conscious choice - for convenience.
I loved word processors. I miss them.
The notion that someone will pass this luxury item on to their grandchildren seems extremely unlikely: technological advances will have moved so far beyond this format that it will be simply an odd piece of sculpture by then, like inheriting an early typewriter, or a Model T.
This seems more like a very high-end niche product for people with too much money, rather than a visionary new direction.
But perhaps I’m missing something.
My dad built beautiful furniture after a career as a Navy pilot and then tax assessor for California until Prop 13 ended that job! I loved everything he made and he often offered them to us, but since we live so far away weight and moving costs made it prohibitive.
Seems you hit the nail on the head, not missed it.
This is a bespoke typewriter that stores files but can’t connect to anything. This is a novelty project for the 1%. Personally I can’t trust a product that won’t publish its price. There are plenty of artisanal efforts and industrial design in the world. Products that are utilitarian and beautiful…furniture, clothing, architecture, even food. The tech world has to marry its design to functionality and use materials that are lighter, sleeker, faster. The “serenity” of this wooden computer is in its inability to go online. One can always use airplane mode.
All true.
Seems I read the right to repair really effects farm machinery where manufacturers have a lock on repairs costing farmers tens of thousands in higher than necessary repair costs.
And cars. The proprietary electronics and especially computers in cars are prone to malfunctions. What should be a simple headlight change is now a total PITA. Not so much technically difficult but designed to be such a drag as to discourage self repair. And even reasonable modifications can set off voltage gremlins which in turn freak out the ECU or canbus etc. causing in some cars for the entire system to fail due a voltage error which shouldn’t really affect anything to do with actual function of the vehicle🤬
This is why I still drive my year 2020 car- and because it still works.
Enjoy
“2020”? That’s only a few years old. Did you mean 2002? or pre-2000?
yep, 2000 not 2020- I blame Trump for the error
😂😂don’t it’s just a typo got nothing to do with President Trump - happy your 2020 model is still moving.
Thanks Obama!
Some guy in Florida
Auto Computer Exchange. Send in your box and a week later voila.
What? Like, unlocking?
Refurbishing IDM GEM BDM PCM ECM so forth. An amazingly capable team of widgetty geeks. If you own older vehicle/vehicles which utilize electronic engine or components control modules they're my go to. No funny business if they say its yes. Furthermore they 100% stand behind the repair work.
I use a desktop computer 90% of the time. And I've been building my own since the early '80s. It's wonderful to choose the case that you want based on it's beauty and functionality, and then to match all the components to exactly what you need. Yes, mine does have some lighting but it's serene soft blue lighting. And being a software engineer myself, my desktop computers typically last me 5 to 6 years at least as they are very powerful on day one and upgradable. After that, I typically pass them on to family members who use them for even more years. It's not unusual for the computer side bill to last for 12 or 14 years. I've also been using Linux exclusively since 2008. It's amazing how little power you need to run Linux for typical office type applications. I would never buy a computer off the shelf.
My youngest has built his own desktops from the time he was a boy. Of course it all baffled me. When I was a young lawyer secretaries typed out our court briefs and we spent long nights at the printer reading the proofs. How our world has changed in the last few decades....
Bruce Miller
In your law office, did you have a decent sized desk and bookcases? I would be surprised if you didn’t.
Did you do any word processing yourself? For the last 28 years of my 42 year practice I had a desktop computer. I used Dragon Dictate to compose the first draft of all letters. These letters were usually composed before the clients so that any errors could be efficiently corrected.
Eventually I was able to use the same system to prepare the first draft of pleadings and factums. Proofreading one’s own work is always difficult but my secretaries picked up and corrected the inevitable errors.
It was a very large NYC law firm. In the early 1980s we had vast staff of secretaries, proof readers, paralegals, night staff etc. all toiling away manually. Then cane the introduction of the selectric typewriters followed shortly by office wide word processing, I think one was called ATEC. Within a decade we were heading to desktops. And soon thereafter (or it seems like it) we were doing our own research and composing briefs on laptops. And now I'm in "emeritus" status. How did that happen?
I was one step away from having what was quaintly called a "secretary" (and/or an office with an actual door) my entire time in office duties. Back in the field now; I am told there are no more secretaries. Or doors. Something lost. Can't say exactly what.
I'm a few years behind you but still remember word processing staffs and even a few Selectrics in our large Chicago firm. They made us get desktops in the early 90s, but they couldn't really do much of anything. Then Windows 3.1 came out and we got to struggle with WordPerfect, luckily we still had secretaries so THEY could struggle with WordPerfect instead.
Now and for the past few years I'm happy doing everything- research, writing, dep prep etc- from a ThinkPad in my home office. My firm, about 35 lawyers, makes me pay for a corner office that I never use. I love my ThinkPad, it's worked for years. I'll get another one when it slows down.
Good you have the skills and time to build your own. Funny............is " It's not unusual for the computer side bill to last for 12 or 14 years" suppose to be "computers I built"? Is this a technology glitch? I only point this out as more and more folks are depending on this type of technology (voice recognition) that screws up all the time. Which is going to be a problem of humans dependency on technology.
Yes it was a technology glitch. I was using voice translation and I didn't notice until I posted. The problem with using your phone to write...
By the time Linux became widely available I was tired of having to learn a new language. DOS was the first, and then Windows 3.1. After that I was not really interested in more. Windows ended my learning curve, and Apple's OS was just plain too expensive.
I still use a 2012 Dell laptop with Win. 7. Mostly for backup when my HP with Win 10 fails yet again. It's always a hardware failure.
Who penned that old line about if cars crashed as often as computers.......?
Oh, c'mon. I go back to punching my own Hollerith card decks and I've had ONE irrecoverable failure. Cars, on the other hand...
I realized long ago that one part of the solution to the enormous waste in our world is a higher focus on quality and personalization.
If mass production leads to mass consumotion and mass waste, then the farthest antipode is this: individual creation, individual use, and only absolutely necessary waste.
My husband and I use our daughter’s 2014 MacBook Air and we’re good. We’ve replaced the battery once and it’s starting to drain more quickly again but we just keep it charged. We only use it for surfing the web, checking my email etc. He has his own computer for work and I’m a Pre-K teacher so I don’t have to do spreadsheets or power points for my 4 year olds. (Maybe by the end of the year they’ll be ready for some). 😃😆