[rini17]

Maybe the watch analogy isn't the best one. But you are probably aware that the display, battery and storage break down more often than CPU? And that noone is proposing to replace individual bad transistors or pixels, but these parts which are manufactured separately and don't have to be glued together.

[StavrosK]

I was arguing specifically that comparing tech products to mechanical wristwatches is a bit ridiculous. Obviously tech products could be much more repairable than they are.

[rini17]

Actually, comparing exchangeable mechanical gears to a transistors on silicon die or pixels is a bit ridiculous.

[smichel17]

I'd look at the comparison more like: a gear is a component (eg, cpu). If it breaks, it breaks and is not expected to be repairable, but that component should be replaceable; you shouldn't have to throw away the whole watch just because one gear broke.

[jameshart]

But a replacement gear can be manufactured out of commodity materials using standard tools and a bunch of esoteric skills. A replacement LCD display is never going to be something a skilled worker can recreate from scratch. Your best case is that you are able to salvage matching parts from another instance of the same device - so if you have one laptop with a broken screen and another with a busted CPU you can cannibalize parts to make a single working machine.

[_ph_]

I hope the clarification I posted shows in what sense it clearly is not ridiculous. Of course you would need spare parts, but the access to be able to exchange parts in the first place ist the essential part.