Been repairing electronics/laptops for some time and just had to say it. Overall build quality is poorer, and it looks like it is designed in such a way that there little you can repair. Poorly designed hinges, cheap plastics, poor solder joints, low-quality power MOSFETs.I have a huge box of laptops there are more expensive to repair that the value of the laptop itself.What gives, just toss it away like a napkin and buy another?
It´s just how the business of electronics hardware works nowadays. Consumers want to pay as little as possible so companies have to use cheap parts to make them and then they cut every corner possible to increase their margins on cheap stuff... And now people want their phones/laptops as skinny as possible meaning that in order to squeeze all the parts available it becomes extremely hard not to say impossible to repair certain products... And then there´s our never ending appetite to buy newer stuff without really needing it that makes "older" stuff unwanted and ready for the garbage bin... There are more reasons for the current quality, or lack of it, of electronic products in general.
Yet they want&expect quality for that price. Somehow people are forgetting this: More to it: almost all companies are copying the Apple business model, but they are copying the bad parts of it, not the good ones.
Bolded Part That is the economy we all now live in. Consumerism was the economic tool used to expand the economy. The only way that model works is by adhering to quantity not quality. That is what the whole "throw away" society describes. From the graph above, the cheap area is where the most money is to be made. Why was it that back in the 1950s made is Japan was the phrase used to explain why something feel apart or failed. Then made in USA took that spot. China now has that honor. Fast and cheap is where the money is. Pride in ones own work is an out dated quality; costs too much. There are still companies that follow the whole quality not quantity model. But as is to be expected, their wares are in the top overlapping section. You get what you pay for, yes? Cheap laptops are engineered so that it is difficult for the consumer to disassemble and replace items. Was hoping to replace the slow mechanical hard drive in a laptop used to calibrate the tv. No can do without breaking the keyboard. It is just how it is. Will only get worse till a new/better economic model to expand the economy is implemented. Trickle Down/"Reganomics" did not work. Do not really know what the current hybrid model being used is labeled. But they are all still based in consumerism.
So I think I have the reading on the wall well understood: find a fallback, and distance myself from the electronics repair, in a few years time I will not be able to provide for myself and family. Just in time, I am about to take some serious decisions about life in general.
I don´t know if things are that clear, unfortunately... Yes it´s true that we life in a society that prefers to buy new that fix the old, like Clouseau wrote, but still there´s still tons of people who have electronic stuff to repair, for example here in Portugal, PC repair shops have always customers, specially because most people don´t know how to do basic stuff like change parts or reinstall Windows... Of course there´s lots of competition because everyone offers this kind of services... But i also have the feeling that in the future lots of jobs are going to disappear because of robots and AI so that´s why i never cared too much about having a good job and i´m trying to find an alternative way to make money. So i think in your case the best is to continue repairing stuff as long as it´s profitable and maybe find another unrelated way of making some money on the side so you have an alternative in case things go wrong... I wish you luck man. BTW - i´m not critizing anyone for buying unnecessary new stuff because sometimes i commit the same "sin", i´ve just bought an Huawei P10 that i didn´t need...
I repair laptop motherboards, not at the professional level, but I manage to get things done. Having a good quality solder equipment, a microscope and basic electronics fundamentals and the internet knowledge make a huge difference. Many computer stores outsource their difficult repairs to our store, but even so, being aware and notice the wind of change will not hurt in the long run, isn't it?
Yeah, I am starting to finally believe, at least over here in the USA, that as a consumer oriented device, the PC is dead. (Dead, as in a consumer is more likely to use a phone and not bother with a PC anymore, or rarely do so.) What concerns me is that is my area of expertise and now I have to consider moving on from it. At the age of 51, not really sure what direction I am going to go. Mobile repair? Something not tech related? Any good suggestions?
If you want to stay in the area, cell phone repair isn't that much different, though I don't know about the margins on it. Also, cell phone companies are now selling thier own insurance that has them fix different phones. The only well built, self-repairable, windows laptops are the ugly black and grey corporate level laptops from lenovo (thinkpad T series and a few others) and dell (latitude). They're expensive, but the refurbs are a pretty decent deal. I'm writing this from a lenovo t410s from 2011 (or was it 2010). Basically everything is easy to fix, except, annoyingly, the hinges. If they break again, I'll need to get a new laptop as they require a full disassembly (and are not a cheap part).
I still use my Dell 620 daily as a simple media server for my backing tracks. Original 60GB HD and still running XP. It isn't on the net so I don't care about the OS. It works perfect for what I use it for. Going on 13 years and just the battery replaced and I upgraded the memory to 4GB.
well, there are some things I want to take off my chest: 1 people are less and less willing to accept that there is a huge amount of knowledge involved in fixing something. And one has to amass all this trough time and experiences and sometimes with trial and error. It's not as people think, we google sh!t up and bam! there is your stuff repaired and here is the bill. If so, why we are still going to the mechanic, dentist, medic, etc if everything is so damn easy on Youtube? 2 there are is a cost involved in fixing stuff. The rent, the electricity, the employees, the POS computer and software, tools, parts, and a hell lot more. This is the main issue lately and people are more willing to buy cheap things from eBay or Alibaba instead of repairing their stuff. Well, when their kids enter the store and ask for a job or want to give us a CV, should I send them to China for a job? I did that and I received the motherload of badmouthing, swearing and cursing. 3 People want to be lied to. Until now almost no one paid easily the amount we charge for an emergency - price is double or higher if someone wants to fix their stuff and their time is more valuable. When we finished the job even before we said we would, all wanted a discounted price. And all argued about it. Of when we told them that the problem was easier to fix, but nevertheless a problem. "Here you are sir, we recovered ALL the data in half of the time we said we would.!" "Well, if it was so easy, give my money back, no way I pay this MUCH" So we white lie them, and I hate this. 4 You get what you pay for. There are no miracles, and nothing is free. 5 People always want the latest, shiniest device. We sell refurbished Thinkpads, and almost all of them are offered with a new keyboard and battery. Why people spend SO MUCH on crappy laptops is beyond me. I always give a Thinkpad for all customers to play with, write use, see, weight pro and cons. Just a few realized what we sell and bought one or more. And there are more to it. Some people are just stubborn stupid. Lots of laptops ruined because of the cheapo replacement chargers, and after I change the power MOSFETs and the KBC I warn them to use a certified charger, if not the laptop will suffer the same fate. Well, you know what happens, and who's to blame, right?
