France will begin labeling electronics with repairability ratings in January

submitted by Pis-dur from (gsmarena.com)

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[–]bobbobbybob 9 insightful - 3 fun9 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

your laptop is almost 6 years old.... and you think that is old.

Because you have no idea what real longevity looks like.

your car is 15 years old. Yay. Mine is 19 years old, and I should get 10 more years out of it.... That's not good. They could be built to LAST, not decades, but the better part of centuries.

Light bulbs? They could last human lifetimes. Batteries? they could last generations.

I have tools made in the 19th century, and they are some of the best (non electric) tools I own. Why is that?

The engineering discipline of 'optimization', where cents are shaved off each component of a device, is a major driver in the lifetime of modern equipment, with a careful balance between warranty length and time to failure.

I'd prefer a return to over engineering.

[–]Trajan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Batteries rely on chemical reactions that naturally degrade with use. Sure, with simpler batteries you could replace plates and acid, but the kinds of batteries that power electronics simply can’t work that way. That said, the ability to replace cells should be possible, yet has to consider the dangers of making cells easily accessible. Inexperienced people should not have easy access to Lithium-based cells.

[–]bobbobbybob 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

the stress there is between weight, volume and performance. We can build batteries with less tight tolerances that experience longer lifetimes.

[–]Trajan 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Sure, yet that can’t overcome the inherent limitations of the technology. These batteries can’t survive generations, at least not with useable energy density. The best we can do is to require manufacturers of devices to not make it unnecessarily difficult to replace cells while balancing this with the need for safety and function.

I’ve a laptop from 98 that has cells in a sealed plastic battery pack. That battery could have been screwed shut, as opposed to glued. If screwed then I could have more easily replaced the cells. It can’t simply be designed to pop open as that would be dangerous to uniformed users.

[–]bobbobbybob 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

truth