DEBATE: All general purpose laptops should be easily upgradable or be banned from import

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › DEBATE: All general purpose laptops should be easily upgradable or be banned from import

Dynamic

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#275620 1-Sep-2020 08:30

I wouldn't call myself a greenie by any stretch of the imagination, but like many people my views have been influenced by a greater focus on sustainability. I am grateful for that. In the industry of which I have the greatest knowledge, IT and computing, it has been bothering me for a while that we have a number of general purpose computers whose usable lifespan is shortened by the inability to be easily upgraded by a knowledgeable end user.

If all general purpose computers had the ability to have their RAM and primary drive and battery upgraded by your local techy teenager with a screwdriver set, a spare 5 minutes, and a hankering for a pizza as a reward for his or her time, I think this would give all of these machines a longer potential useful life, even if they get retired to Grandma playing Scrabble online and video chatting to the grandkids every other day.

I'm not picking on brands here, but the ones I have seen and recall off the top of my head are the:

ThinkPad Carbon X1 (original)
HP X2 1013
Microsoft Surface Pro
Apple iMac (obviously not a portable machine)

If NZ & Aussie gave 3 years notice that the import of machines that were non-upgradable would be banned, I think this would be sufficient time for manufacturers to catch on that consumers are starting to push back against 'planned obsolescence', and for other countries to follow suit. I detest the idea of 'nanny state' telling me what I can and cannot do, but I also detest that we have become a disposable society. There has to be a balance.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome, both for and against. :)

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#2554597 1-Sep-2020 08:33

Why remove choice?

Making memory/SSD etc user accessible is a trade off in terms of hardware industrial design, increasing weight, thickness etc

alasta

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#2554598 1-Sep-2020 08:33

As someone who knows very little about computers I wouldn't have a clue how to upgrade one, and wouldn't trust an unqualified person to do it for me.

I always hand down my laptops when I replace them so they have a long service lifespan without ever needing to be upgraded.

kobiak

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#2554606 1-Sep-2020 09:00

I'm not sure what option is better:

- make everything replaceable and produce spare parts, sell millions of spare parts (RAM, CPU, SSD/M2, BATTERY). Allow anyone to purchase and replace new parts and don't give a damn where they dispose old parts
- make everything solid as, apart from SSD, like phones. Offer 10-20-30% discount if customer returns old hardware to the store

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wellygary

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#2554649 1-Sep-2020 09:04

nathan:
Making memory/SSD etc user accessible is a trade off in terms of hardware industrial design, increasing weight, thickness etc

Pretty much this,

Everyone want things that are smaller and lighter, this increasingly necessitates designs that have more integrated components...

Also, NZ has no leverage, its market is so small I imagine most large manufacturers would simply stop supplying the NZ market, those that continues would likely demand a premium price for the machines that would fit within the "NZ upgradability rules"...

So the outcome would be less choice and higher prices..... can't really think that would go down well..

Also the merger of laptops and tablets causes you a significant boundary issue, and unless you simply want to exempt anything that has a touchscreen and can call itself a tablet...

vexxxboy

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#2554650 1-Sep-2020 09:09

Catch 22 . If you make them easy to upgrade then people wont have to buy new ones which means companies will stop making new ones and soon there wont be any to upgrade.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

xpd

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#2554666 1-Sep-2020 09:13

vexxxboy:

Catch 22 . If you make them easy to upgrade then people wont have to buy new ones which means companies will stop making new ones and soon there wont be any to upgrade.

Only to a degree - if the laptop is old and slow, they'll get fed up and want faster, and have to buy new.

HDD and battery, yes, I agree these should be user-replaceable as these are the most likely to fail/expire.

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#2554668 1-Sep-2020 09:20

Interesting viewpoint. I don't think the status quo is terrible - for flagship laptops like Surface Pro and Macbook Air, the durability/performance/form arguably requires some proprietary or hard to repair parts. We have the choice of laptops with more traditional form with standardised upgradable components, with only the battery being proprietary. I wouldn't want to stifle innovation with requirements that effectively outlaw the likes of Surface Pros (or the next laptop form factor that hasn't been invented yet)

Given that second hand laptops are almost inevitably going to lower performance purposes, perhaps these sort of rules could focus on batteries alone. A well built mid-spec machine could meet 'Grandma' requirements for years 3-9 with a battery replacement every 3 years. A requirement for a replaceable battery could possibly still be achieved with restricting design innovation too much. Standardized batteries would be amazing, but possibly to restricting on design.

Of course, NZ introducing these rules would be a disaster, as the global manufacturers would just stop selling to us rather than respond to our unique requirements. Would be a classic case for the EU though

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Rikkitic

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#2554671 1-Sep-2020 09:22

I don't know if this suggestion is doable as proposed, but I endorse the idea. Right now I have a stack of laptops I don't know what to do with. They work perfectly well but are just too old to meet modern needs. I doubt kids would want them. Not sure if they would be useful in developing countries. Seems a shame to just scrap them.

Our choices are already being limited in some areas due to environmental considerations. Think disposable plastic bags. I wouldn't mind some choices also being limited here, if the trade-off is worth it.

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gehenna

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#2554680 1-Sep-2020 09:39

If you need to upgrade a general purpose laptop then your purposes aren't general anymore, is my opinion.

Handsomedan

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#2554688 1-Sep-2020 09:53

I think that all laptops in particular should be able to have the SSD/HDD, RAM and battery replaced by an knowledgeable end user, however the warranty should be void at that point.

I agree though, that there will be a situation where batteries, HDD's etc will enter landfill and be unlikely to be recycled in any meaningful way.

Personally, I could just about upgrade the RAM in my iMac (circa 2011) and have done so. Could I update a PC/Laptop? Probably not. But I am sure my kids could.

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#2554689 1-Sep-2020 09:55

Rikkitic:

I don't know if this suggestion is doable as proposed, but I endorse the idea. Right now I have a stack of laptops I don't know what to do with. They work perfectly well but are just too old to meet modern needs. I doubt kids would want them. Not sure if they would be useful in developing countries. Seems a shame to just scrap them.

Our choices are already being limited in some areas due to environmental considerations. Think disposable plastic bags. I wouldn't mind some choices also being limited here, if the trade-off is worth it.

Off-Topic, I know, but would a local low-decile school have use for them? If they can access the internet, they can do Google Docs based learning.

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gehenna

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#2554690 1-Sep-2020 09:56

Not so practical anymore when a lot of modern devices have storage and memory built into the motherboard.

BlinkyBill

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#2554696 1-Sep-2020 10:24

Only when selling cheap and short-lived clothing is banned at the Warehouse, when Bunnings is banned from selling cheaply built power tools, when Briscoes is forced to stock only quality and long-lasting household appliances, when sugary drinks in plastic bottles are banned from sale, when Vodafone and others are banned from off-shoring help-desk services , when Chorus etc are banned from exploiting cheap labour for internet provision in suburbs.

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#2554712 1-Sep-2020 10:55

Disagree. Let the consumer and the market decide what they want.

Behodar

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#2554718 1-Sep-2020 11:01

gehenna:

Not so practical anymore when a lot of modern devices have storage and memory built into the motherboard.

That's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy... essentially you're saying that it's difficult to upgrade a PC because the manufacturers have made them difficult to upgrade.

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