Why Do Gadgets Break?

TurboTurnip writes "A post on the Crave blog at CNET asks: Why are modern consumer electronics so easily broken? It argues that the 21st Century is 'The Age of the Flimsy' where 'your gadgets will simply break within the year.' Post author Chris Stevens talks about how computers are fast enough for the average user, and the only way to make consumers upgrade is 'increasingly poor build quality ... Engineers have built obsolescence into mass-produced technology since the 1920s. There are two kinds of planned deterioration in a product: one is technical, the other is stylistic.' The writer compares the build quality of a 20 year-old IBM XT to the modern Motorola Razr phone and concludes that modern gadgets are 'delicate, beautiful supermodels that can't go the distance.'"

Supermodel Gadget.

[teiresias]

Where can I pick up one of those delicate, beautiful supermodels gadgets everyone's talking about these days? At an Apple store?

Keyboards

[bmo]

Keyboards these days are neither supermodels nor even remotely stylish. Yet they are exceedingly flimsy. If you bludgeon someone over the head with a keyboard these days, it simply shatters into dozens of pieces. The old XT keyboard, however, could have been used to dispatch Jimmy Hoffa.

--
BMO

SO YOU BUY MORE OF THEM... consumers

[inkhaton]

it's obvious... youre living in america. Do you think ipod nanos didnt exist 7 years ago. Of course they did... but why sell someone ONE mp3 player when you can sell them 5 or 6 of increasing HD space and smaller sizes... that way everyone enjoys getting something "better" while you sell the same product 6 times to each customer. Love America

I still have an XT - 3 of them!

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

I will testify to their sturdiness! They are being used as blocks, to hold up my 1962 Jaguar XJ12 - itself another of those time-honored robust technologies, in contrast to today's delicate and tempermental flim-flams!

Oh yeah?

[MillionthMonkey]

I found my Razr after it was missing for three weeks. Somebody had buried it in the backyard.

There was not a scratch on it, and it worked just fine after a recharge.

This guy must be using one of the pink ones- those are sissy phones.

Re:Keyboards

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Hoffa dissapeared YEARS before the introduction of the 88-Key!

The funny part

[ArchieBunker]

Is seeing how much older electronics are still around compared to new. I have tube amplifiers that are over 50 years old and still operate because the parts are easily servicable. IMHO most of the electronics that fail early are due to bad solder joints. Your average tv is probably assembled by children in an open air factory somewhere in the pacific. Parts are bought from different suppliers constantly to save a penny here or there. Remember the recent rash of motherboard failures due to leaking capacitors?

Really?

[also-rr]

I accidentally washed and spin dried my new USB stick and it still works. You go try that with a 5 1/2" floppy and tell me how well that works out for you.

Re:Folks want them cheap.

[Anonymous Coward]

And 11 of those 35 dollar DVD players comes out to $385 dollars.

They're up by 15 bucks, not counting for inflation.

Re:Use a bit of care...

[cerberusss]

If I buy a mobile phone, it's because I want to bring it with me to become mobile, not to keep it inside original packaging with temperatures between 15-25 celcius and low air humidity.

Welcome to the real world. I wished for a chick with long legs and a tight pussy but instead I got an ostrich and a cat who lets me pay everything.

Mmmmm, valves!

[Bloke down the pub]

listening a 30 year old stereo with 20 year old speakers

And not hearing it very well with your 40 year old ears...

Oblig

[muellerr1]

And will they run Linux?

Re:Keyboards

[StarfishOne]

Keyboards not supermodels?

Doh! That explains why sometimes it is so hard to hit the right buttons...

Re:Made to Break

[Bloke down the pub]

I've read it. And just after I finished it, they brought out a 2nd edition!

Re:Supermodel Gadget.

[_anomaly_]

I've upgraded SuSE and FC annually since installing them, I'm not saying, I'm just saying is all

What're you saying again?

Re:Use a bit of care...

[scheming daemons]

I would be willing to pay a lot more to get a phone where I don't have to worry about random breakage any time I fall on it.

Every time you fall on it?

Man... that just sounds weird. Do you fall that much?

Re:Use a bit of care...

[timeOday]

With you until "being dropped in salt water." WTF???

Obviously he uses his laptop for piracy.

Re:Supermodel Gadget.

[mblase]

I think Apple's got one here [apple.com].

Re:Is this surprising?

[jawtheshark]

inefficient 4M+

Look, I've got a nice Ricoh CL2000 with nice power management. It cost a lot of money, and it will have to last for another 5 years. So, I'm okay with power savings... but the 4M+ goes into power management too. You don't hear them, and they don't use much power when not used. I know, I was in an office where they had 4 of those powered continously.

Don't diss old "office printers", they are perfect for light-home usage.

Besides, I doubt your new PC uses less power than your old one. Especially not at peak usage, and your old one did have power managment features... So that won't make a difference.