Today's computers should be good for 20 years

[Read-Only]

Simple- Laptop Hard Drives - they are manufactured using a set of thin GLASS plates coated with a super-thin sheet of steel on either side, providing the magnetic element.

However, unlike the Aluminum used in desktop hard drives, glass is not magnetically dead... so data corruption can occur MUCH more easily. Plus, the drives are HIGHLY susceptible to vibration, which occurs whenever you pick the laptop up while it is still powered on.

True. And they still use discrete components on motherboards and in power supplies - and those things come in varying degrees of reliability. My youngest son is an IT service tech and he's told me they've seen a rash of component problems in the past year - mostly related to capacitor failures (leaking, shorted, etc.).

[KilljoyKlown]

If the article below can be believed a true personal AI machine might not be that far away. I'm thinking it could be my new best friend.

Your Big Blue Brain on a Silicon Chip

[Buddha12]

pick any component out of a computer and tell me how a manufacturer can intentionally design it to fail

Heat kills everything inside a computer over time and the manufacturers know it. They also know that they don't build the state of the art computers for people because they are always building something better every 6 months. I think they are 5 years ahead of everyone but only sell products that are 6 months ahead so they can keep "improving" their products for everyone to buy an improved model and a newer model that only newer types of software can be used with.

[Gustav]

Simple- Laptop Hard Drives - they are manufactured using a set of thin GLASS plates coated with a super-thin sheet of steel on either side, providing the magnetic element.

ahh
i see
a deliberate choice to shorten shelf life
i should find a offshore supplier of these drives, use aluminum and corner the market

Plus, the drives are HIGHLY susceptible to vibration, which occurs whenever you pick the laptop up while it is still powered on.

another example of "designed to fail" and certainly not a limitation of existing technology. we had choices and settled for a spinning disc

True. And they still use discrete components on motherboards and in power supplies - and those things come in varying degrees of reliability.

the other option is an integrated circuit which is more reliable, lasts longer and costs around the same? this alternative is not utilized because....?

Heat kills everything inside a computer over time and the manufacturers know it.

ok thats totally evil
they designed it to generate heat so it will fail sooner
a vast conspiracy has been exposed

[Repo Man]

ok thats totally evil
they designed it to generate heat so it will fail sooner
a vast conspiracy has been exposed

No, they design it knowing that it would last longer if they took better steps to dissipate the heat (better airflow, larger fans, larger heat sinks, etc.) and knowingly do not take those steps because it would increase the manufacturing costs, and the final retail price. Marketing a low end lap top as more likely to be working five years after the date of purchase, while costing $50.00 more than a competitor's (while having the same, or nearly identical specs), is not a winning market strategy.

[Gustav]

so
designed to be affordable and competitive or designed to fail?

[Repo Man]

so
designed to be affordable and competitive or designed to fail?

Those aren't mutually exclusive qualities. How about not designed to last any longer than marketing projects it will need to? Or, engineers specifying better quality capacitors, MOSFETs, heat sinks, etc., only to be overruled by the accounting department?

[KilljoyKlown]

No, they design it knowing that it would last longer if they took better steps to dissipate the heat (better airflow, larger fans, larger heat sinks, etc.) and knowingly do not take those steps because it would increase the manufacturing costs, and the final retail price. Marketing a low end lap top as more likely to be working five years after the date of purchase, while costing $50.00 more than a competitor's (while having the same, or nearly identical specs), is not a winning market strategy.

There's a large after market for a variety extra cooling kits. For people that like to crank up their CPU's for max performance the water cooling kit (expensive) is a good cooling method. But less expensive kits that contain more and better fans and/or better heat sinks. I think you can even get a cooling kit similar to a refrigerator cooler.

But simple maintenance like opening your computer and cleaning the dust out about every 6 months or so really helps.

[Gustav]

strange how i am offended by the semantics of "designed to fail"
perhaps i am an uber capitalist nitpicking communist soundbites

[Kittamaru]

Gustav, any true enthusiast can tell you just how "fail" most pre-built systems are

[Syzygys]

I have ran into a quote, that kind of made me start this thread:

"Advances in technology are drastic in the beginning and then they taper off due to changes being negligible and enhancements being minor (eg HDTV)."