The computer built to last 50 years (2021)

I think that the computers built to last 50 years are not really computers, but other things which contain or use a computer.

Word processor, car, calculator, camera, space telescope...

Right now, I don’t see how a general purpose computer could last 50 years. The article refers to it being modular, but you’d have to replace so many parts… would it still be the same computer?

Can electrical circuits last 50 years?

  > For most typewriters, restoration is only a matter of taking the time to do it. There’s no complex skills or tools involved. Even the most difficult operations could be learned alone, by simple trial and error.

What. Let's say an internal piece failed because of mechanical stress caused by lack of lubrication or a jammed foreign object. How do you figure out "by simple trial and error" which piece failed, why it failed, what the original piece was supposed to look like, and finally repair it, without expert knowledge and precision tools? At a wild guess I'd expect it'd take me a few years to do this reliably, using consumer-grade tools, from stock materials which are not already the exact right size in any dimension.

  > By contrast, we have to change our laptops every three or four years. Our phones every couple of years. And all other pieces of equipment (charger,router, modem,printers,…) need to be changed regularly.

This is conflating "have to" in the sense that it's hard to get useful work done because software no longer runs optimally (or at all) on older hardware, and "have to" in the sense that it's literally broken. I don't "have to" change my laptop any more than someone in the 1950s "had to" change their typewriter for the latest model every few years.

As a side note, a quick search through the article revealed no mention of why you'd want to do this. For fun, sure, but something like this is going to need a business case and lots of cash to be done properly.