Are Electronic devices not designed to last long

[Kaizerdave]

I've noticed something that might explain why people think that planned obsolescence is a reality.

 

I've got an old Pentax SLR Camera and it works fine, good as new, even though its over 30 years old. Whereas my brand new Mac is already showing signs of fault within less than a year.Could it perhaps be because older devices that were kinetic didn't run on electronic power and were more manual and natural, but because more modern devices are made with Electricity in mind they are more prone to faultiness and thus they tend to burn out quickly and you need to buy a new one every few years?Thats just my view on it, what do you think? Are electronic devices not designed to last very long. 

[Wuzzums]

There's this legend about Henry Ford (mind you it's probably not true) that in order to increase productivity he visited scrapyards and looked at every Ford model car in there. He noticed that in all cars the ignition coil was still usable. He went back to his factory and redesigned the coil so it would give out after considerable use. The idea was that it should become obsolete in the same timeframe as all the other parts. Thus productivity is increased because the energy that would go into making a better coil is not wasted.

 

This is exactly how biology works. This is why when people grow old, it's one organ failure after another in a relative short intervals.

 

So a device is only as good as its most faulty part. I only owned PCs but if I'm not mistaken if some part fails in a Mac it cannot be replaced by the user. But with a PC you can replace whatever, it's less a device and more of a collection of devices. I have PCs that are more than a decade old and they still work. I suggest you switch to PCs, it's cheaper to buy new RAM rather than a whole new computer.

[jacbot]

I've noticed something that might explain why people think that planned obsolescence is a reality.

 

I've got an old Pentax SLR Camera and it works fine, good as new, even though its over 30 years old. Whereas my brand new Mac is already showing signs of fault within less than a year.Could it perhaps be because older devices that were kinetic didn't run on electronic power and were more manual and natural, but because more modern devices are made with Electricity in mind they are more prone to faultiness and thus they tend to burn out quickly and you need to buy a new one every few years?Thats just my view on it, what do you think? Are electronic devices not designed to last very long. 

 

why is electricity unnatural?

I dont think you can compare a Camera with an incredibly advanced piece of equipment like a Mac.

 

Obsolecense is not planned either.,,, semiconductors lattice suffer wear and tear because of  heat.

 

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/processors/transistor-aging

 

Thats just how it is.., maybe things will improve when we start using graphene....

 

If you are interested in learning more about material science with regard to semiconductors i recommend these book

 

"C Kittel, introduction into solid state physics"

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Solid-Physics-Charles-Kittel/dp/047141526X

[Sal9000]

One main element in planned obsolescence are the capacitators. You can find them in any electronic device. Lets say you want your product to fail in three years. You can do that by chosing the right one. There is a heuristic for the failing of capacitators. It's life in hours = 2000 hours * 2 ^ ((maximum temperature for capacitator in C°- usual temperature C°)/10). The maximum temperature for a cheap capacitator is 85°C, the usual temperature around 65°C. The total for that is 8000 hours. This means, that if you use that device for eight hours every day, the capacitator will last 3 years, when you run it 24/7 it will only take one year for the device to not work properly.

[Triumph]

As Sal was saying, there can be quite a bit of wear on electronic components.  Most of it is heat related.  Laptops are something incredibly susceptible to heat. 

 

Electronics simply aren't built to last because there is no demand for it.  You can't resell a laptop, even if it is as good as the day you bought it.  As such, there is no reason for a manufacture to design them using expensive components that last. 

[jacbot]

Its physicly impossible to create  cost effective (emphasis) integrated circuitry that will last decades, sure you can create durable electronics but never in a cost effective way.

 

This all has nothing to do with evil corperate greedyness. The price of any basic electrical component (not IC) is just above the base raw material that went into it + energy used to create said component.

 

Profit margins are incredibly thin in this sector.

[Lou-W]

I'm 47 and I'm into antiques and I have worked a little in manufacturing, in fiber optic communication systems so I have some experience in making things for different purposes.

In electronics their are different classes, one of these are things where if the device fails, people die like in aeronautics, medical, aerospace, weaponry etc... These things are tested and the manufacturers state how long they can be trusted and MUST be replaced.

 

I remember hearing older people complaining how cheap things are made "now a days" and they were and are right.

Its not worth making something that lasts 30 years when it will be obsolete in less than 3 years,

It could be because of price range, I had an old paper shredder (70's) that I got at a flea market, it weighed about 60 lbs and was about the size of a small file cabinet, it looked like it could shred a small log and it was probably expensive like 100 bucks which was alot of money back then.

Now I have a little wastepaper basket type under my comp desk and it will shred almost as much, take less space, quieter and I doubt it will last 5 or 6 years, but there will be better, cheaper and maybe a completely different way of document destruction like some high tech laser thing that turns paper into water vapor.

 

If you ever worked on cars, you KNOW that some vehicles were made with holes in the frame so water would get trapped and rot out.          

[jacbot]

If you ever worked on cars, you KNOW that some vehicles were made with holes in the frame so water would get trapped and rot out.          

 

Holes in the fram make the structure chassis more riged and add stiffness. (and also more lighter  because of drilled out matterial)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightening_holes

Nice picture -> from wiki

 

1935 car chassis, with lightening holes

 

h

[wdiaz03]

I've noticed something that might explain why people think that planned obsolescence is a reality.

 

I've got an old Pentax SLR Camera and it works fine, good as new, even though its over 30 years old. Whereas my brand new Mac is already showing signs of fault within less than a year.Could it perhaps be because older devices that were kinetic didn't run on electronic power and were more manual and natural, but because more modern devices are made with Electricity in mind they are more prone to faultiness and thus they tend to burn out quickly and you need to buy a new one every few years?Thats just my view on it, what do you think? Are electronic devices not designed to last very long. 

 

Good points so far, but I would like to add that care is also a big factor. devices can last a long time with proper care. I had a Panasonic portable computer circa 1983 http://www.vintage-computer.com/panasonicsr.shtml until recently that I gave away and it was still working.

How many people bother to open their PCs to clean the fans of accumulated dust? not many.

Also some owners are just careless with their electronics, maybe because they are cheap.

I enjoy fixing, re-purposing things etc so stuff tend to last me a while.

[Lou-W]

 Holes in the fram make the structure chassis more riged and add stiffness. (and also more lighter  because of drilled out matterial)

 

Lighter yes, more rigid no. Its actually the opposite you get more flexibility with less material and more stiffness with more material.  

If they didn't want the frames to rot out then they would make little drain holes on the bottom at low points, they didn't.

Pull up an 80's or 90's era SUV frame with only a few holes across the entire frame. Not enough holes to affect it either way, no rubber grommets to keep water out, no drain holes, think about it. 

[J-William]

Its physicly impossible to create  cost effective (emphasis) integrated circuitry that will last decades, sure you can create durable electronics but never in a cost effective way.

 

This all has nothing to do with evil corperate greedyness. The price of any basic electrical component (not IC) is just above the base raw material that went into it + energy used to create said component.

 

Profit margins are incredibly thin in this sector.

This is pretty much the answer right here.

 

This topic is well covered in libertarian circles. I believe Stephan has covered more than once.

 

The lifetime of the device is one of the things which is taken into consideration when designing a device. There are many other considerations which compete, and like all things there are trade-offs. So you could make a phone that would last 20 years but it would be bigger and fatter and more expensive. 

 

Most people, especially the sort of people that buy the latest and greatest hardware, do not want a three or four-year-old phone. 

It doesn't really matter how long the phone lasts because the people paying for the newest and fastest phone don't care how long it lasts as long as it lasts long enough.

 

I saw a phone just the other day that's $15 and can play MP3s and video and even let you chat online. Now that phone is not very good, but it's a lot better than any cell phone you could have bought 20 years ago.

 

I personally use a four-year-old iPhone that works pretty well for me. My wife's father uses my old Nokia phone which is probably six years old, and it works perfectly well. 

 

NASA has electronics that will last for 20, 30,40, or 50 years and they spend whole lot of money on those electronics. Those electronics are also not very fast and not very user-friendly.