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A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

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Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#61

Post by lawlessone »

A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 wrote: post #21
ok123456 wrote: post #14

Is there any value added here? Carfax exists because of the possibility of buying a car with extensive damage that looks cosmetically ok. Additionally, the service records they collect indicate that a vehicle has undergone regular maintenance. Computers, for the most part, aren't getting in major accidents and reentering the stream of commerce. Additionally, there's no significant mechanical maintenance required, exc…

This, I think, is the part that confuses me. While there is a level of uncertainty, when buying used computer, the cost tends to magnitude smaller than a new car and even for fancish lappies likely sub 1k ( maybe that changes when we start accounting for gaming laptops, but those are unlikely to be corporate fleet, which I assume is the consideration here? ). I initially though HP found some new way to fleece data ou…

smaller consequences too.

There are lots of ways a dodgy car could kill me or someone else.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#62

Post by 999900000999 »

GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #59
999900000999 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. The alternative is corporations just trash the entire laptop. With the rise of soldered ssds( Apple for one) this is possible. Maybe argue for better recycling ? It only takes one half awake IT guy to forget to wipe a few drives to spook companies. In my world if MegaCorp offloads used laptops to a non profit, and the non profit just has to throw in a cheap SSD, that's a win.

that's one alternative. another is: the corporation is regulated against unnecessary waste, and they do their due diligence to ensure the drive is wiped before resale/donation. trade secrets must take a backseat to human rights and toxic pollution from mines.

>trade secrets must take a backseat to human rights and toxic pollution from mines.

Or personal medical information, which in some cases( STI status, etc) can ruin thousands of lives if leaked.

The solution is recycling the destroyed drives, not banning secure data destruction.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#63

Post by kmoser »

ok123456 wrote: post #14

Is there any value added here? Carfax exists because of the possibility of buying a car with extensive damage that looks cosmetically ok. Additionally, the service records they collect indicate that a vehicle has undergone regular maintenance. Computers, for the most part, aren't getting in major accidents and reentering the stream of commerce. Additionally, there's no significant mechanical maintenance required, exc…

AFAIK, at least some repairs done by non-dealers are never reported to Carfax, making it prone to false negatives.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#65

Post by bigfatkitten »

kristopolous wrote: post #46
neilv wrote: post #18

> By embedding telemetry capabilities directly within the firmware, we ensure that device health and usage data is captured the moment it is collected. This data is stored securely on HP SSD drives, leveraging hardware-based security measures to protect against unauthorized access or manipulation. What I see are more technological affordances for closed firmware behavior of the device, increasing complexity, and prov…

I think the reason is that, on laptops, the cosmetic has such a high correlation with what you can expect wrong with the device - people don't take their laptops in for "body work". Also these devices in the second-hand market are probably 80+% (I've sold about 5k things on ebay btw).

This is true for normal business and consumer laptops, but rugged machines (eg Panasonic Toughbooks) often go to the surplus market after living very hard lives. There is a thriving “refurbishment” industry putting lipstick on these pigs.

If you see a Toughbook on eBay that has been painted black, for example, that was done to hide the battle damage.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#66

Post by bongodongobob »

OtherShrezzing wrote: post #20

I think the main problem with old laptops being discarded is one of software & OS release cadence more than hardware relatability. My accountant has used the same 4 apps since the turn of the century. Yet the industry has created a situation where they’ve needed to buy 10 new computers to keep up, even though they still just use email, spreadsheets, web, and a word processor. They’d happily be in XP if it were still…

Nonsense. My last two desktop PCs lasted me 15 years. If they need a new laptop annually, they are the problem.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#67

Post by bongodongobob »

theyinwhy wrote: post #39

100% of the companies I work(ed) with have either a "destroy laptop" or "destroy data storage media" policy. I know 0 companies reselling their used computers with storage media included.

IT insurance usually requires you dispose of storage media through an accredited company as well, which is usually why this is done. We wanted to donate old laptops to charity but our insurance forbids it.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#68

Post by JayGuerette »

kube-system wrote: post #30

> When buying a used car, dealerships and individual buyers can access each car’s particular CarFax report, detailing the vehicle’s usage and maintenance history. Armed with this information, dealerships can perform the necessary fixes or upgrades before re-selling the car. Dealerships in no way use those reports for that reason, nor do they contain the information that would be necessary to do so. They inspect the c…

About 8y ago we were looking at a used Mini Cooper. Car Fax reported no major problems. I went to the bank to get a loan. They reported 2 minor and 1 major accident that the car had been in that were NOT reported by Car Fax. Once we knew where to look we were able to see evidence of the damage & repairs to the car.

I think that if lending institutions don't trust Car Fax then we probably shouldn't either.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#69

Post by bluedino »

alexpotato wrote: post #17
mrweasel wrote: post #7

For people outside the US (maybe?), CarFax has no meaning, so the analogy is a bit confusing. The whole thing make no sense. They plan to store the report on the SSD (but not just any SSD, an HP SSD), so that the telemetry is retained between operating system install. I'll give them points for doing on device data collection, but what if I replace the SSD? Maybe they don't plan on making that user replaceable, but th…

This reminds me of an old story about Hertz and Ford Mustangs. Goes something like this: - Ford makes the original Mustang (which everyone loves) - Ford makes different versions of the Mustang (some more powerful than others e.g. the Shelby) - Hertz had a special custom Shelby model made for them - You could rent that special model from Hertz - So, people would buy a lower end Mustang, rent the higher end Mustang fro…

The current urban legend is swapping a junkyard 5.3 for the Chevrolet 6.0 in a U-Haul truck, rent one and switch them and return it.

Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life

#70

Post by sandworm101 »

Every time I've tried to sell and/or give away my previous laptop, I discovered that nobody wants anything more than a few years old. A 6yo Acer laptop, that isn't running the latest windows, is basically worthless even in the eyes of charities. And a used laptop running linux, regardless of age, seems to be unwanted by everyone.
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