[rescue] Sun Kit Needed for EE Student Here

[Don Y]

velociraptor wrote:
> In the past I've found the best deals on Macs is to find stuff that's
> "broken".  There's a huge segment of the population who has no idea
> what might be wrong with a Mac, or any other computer, for that

You can extend that to include damn near *anything* -- HiFi's,
VCR's, automobiles, etc.  I thin kthat's a big part of the
"race to the bottom" -- people know it's too expensive to
fix (since THEY can't fix it themselves... even if it is just
a software issue) so they don't want to *pay* much for it
(or its replacement) which leads to crappier products that
break more that get replaced more that...

> matter.  I wonder how much stuff gets thrown into the trash based on
> such weak diagnostics as "it's doesn't work anymore"?  Particularly

A *lot*.  There's a local charity that gets lots of discarded
machines.  Many are corporate discards (3 year upgrade cycles).
But, many of the consumer drop offs are easily "repaired"...
even if all you are is a "swap out" technician  :-/

> with x86 boxes being sold at places like WalMart for less than $400,
> "consumer" computers are very close to the "don't bother to repair"
> stage, if not already there for the majority of folks.

Yup.  And, this depresses the resale market for otherwise
"usable" machines.  How can anyone expect to SELL a ~1GHz
machine for $100 when you can buy "new" (with WARRANTY)
machines for $300 - $400 that run twice as fast, etc.

> Even worse are laptops as far as environmental/disposability/etc.  I
> believe a major reason they are being pushed by manufacturers is
> planned obsolescence. Since they can't really be upgraded to any
> degree if a consumer needs something more powerful, they have to buy a
> whole new box.

I think laptops take a fair bit of abuse.  Designing them
for longevity would be harder and much more expensive.
So, the perfect fit for the "toss it" mentality.  :-(

Like cell phones.