Greetings from an expat Canadian eH

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SBQ

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#243896 8-Jan-2019 00:06

I've been living in NZ for almost 20 years but born and raised in Canada. My venture to NZ came to a similar bout as my father leaving NZ to Canada. So in the family sense we've done a full circle.

We all have interest in tech. But I think my primary interest has to be related to Finance / stock market investing. However since living in NZ i've found talking about investments in shares (particularly US equities) is not widely accept ; the primary asset for investing i've found in NZ is in real estate.

As for computers and gadgets, I prefer older gear because i've found newer is not always better. I'm sad that there are no new laptops today using the 4:3 aspect ratio screen. So I tend to hold on my Lenovo T61 and X61 as they were the last of the 4:3 screen laptops. Also how come newer laptops are using fewer keys on the keyboard and gone lazy by removing LED lights to show HD activity? I could go on...

B

PeterReader

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#2156026 8-Jan-2019 00:06

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#2156027 8-Jan-2019 00:06

Welcome to Geekzone!

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RunningMan

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#2156039 8-Jan-2019 06:14

Welcome, eh

dc2daylight

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#2194398 9-Mar-2019 12:52

Welcome to Geekzone (and New Zealand). I've just awakened my membership here myself after a long hiatus so in a sense I'm new as well.

I completely concur with you about older tech being better than newer tech, at least in terms of build quality. A huge generalisation of course, but at the PCB level since high quality OEMs and Brands started having to assemble in China to compete internationally; it seems that low quality componentry such as Capacitors and sometimes cloned ICs have become the norm. I'm thinking here of general late 1990s electronics versus general late 00s electronics. It's not that Chinese companies can't do high quality componentry but more that the combination of tight competition for manufacturers has resulted in such low profit margins that even fancy brands will go for a noname component over a high quality and perhaps Japanese one every time it would seem.

At the very least, the probable huge recycling movement of the future (during possible large economic slumps) will boost sales of Japanese/North American/European electronic componentry for simple repairs. Made to last - by the end user...

SBQ

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#2194519 9-Mar-2019 15:12

dc2daylight:

Welcome to Geekzone (and New Zealand). I've just awakened my membership here myself after a long hiatus so in a sense I'm new as well.

I completely concur with you about older tech being better than newer tech, at least in terms of build quality. A huge generalisation of course, but at the PCB level since high quality OEMs and Brands started having to assemble in China to compete internationally; it seems that low quality componentry such as Capacitors and sometimes cloned ICs have become the norm. I'm thinking here of general late 1990s electronics versus general late 00s electronics. It's not that Chinese companies can't do high quality componentry but more that the combination of tight competition for manufacturers has resulted in such low profit margins that even fancy brands will go for a noname component over a high quality and perhaps Japanese one every time it would seem.

At the very least, the probable huge recycling movement of the future (during possible large economic slumps) will boost sales of Japanese/North American/European electronic componentry for simple repairs. Made to last - by the end user...

I could write a whole book on the issues about newer computing why older tech seems to be more sensible than today. One of my biggest gripes is the radical change in 'business ' laptops which have become very much like consumer laptops with no real distinction in features ; other than using a top spec CPU and GPU.

As I sit here typing on my Lenovo X61 - I fail to see why laptop makers have given up the "Drop Dock" style docking station in return of going USB-C where the current definition of a docking station is to physically plug in a USB-C cable (that is a glorified USB hub) to the laptop; and to imagine the price you would pay for this USB Hub Dongle as better solution for business users on the go (from home to office daily).

What is wrong keeping separate rows of keys on the keyboard for dedicated function? Ie the FN buttons? i'm seeing more and more laptops that have FEWER buttons. Too cheap to make the power button larger. Too cheap to have dedicated LED lights for HD / Wifi / BT / Cell / Sleep Hib / AC Power ? I understand from a consumer point of view they could care less. But in business, we had an industry standard where productivity matters and if the user is forced to press more buttons to access some FN keys etc. then that is far from being productive.

We use a fleet of Canon BJC-80 and BJC-85 portable ink jet printers. Why is it today we have new portable ink jets that inflate a higher maintenance or usage cost? Such as the Epson one that not only you replace the print head and ink all in one, but also have to replace some silly ink catcher waste tank? Oh did I say how much more difficult they've made refilling the ink tanks in these new printers? The old BJC-85 printers had non such chip inside that HP has to make your printer quit after an expiration date. Lots of landfill there.

Yes I was caught up in the bad capacitor era having a couple of old mainboards fail. If lucky you could spend the time recapping but risky and generally not worth the effort.

I've read that maybe Dell is looking to make laptops that are 3:2 aspect screen ratio. Gee... I wonder why?

dc2daylight

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#2195124 10-Mar-2019 15:50

With regard to the failing motherboards, I've had 3 that have failed from bad caps, purchased several used 'good quality' vintage desktops where this is the failure cause, and attempted to fix several laptops (just magically failed a month or two after the warranty ran out) with intermittent poweron issues in the regulator board. With those laptops which were always Compaq, HP or Dell I just gave up and pulled all the data off them for clients.Switchmode power supplies love to emit "magic smoke" and take out other more pricey components as well, all because a chinese company copied a chemical formula wrongly, perhaps by design with a few tweaks which would allow further degradation of the electrolyte chemically after a typical warranty period.

At the time I wouldn't have bothered doing a board level repair but these days I do out of a combination of sheer determination for the thrill of success/probable borderline S&M self frustration kicks - and more confidence with my repair skills. Recycling just feels good to me.

My gripe to add to your ones about the status LEDs would be - the continual design approach to softswitch everything! Eg mic/line in dual functionality,webcams which can't be disabled and no hardware kill switch for radio modules which apart from the security issues just drain sheer power from batteries like nothing else. Eg Wifi and Bluetooth. I mean how much does a multi-way dip switch with protective plastic covers cost a manufacturer compared to writing buggy custom software utilities which only work under one OS, purely to turn something off or on?

I've had very good longevity from Gigabyte motherboards and their certified high quality caps, and Asus seem to have some good board designs with the same premium feature. The thing is though - in the 90s such a component choice would have been standard instead of something we have to pay extra for!

Totally with you on the printing cartidge ripoff situation as I'm sure other consumers and techs here would be too. Of course for large resellers and office supply companies, it probably keeps a fair few retainer salaries ticking over daily, excuse my cynicism.

The old HP Laserjet series of B&W soho market printers were and are exceptionally good in terms of ink economy I've found, and even sport a sexy centronics parallel interface (for dedicated DMA purposes on a busy motherboard south bridge) apart from the usual USB and LAN options. One to snap up when around secondhand.

Maybe you should actually write that book - on recycled paper and as an ebook. It's probably a niche category which would actually sell, if the history aspect of the electronic engineering choices was covered in detail. :-)