The cost of Electronics

03/03/2026
From the Desk of BigMike

As my friends can attest, I am a nerd, a geek, a computer electronics maven. You couldn't exactly call me an early adopter, though, because I never buy tech in version 1.0, but if they make it, I've probably had one or considered it anyway. I have closets full of junk I have not thrown away yet to prove it. Ask my wife. We don't have linen closets; we have electronics closets.

The myth is that you can buy a computer and it just works (insert I'm a PC commercial with Intel sound here), and the facts are that I have never found that to be true. Never. As a matter of fact, I've never had anything that was truly maintenance-free, and never had a computer or any electronics at all that did not require some level of care to keep it operating. Remember when car batteries had those tops you could remove to refill the water? Then along came "maintenance-free" batteries. Still had to replace them every 4 years or so, huh?

So, no repairs and no keeping them full, just plan them to be obsolete on a twice-as-frequent scale?

The thing that intrigues me, though, is that NO ONE considers reliability, repair costs, or expected lifespan when buying electronics, televisions, or computers. Some of the most studious people I know research TV prices and components until they can sell them, but when they buy a printer, laptop, or desktop computer, the only thing they look at is price. The only thing in the AD is the price. The only thing looked at with any diligence is price. I get these phone calls, and all I hear is "...And I only paid $XXX for it." Good for you.

Here's what I mean.

Look at your brand of Laptop or desktop. Chances are, in the next year or two, you may need to replace a power supply on your desktop or the screen on your laptop. Why? Because on desktops, heat is never exhausted as fast as it should be, because it always increases the noise level unless you use a more expensive solution (like water cooling), they usually do not have enough fans, and almost no one ever takes the back or side off their computer and vacuums the dog hairs out of it.

And the laptop screen, why? Because we lug the thing around like a woman's purse, forget what it is, and stop putting them away in their padded cases, and sooner or later, fat Uncle Bill will sit on it. That's why.

With every new generation of products, there is also a planned obsolescence factor and a planned discard/replace factor to consider. Yeah, the printer was only $18. The ink is $75 a cartridge, and you cannot find it 3 years from now, but hey, IT WAS CHEAP !!

Now, go to your computer manufacturer's website and price a power supply for your computer. Chances are you are like everybody else and have one of 2 or 3 major desktop brands (Compaq/HP, Dell, Asus) or one of the top 5 laptop brands (IBM-Lenovo, Toshiba, Compaq/HP, Dell, Asus). Here is what you will find. Take a stress pill and price a new screen, if you can even figure out which one your system uses.

Parts are expensive. Putting them in is confusing. Having them serviced costs about twice as much as the parts do. Oh, and parts for one model do not fit parts for another model or brand. HP and IBM were once famous for using single-brand power supplies that would not fit any other machine. Now you start thinking. Since you only paid $XXX for your computer in the first place, should you spend $XXX to fix it? After all, it's a toaster, isn't it? A better non-brand-specific power supply is probably 50 % of what IBM or HP charges for the mediocre system you have, but hey, IT WAS CHEAP!! Don't worry about your files or your software; you will have to re-buy and reinstall. Just throw it away and keep going. Think e-machines at Wal-Mart. Cheap and plentiful too!!

The sad fact is this.

Every Tech company can add sensors, standardize parts, and simplify replacement. Everything could be a plug-in module if they wanted it to be. That would not keep you coming back to the supply chain to buy a new product, though, would it? Every product made could be engineered to be simple to maintain. Have you ever looked at the back of any TV, radio, or virtually any electronics where it says "NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE? Yeah, well, right about there is where the door ought to be that allows you to open it and vacuum it out.

 

 

Ah well. I like getting paid. Keep buying netbooks, tablets, and touch screens.

Keep sitting on them. Keep ignoring the dog hairs. It's a lucrative business.

Thankx for reading My Rant,
BigMike