Planned Obsolescence

thecreator

thecreator

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About 16 months ago I bought a brand new top of the range Toshiba Laptop. I took care of it during to whole time that I had it, packed it in a computer bag when not being used, always used dry hands when handling, never bumped, kept dust free, in fact it still looks to be brand new.

So you can probably understand my annoyance when the monitor just suddenly went black, and stopped working. It works in combination with an external monitor, so now it's is basically just a low powered desktop. (1 year warranty :( , not too keen on having a computer technician looking through my work files anyway)

I had a similar issue with a nokia N8, although in that case it was the camera that broke (I bought the N8 specifically for the camera) the rest of the phone worked ok. luckily the camera broke within the 2 year warranty period, so I took it back to the store, and they sent it off. 3 weeks later it comes back, No longer works at all, they claim water damage.

The phone has never been wet, the optus store says "warranty now void fuck you"

Now my current smart phone is a Huawei with android. Works fine for calls, text, maps, and internet browsing. It's certainly not as good as an Iphone, Samsung, etc but if its going to only last a year or so, I'd rather pay $50 than $800

I miss the products that last until I'm ready to upgrade them, unlike some that suddenly die for no apparent reason. I have walkmans, vhs players, and old computers from 20 years ago packed away in storage that still function, but no longer of use to me.

Know of any modern companies that produce products with that kind of reliability?



Cliffs; 1. Boycott Toshiba
 
My low-to-mid range Toshiba laptop has been going strong for 2 and a half years, and it's been put through heavy use ever since I've owned it: lots of school work, lots of watching movies and wasting time on the internet, and I'm still happy with it's performance.
 
I've had great luck with Gateway laptops. One that I took to Iraq in 05 still works actually.
 
Still sometimes see old VW beetles, and kombis cruising around
 
I've had the same Toshiba since 2010 , you just ran into bad luck TS
 
It's not an uncommon practice. It's not a coincidence it costs nearly as much - sometimes more - to fix things than to just buy a new one.
 
I'm an engineer and this is taught in school (not focused on but the concept is at least glossed over). Never worked for a company that designed around planned obsolescence, but I've also never worked for a giant corporation. That being said I know most electronics manufacturers do. A big part of it to is, when they come up with a new technology, they slowly sell it to the public in bits and pieces over stretched out time periods. They did this with Bluetooth for sure. They came up with lower energy Bluetooth with much longer ranges than we have now many years ago, but thought it best to release not as good tech and slowly make it better each year so people have to keep going out buying the slightly better one.
 
youre to precious with your shit, as soon as it gets a bit rough your shit cant handle it and fucks up.
 
All my Toshs have ended up like this come to think of it. I'm using one at the moment purely for downloading and it falls over loads. I'd never be able to use it as a main machine.
 
SleepyBoy said:
Click to expand...


Conspiracy? It's just 21st century industrial capitalism taken to the logical extreme.

Make cheap shit so more people buy.
Cheap shit breaks, but because repairing it would cost as much as replacing it...
Buy newer model cheap shit instead.

There, saved you 51min.
 
sounds like a poor person problem
 
Sorry about your Toshiba TS.
I just had a new Lenovo crap out after a few months, after a month with the service tech, they finally told me it can't be fixed and they refunded my money.

What make does Sherdog recommend? I just want something cheap, don't need anything special at all. I have no idea which company is good, I thought Lenovo was good but mine didn't last. I still have an old Acer, best lap top ever, lasted 10 years, still works, just slow.

Recommendations?
 
I have an old 60gb brick ipod, the first video one. Got it in 2005 and still working great. And I have run with this thing bouncing on a treadmill for about ten years now.

Last year decided to get a new one with 160 gb hd since my 60gb ipod has been filled for a long time. It broke in a year.



Flemmy Stardust said:
cars are the worst with this shit.
Click to expand...

Curious what kind of cars uve had and what kind of service u do on them
My last two cars were both a lexus I bought brand new. Never had a single problem with my first one, drove it for 130k miles before getting rid of it. I mean literally never a single problem. My current lexus is past 100k miles and again never a single problem. However I get them serviced by lexus every 5k miles under their planned recommended services for the amount of miles. Most my friends who have car problems dont get their cars serviced as often and I wonder if it has a lot to do with it
 
jericksen5 said:
I'm an engineer and this is taught in school (not focused on but the concept is at least glossed over). Never worked for a company that designed around planned obsolescence, but I've also never worked for a giant corporation. That being said I know most electronics manufacturers do. A big part of it to is, when they come up with a new technology, they slowly sell it to the public in bits and pieces over stretched out time periods. They did this with Bluetooth for sure. They came up with lower energy Bluetooth with much longer ranges than we have now many years ago, but thought it best to release not as good tech and slowly make it better each year so people have to keep going out buying the slightly better one.
Click to expand...

Isn't this the exact business model of Apple?
 
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