Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 353 posts

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#151

Post by tmikaeld »

jewel wrote: post #127
fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve personally found usb-c ports aren’t great longevity wise. They have a similar issue as I had with micro-USB: they stop clamping onto the plug and then you don’t get a reliable connection. I’ve found Lightning ports more reliable (with periodic lint cleaning) but it’s a shame that it’s a proprietary standard.

I've been using this magnetic USB-C adapter on my laptop to reduce the wear and tear on the port: https://a.co/d/4JCadfi . I've been using it since March with no complaints. It'd be great if manufacturers could standardize on something like this so that the port could be flush.

We bought a similar, “the last cable” and they all lost connection after the metal got worn down in a year. Yet they where supposedly the best of this type.

There’s also been reports of fire due to friction and dirt

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#152

Post by YZF »

what-imright wrote: post #101

Stop trying to make hardware last forever. Who here would like to use hardware from 2017? iPhone x anyone? The lifetime of these devices is defined by the reasonable update schedule of the consumer, which is based on moores law. 5 years is a reasonable update schedule. Then put one in a museum and live in the now. You get this much time forget the nostalgia https://www.bryanbraun.com/your-life/months.html

Replying on my `MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)` ... this is a great machine, why should I need to replace it?

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#153

Post by hellgas00 »

nautilius wrote: post #26
bigDinosaur wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be pretty unhappy if an engineer built a bridge that could have lasted 100 years if they hadn't cheaped out and saved $10 by using plastic instead of metal for some component, halving its life expectancy. Or if they put components next to each other which really shouldn't be, unnecessarily increasing failure rates. Or if they built a bridge where you couldn't replace any component without blowing part of it up.

It's rarely the engineer deciding this.

It is.. Civil engineers have the opportunity to design for quality in their specs and drawings. If they don't it means the client is getting a raw deal or the client optioned for a cheaper engineering solution.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#154

Post by GravitasFailure »

fragmede wrote: post #91
deathanatos wrote: post #87

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

Thankfully USB-C charging on my laptops has made that less of an issue. Of course the good chargers are like $80 instead but still.

Yeah, the chargers get expensive, but then again I can power my laptop, portable monitor, keyboard, mouse, phone, soldering iron, flashlight, power bank, and about a dozen other devices all off the same standardized wall wart. It's a pretty good value. With the new PD spec going to 48V 5A I could even power one of my 3D printers off it with power to spare.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#155

Post by tomrod »

eru wrote: post #56
tomrod wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who speaks for "the market?"

Buyers and sellers with their wallets?

And when sellers decide forced deprecation and e-waste are acceptable, consumers aren't really deciding.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#156

Post by throwaway277432 »

Eleison23 wrote: post #55

A slightly tangential question for those in the know: how do consumers destroy their data? If I've got a busted HDD or a dead tablet — anything which is holding data that I can't electronically destroy — who do I give it to? The office supply shops have paper shredding. The municipal recycling centers will take stuff, and so will the electronics stores, but they all carry disclaimers about data privacy. I've consider…

> who do I give it to?

No one, you do it yourself. Here's what works for personal devices.

- Hard drives: Open them up with a screwdriver, then physically smash the platters with the pointy end of a hammer. The platters easily shatter into a thousand pieces, very little force required. Use a plastic bag to contain the pieces. For newer models, also smash the cache chips on the logic board.

- SSDs / flash storage: disassemble the case, then smash the memory chips with a hammer.

- CDs/DVDs: break them a few times, ideally use a shredder if you have one that's strong enough. Make sure the metal foil is sufficiently destroyed.

- Tapes: take out the tape itself, then carefully shredder lengthwise or just burn it.

- anything with batteries in it: remove the battery first.

- anything with device specific cloud service accounts: delete the data and close the account if you won't be using it anymore, so it can't leak data if it gets hacked in the future.

>Would ethics or liability prevent salvage operations from harvesting personal data?

Physically no. Especially don't trust anybody telling you you can trust them. You have to do it yourself or at the very least watch it with your own eyes. There are commercial services that physically shredder hard drives and documents, these should let you watch so you can verify the destruction yourself.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#157

Post by Gracana »

bityard wrote: post #7

My favorite mouse is the logitech anywhere mx original. It runs for months in two AA batteries. They don't make these anymore and the newer ones all have built in lipo death clocks. I try to buy all of my new electronics with this lesson in mind.

I quite liked those as well, but I had to switch to something else after three failed due to the same problem. The thin plastic protrusions that press the microswitch plungers wear out, causing awful switch bounce and eventually an inability to hold the button down at all.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#158

Post by catmanjan »

guerby wrote: post #115
deathanatos wrote: post #87

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

Same experience here. That's why my current laptop is a https://frame.work - USB-C to USB-C adapters means that the part that will fail is changeable - All four USB-C are able to charge the laptop. And the power brick also has detachable USB-C AND power cord cable. (And just for fun I ordered an upgrade to the motherboard, will use the old motherboard as always on PC in my home)

In my experience all usb c chargers are less reliable than barrel connectors, probably because of the microprocessors required for the handshake

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#159

Post by picture »

killingtime74 wrote: post #16
lucb1e wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was wondering what these random numbers were, I expected a product number from a manufacturer. Instead: > An 18650 Battery is a lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The first 4 digits of the designation “18650” indicate the physical dimensions while the 5 th digit indicates it is a cylinder cell. The standard 18650 battery is 18mm around by 65mm long. (copied from curl because that page crashed the firefox tab, though I…

It’s great, it’s almost a standard. Many different manufactures and the only commonality is usually the voltage. 18650 is so popular it’s used in some teslas, while newer ones use 21700

The voltage is determined by the chemistry, which unless you seriously deviate from the standard lithium stuff, it's going to be able 4.2 V max.

Aside: When people try to increase it to like 4.3 V with "strengthened electrode material," the lifetime still seriously suffers. I'm typing this comment on a Razer Blade 15 with a currently swollen battery pack, which has been replaced only 10 months ago due to the same swelling issue

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#160

Post by prova_modena »

Eleison23 wrote: post #55

A slightly tangential question for those in the know: how do consumers destroy their data? If I've got a busted HDD or a dead tablet — anything which is holding data that I can't electronically destroy — who do I give it to? The office supply shops have paper shredding. The municipal recycling centers will take stuff, and so will the electronics stores, but they all carry disclaimers about data privacy. I've consider…

I've taken old HDDs to a commercial shredding service. They have a special shredder for electronics and will let you watch your drives/tablets/etc being destroyed. I think it is a pretty common service, there are quite a few places that do this in my city. Does get expensive if you have a bunch, though.
Post reply on HN