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What's the real reason that laptop batteries are made not-accessible?

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cgroen:

--- Quote from: ogden on December 04, 2021, 03:07:59 pm ---
--- Quote from: cgroen on December 03, 2021, 05:56:20 pm ---Oh, I'm very sorry, I hope my answer comes quick enough for you :)
Inkjet was some Epson one (can't remember which one), laser is a Canon MF720C

--- End quote ---

You managed :) No doubt laser printers are much more dependable, must be default choice for business/office. Inkjets are cheaper, thou may clog and surprise you when least expected, they need more care, regular printing. 2100-page black cartridge for Canon MF720C cost as much as Epson Ecotank CMYK refill 6500 4000 page set *and* brand new replacement head.

--- End quote ---

Phew ;)
True, I had a "not too cheap" (around $1300) EPSON inkjet, one of the really PITA features of it was exactly that if not used often, it would "dry out" and clog, so when you had to use it, you could see some "multi million dollar" drops of ink going to waste just to clean it. To be fair, the EPSON did (much) better pictures, but I used that maybe only 10% of the time, else it was "the usual stuff", schematics etc. Oh, it also did A3 which I sometimes miss on the laser. But not the cost of the ink, I don't miss that ;)

ogden:

--- Quote from: cgroen on December 04, 2021, 04:25:52 pm ---I had a "not too cheap" (around $1300) EPSON inkjet, one of the really PITA features of it was exactly that if not used often, it would "dry out" and clog

--- End quote ---

Right. I learned it hard way long ago when left my UltraChrome pigment ink Epson photo printer unattended for few months. Now when I know that *pigment* heads needs care/maintenance - I can live with that. You just include inkjet head replacement into your planned operational costs same way you do with laser printer waste toner tank replacement expenses. Yes, not only inkjets do waste ink, laserjets waste their toner as well (rolf).

james_s:

--- Quote from: SilverSolder on December 04, 2021, 02:37:42 pm ---In practice it means, "Manage the service life of the device".

There isn't a product in the world that doesn't have some kind of expected service life...   ranging from one-time use to decades or centuries!

In the case of phones,  you can expect 2 OS updates and security updates for 3 or 4 years.   The battery is designed to (just about) cope with this.   Most phones are definitely expected to be obsolete/junk by the end of that kind of time frame...

--- End quote ---


Well it is impossible to make something that lasts forever, and to some degree engineering for longer useful life is going to cost more money. Planned obsolescence is "Let's try to ensure the product stops working by this point in time", normal engineering is "Let's make sure the product lasts at least this long." The difference may seem subtle but there is definitely a difference. Most engineers are not going to go out of their way to make sure something fails. They may design something assuming a useful life of x years, but they will not be upset if it actually lasts 10 times as long. A design can be optimized for cost, lifespan, capabilities or other factors and it's always a compromise. It may be possible to build a mobile phone to last 100 years but it would cost so much that nobody would buy it, and they would end up getting replaced long before failing due to other factors anyway.

IanB:
It's not always the vendor to blame.

Case in point: I have an iPhone 6 (2014), perfect condition, battery still at 92% capacity, nice slim form factor, decent display, just as good as when it was new.

Unfortunately, it stopped getting new iOS versions because the processor isn't powerful enough to support all the latest whizz-bang features that have been introduced lately. That in itself is not a showstopper, but then app vendors started refusing to install their apps on older versions of the OS. That is the thing that actually makes the phone obsolete, the lack of support by app creators, not the lack of support by Apple.

Also, consumers and the market are partly to blame for this, by demanding never-ending new features. Take iOS 15 for example. Compared to iOS 14, it is more complex, fiddly, and annoying to use, because it is starting to suffer from feature bloat. Things that in iOS 14 needed one tap, now start popping up menus and requiring many taps (I'm looking at you, "Do Not Disturb" mode). Life is too short to spend time configuring and organizing complex settings. OK if they are optional and hidden until you want them, but not when they force themselves on you.

Oh well, rant over.

james_s:

--- Quote from: IanB on December 04, 2021, 08:01:12 pm ---Unfortunately, it stopped getting new iOS versions because the processor isn't powerful enough to support all the latest whizz-bang features that have been introduced lately. That in itself is not a showstopper, but then app vendors started refusing to install their apps on older versions of the OS. That is the thing that actually makes the phone obsolete, the lack of support by app creators, not the lack of support by Apple.

--- End quote ---

I hate OS updates and the sooner they stop trying to push a new version every year the better. The problem is as you mention apps requiring the latest version. It drives me crazy that the app store will not let you install the last supported version of an app. I also really hate the fact that you cannot roll back. Several times I have been burned by a new version of an app that had a serious bug that I then had to wait for them to fix and release another new version. After that happened a few times I stopped updating anything at all. Now I check once or twice a year and see if any of the updates have anything I care about and then try to research what they may have broken or removed. In most cases I'd rather stick with the version I have than risk an update I can't roll back if I don't like it. I don't care about new features, smartphones are mature products, I really struggle to think of any feature I care about at all that has gone in since iOS 5 or 6.

I also share your disdain for taking things that required a single click/tap and adding additional steps. It may not seem like a big deal to click one more time, but when you have to do it numerous times a day it really starts to drive me crazy. I resent companies doing things that make my life harder and/or take additional time from me.

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