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
#2"CarFax for used PCs" is a silly analogy; a used machine can quickly be assessed for its current condition, and a log of past repairs isn't really relevant, particularly when most repairs these days are just replacing the entire motherboard.
Old laptops are not particularly valuable because (a) they might be a lot slower than a new, base-model laptop at a quite affordable price, and (b) much of modern electronics has a design life of 3-5 years, and a used laptop will generally be at the end of that design life. Nobody really likes laptops which have random components fail and need replaced.
With that said, we happily use used laptops, some much older than 5 years. HP supplying a "Carfax" would have zero utility to us.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#3"CarFax for used PCs" is a silly analogy; a used machine can quickly be assessed for its current condition, and a log of past repairs isn't really relevant, particularly when most repairs these days are just replacing the entire motherboard. Old laptops are not particularly valuable because (a) they might be a lot slower than a new, base-model laptop at a quite affordable price, and (b) much of modern electronics has…
I have used laptops for much longer too, and for a lot of tasks performance does not matter.
Desktops tend to be better when older though.
There are already dealer who sell second hand machines in reasonably dependable condition.
HP seems to be aiming to control (note the bits about preventing unauthorised access) rather than facilitating the market.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#4Isn't that caller eBay?
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#5"CarFax for used PCs" is a silly analogy; a used machine can quickly be assessed for its current condition, and a log of past repairs isn't really relevant, particularly when most repairs these days are just replacing the entire motherboard. Old laptops are not particularly valuable because (a) they might be a lot slower than a new, base-model laptop at a quite affordable price, and (b) much of modern electronics has…
This is pretty clearly just an attempt to look like they are doing something about a perceived problem without actually doing something about it.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#6Seems like a horrible invasion of privacy for very little benefit.
The logs are stored on an SSD , which is literally the only part you need to replace when donating or reselling a PC. Any enterprise company should have a policy ensuring SSD destruction.
Most laptops will last a long time assuming they aren't abused. I guess the SSD wears out, but that's a 50$ part.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#7For 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 that would work against what they are trying to do here.
Honestly if HP cared they would make the device more easily serviceable by the end users, and upgradable. Even that doesn't matter a great deal, beyond having companies slow down their upgrade cycle slightly, there's no real gain. Right now I'm looking at used laptops, but the local refurb place have apparently scraped all their laptops that are unable to run Windows 11. Without the software companies putting in a bigger effort to keep old devices viable for longer I don't really see who's suppose to buy all these old HP computers.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#8This is the sort of thing that gets developed for benevolent reasons, and then deployed as an excuse to outlaw any third-party servicing as dishonest log manipulation.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#9"CarFax for used PCs" is a silly analogy; a used machine can quickly be assessed for its current condition, and a log of past repairs isn't really relevant, particularly when most repairs these days are just replacing the entire motherboard. Old laptops are not particularly valuable because (a) they might be a lot slower than a new, base-model laptop at a quite affordable price, and (b) much of modern electronics has…
I have used laptops for much longer too, and for a lot of tasks performance does not matter. Desktops tend to be better when older though. There are already dealer who sell second hand machines in reasonably dependable condition. HP seems to be aiming to control (note the bits about preventing unauthorised access) rather than facilitating the market.
Whilst you may have used them, this is referring to an enterprise setting where devices are usually replaced at the end of the warranty.
Indeed, this is the point. When that business is done with it you can buy it, know how well-used it is, and give it a second life.
Re: A CarFax for Used PCs; Hewlett Packard wants to give old laptops new life
#10"CarFax for used PCs" is a silly analogy; a used machine can quickly be assessed for its current condition, and a log of past repairs isn't really relevant, particularly when most repairs these days are just replacing the entire motherboard. Old laptops are not particularly valuable because (a) they might be a lot slower than a new, base-model laptop at a quite affordable price, and (b) much of modern electronics has…
Yeah, with used vehicles there's a lot more at stake. Mainly: potential safety concerns and they can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Neither of those are true with used laptops, and in cases where it may be they're not putting used equipment into service. HP has invented a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.