U.S Consumer Watchdog Not a Fan of Google Chromebook Durability

[kondamin]

This is a way of thinking which brings me back to history lessons years ago. You might want to read about Luddites and their views on technology. Some of them argued that any new technology is inherently evil and should be banned. What you're saying is akin to claiming learning with books is wrong because there's "so much to learn that doesn't involve books", for example basket weaving or plowing a field. Those are very forward looking things every child should learn and will ensure a future-proof career path. Methinks it would be healthier for children to grow up treating computers as normal everyday objects and learning how to use them productively, not be conditioned into fearing them as some magical, mysterious thing they're forbidden to use, but what do I know. Looking at current education systems I see a perfect implementation of the prussian system - "teach them to read and write well enough so they know what is expected of them and can leave notes for the next shift". On that note, Chromebooks are just throwaway indoctrination tools so kids learn from an early age to obey and blindly trust their corporate masters. Them being pieces of so called "manufactured e-waste" should be a lesson to those kids about what's important in the world of blind consumerism.

The Luddites feared mechanization and industrialization.
Looking at what it did to society they weren't wrong.
Living standards sank to historic lows, people started shrinking due to how bad it got for the majority of people.

a change that slowly began getting a bit better after WW1 accelerating after WW2 for most of western europe.
it looks like automation is going to ruin living standards for the huge majority again as white collar jobs are being replaced by software lowering demand for productivity provided by blue collar workers.

That aside, no I'm not a Luddites.
I'm in no way against technology and it's progress.

I do think it's seriously affecting kids how and what they are learning.
And it's not for the better

 

[AGlezB]

I disagree. Many cheap designs have built-in obsolescence.
Instead, laptop designers should be thinking of long-term use beyond 5 years.

All desings have built-in obsolescense, just read the warranty. A two year warranty means 2 years is the projected average life span of the device. Nothing more.
Knife making is the only industry I know of where warranties are usually life-time. Some companies will even sharpen and maintain your knife for free if you mail it to them.

The report is addressing issues of spare part availability, ease of repair and software support, not how durable a device is against impacts. Arguments for repairability implicitly assume devices will break.
You can read this -partially- as another chapter in the right-to-repair saga, and partially in the context of (software) planned-obsolescence BS that plagues the android smartphone market.

My point is spare part availability will never be enough when children are involved. The number of spare parts manufactured is a fraction of the number of devices you intend to sell because you, as a manufacturer, do not expect to have issues with more than a given percentage of the devices during the life time of the product. Add children and you get tens to hundreds of times the number of damaged devices. Yes, the manufacturer can make the device easier to repair but the only way they'll risk manufacturing 1000% spare parts is having a long term government contract to cover the costs.

 

[trsttte]

Expecting CBs to last that long is madness and not because they're cheap but because, you know, children.
Rugged MIL-STD-810H certified laptops wouldn't last 3 years.

The report is addressing issues of spare part availability, ease of repair and software support, not how durable a device is against impacts. Arguments for repairability implicitly assume devices will break.
To quote the report:



You can read this -partially- as another chapter in the right-to-repair saga, and partially in the context of (software) planned-obsolescence BS that plagues the android smartphone market.

The report is not really about that, I believe they're fully expecting the devices to last up to 4 or 5 years at max. The report is confusing mixing up a bunch of stuff and this article like many others doesn't do a great job at highlighting the important points. There's software, hardware and spare parts/repairability.

For the software part, google is doing 8 years on any chromebook after 2020. They're asking for more which I don't think is that reasonable. Their argument is that the 8 years is from device certification (ballpark launch) but are they expecting to buy the same device forever? As years pass, new devices come so this isn't really a problem since any device in use by kids won't last until the update deadline. The issue is the older chromebooks before 2020, some also got their support cycle increased, some didn't, it sucks but it is what it is, it's a bit of a weird issue to bark at when it was already partially fixed.

Then comes imo the main points, hardware and repairability. They're complaining there's no parts available and that within the same device it's common to have multiple hardware revisions with meaningless changes that makes sourcing components even harder.

And this a problem for Google because...? Besides the name Google making for better headlines then a myriad of different manufacturers, they argue Google could pressure manufacturers to clean up their act, what I read is "please do what right to repair legislation is failing to do"

How about asking the other branches of government to get off their asses instead of relying on a big coorporation to do your job for you!?

I'm probably the only one on a tech forum that thinks kids needs to stay away from computers until they are 15 or something.
So much to learn that doesn't involve computers and it's not that kids who learned with computers are any better at IT than the generation before them.
It's worse.

Then a random black swan pandemic happens and what do you do, just stop school for 2 years? Chromebook adoption at younger ages ballooned because of the pandemic and the necessity to continue things.

 

[Tek-Check]

All desings have built-in obsolescense, just read the warranty. A two year warranty means 2 years is the projected average life span of the device. Nothing more.
Knife making is the only industry I know of where warranties are usually life-time. Some companies will even sharpen and maintain your knife for free if you mail it to them.

Bags, shoes, jackets, pens, some pottery and tools, etc. too
I am just saying that it was not inevitable to see that pile of disfunctional e-waste just two or three years after purchase. Ridiculous. I used one of my laptops for 9 years.