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India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

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Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#101

Post by zozbot234 »

pjmlp wrote: post #81
djrj477dhsnv wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it also a natural consequence of rapidly improving technology. Even if a laptop were built to last 20 years, who would want one when a new one is an order of magnitude better?

My Asus 1215B netbook from 2009 has served me well, until it died last year. There was nothing in 2025 laptops that I would have replaced it for, the use cases haven't changed from my 2009 requirements in computing on the go with a cheap laptop like device. Its replacement is now Samsung tablet with DEX capabilities, which I will likewise use until it dies.

Cheap netbook-like devices are widely available from China these days. They'll probably be cheap enough even accounting for the new tariffs. Or you can just buy an older 'ultrabook' laptop on the used market.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#102

Post by preezer »

I just love it, when people repair old stuff and the things are running again for another time. I love to repair things myself, it's just a very good feeling, if you managed to repair a device. Don't ask how often it would be cheaper to buy a new device, but the feeling is priceless.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#103

Post by ciupicri »

pjmlp wrote: post #81
djrj477dhsnv wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it also a natural consequence of rapidly improving technology. Even if a laptop were built to last 20 years, who would want one when a new one is an order of magnitude better?

My Asus 1215B netbook from 2009 has served me well, until it died last year. There was nothing in 2025 laptops that I would have replaced it for, the use cases haven't changed from my 2009 requirements in computing on the go with a cheap laptop like device. Its replacement is now Samsung tablet with DEX capabilities, which I will likewise use until it dies.

The 1366x768 resolution is small, there are websites which are hard to use at that resolution.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#105

Post by danielktdoranie »

One of the events in my early life that got me interested in computers was a friend from middle school who lived near a Radio Shack and a neighbourhood computer store. He dumpster dived and got every computer he owned that way. He had a couple of Macintosh computers, this was like 1992, with cracked plastics. I enjoyed just sitting there and watching him tinker. His entire bedroom was filled with stuff he liberated from dumpster diving.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#106

Post by jdietrich »

nottorp wrote: post #37
ryandrake wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies should have to bear the full cost of cleaning up, repairing, or disposing the products they unleash upon the world. If I have to throw away my laptop because it broke, Lenovo should pay the cost of disposing (or repairing) it and bringing the environment back to the condition it was in before the product existed. When my car dies, Toyota should have to tow it away, part it out and reuse what it can. We've s…

> If I have to throw away my laptop because it broke Actually you should be able to bring it to one of the multiple 3rd party repair shops of your choice , get it fixed and not have Lenovo involved at all, except maybe by selling you parts at a reasonable price. Incidentally you should also be able to modify the laptop as you want, or if you lack the skills, pay said 3rd party repair shops to do it for you.

>Actually you should be able to bring it to one of the multiple 3rd party repair shops of your choice, get it fixed and not have Lenovo involved at all, except maybe by selling you parts at a reasonable price.

You already can, it's just often not economically viable in high-income countries. Lenovo have a very comprehensive parts service and provide useful service manuals.

Ironically, Apple devices are the most widely repaired by third-party specialists despite Apple's strenuous efforts to make that difficult, because they're expensive and depreciate slowly.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#107

Post by nottorp »

jdietrich wrote: post #106
nottorp wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I have to throw away my laptop because it broke Actually you should be able to bring it to one of the multiple 3rd party repair shops of your choice , get it fixed and not have Lenovo involved at all, except maybe by selling you parts at a reasonable price. Incidentally you should also be able to modify the laptop as you want, or if you lack the skills, pay said 3rd party repair shops to do it for you.

>Actually you should be able to bring it to one of the multiple 3rd party repair shops of your choice, get it fixed and not have Lenovo involved at all, except maybe by selling you parts at a reasonable price. You already can, it's just often not economically viable in high-income countries. Lenovo have a very comprehensive parts service and provide useful service manuals. Ironically, Apple devices are the most widel…

Yeah, it's wrong to name names, except maybe Apple for assholery. This should go for any brand.

> You already can, it's just often not economically viable in high-income countries.

But are we sure it's only because of high labor costs?

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#108

Post by HappMacDonald »

forgotoldacc wrote: post #35
ryandrake wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies should have to bear the full cost of cleaning up, repairing, or disposing the products they unleash upon the world. If I have to throw away my laptop because it broke, Lenovo should pay the cost of disposing (or repairing) it and bringing the environment back to the condition it was in before the product existed. When my car dies, Toyota should have to tow it away, part it out and reuse what it can. We've s…

Making the company responsible for the entire lifetime of a product also makes them effectively own the product. Your idea sounds a lot like renting from the producer.

Said responsibility can remain the choice of the consumer: producer must accept repair/replacement if consumer brings it back to them, but consumer is not forced to bring it back to them if anything goes wrong. Consumer may also choose to self-repair, sell, etc. Perhaps consumer must bring it back to dispose of it though, as nobody benefits from hucking it directly into a landfill.

The other difference between "renting" from the producer is that the producer isn't collecting any rent, only initial purchase.. and that producer cannot claim the item back whenever they please.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#109

Post by jdietrich »

pjmlp wrote: post #33

I remember up to the early 1990's we had repair shops all over Portugal, we would buy devices for life, and any kind of malfunction would be rescued at one of those repair shops, unless it was really a death sentence for the device. Now in a throw away society with planned obsolence devices, most of those shops are gone and the repair knowledge gone with them. Unless goverments fix the planned obsolence culture it is…

In the early 1990s, Portugal had a GDP per capita of less than $10,000 per year. Portuguese people today just have much better things to do with their time than fix old toasters.

I repair my own stuff for fun, but there's absolutely no way I could make a living from fixing other people's stuff. The phone repair business in my area is dominated by illegal immigrants, because fixing iPhones is only marginally more lucrative than delivering pizzas.

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