[Tade0]

I would never guess that a piece of even consumer hardware was designed with such low tolerances as to develop such issues.

Is this some kind of a trend that I'm not up to date with?

I was surprised to find out that my laptop fans started first getting noisy and then rattling after less than two years since purchase. I searched around and apparently the tight tolerances combined with low quality of the bearings eventually produce this effect.

This is especially audible if I let them heat up - it appears that thermal expansion is enough for the blades to get too close to the housing.

I ordered a set of new ones and appropriate tools, but I can't imagine doing this every two years. My previous laptop lasted around seven, after which both the battery and the power socket gave out.

[li2uR3ce]

> Is this some kind of a trend that I'm not up to date with?

It's called planned obsolescence and it's part of the factory-to-landfill pipeline. It's not exactly new.

Do we know how to make a long lasting laptop fan? Yes. Would nearly every consumer pay $0.25 more for a laptop with a longer lasting fan? Yes. Can you buy laptops with high quality fans? Yes, but seemingly only by dumb luck.

By the time you figure out that a product has a high failure part the company will no longer be manufacturing it and therefore reviews won't be relevant (granting relative immunity to bad reviews). And when every brand is doing it, there's no way for "free market" competition to sort it out. It's a race to the bottom. (3. 2. 1. Cue "The morality of protecting share holders eclipses the morality of ripping consumers off.")

I only buy used laptops now. The significant reduction in price is a reduction in risk. Also a used product has had "burn in" time to weed out the lemons. The engineer calculated xx% of fail-early laptops often aren't the ones being resold.

I'm bitter. I'm cynical. Despite being aware of my mind's ability to find patterns to confirm my biases... I'm really struggling to be excited about new products. I'm spent like nuclear fuel; I'm toxic. They say knowing is half the battle... not in psychology. Doesn't help me a damned bit.

Today's sponsor is Better Help. I should just stop now.

[Tade0]

> They say knowing is half the battle... not in psychology.

I've felt this so many times that I gave it a name: "the falling physicist problem".

A physicist falling without a parachute from the very top of the troposphere knows, that his terminal velocity is around 50m/s and was reached via gravity pulling him towards the ground.

Nevertheless he's going to go splat the same way anyone else would, because sometimes knowing is just not enough.

[MichaelZuo]

Or you buy a laptop brand that's specifically targeted for long-lasting professional use only, like Panasonic Toughbooks or Thinkpad P series workstations. So all the problems associated with consumer race-to-the-bottom type stuff is avoided. And if not the 5 year+ next day on site warranty would cover it.

Are you willing to pay for it though?

[mindslight]

Buying older hardware is also one of the few ways to have it be documented enough to be able to remove all of the crapware baked in by the manufacturers. Every laptop newer than the Thinkpad X230 is basically dead to me.

[slig]

Isn't that just https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence ?

[Fradow]

He's talking about a 12 years-old screen that probably saw daily use. Something failing at that point is more than expected.

As others have noted, it's in fact probably bad capacitors, which is a really common issue for electronics of that era. I also encountered that several times, it's a quick fix if you know how to solder new ones, and you can find such capacitors for cheap (like 1$ cheap last time I had to look, though finding that price for a single one is hard, and much less when bought in bulk).

[rasz]

>I would never guess that a piece of even consumer hardware was designed with such low tolerances as to develop such issues.

It wasnt, the explanation in the blog is nonsense. 10 years is a good lifespan for capacitors working in hot environment, and that is what failed. Electrolytic Capacitors are perishable, they age even when not used.

>I ordered a set of new ones and appropriate tools, but I can't imagine doing this every two years. My previous laptop lasted around seven, after which both the battery and the power socket gave out.

then use better quality replacement mechanical part. People arent surprised when servicing cars, why different expectations with modern electronics?

[Tade0]

> Electrolytic Capacitors are perishable, they age even when not used.

But not that perishable. I have some old electronics, along with fully analog devices (guitar effects) and they, along with their power supplies(which get hot) still work.

> People arent surprised when servicing cars, why different expectations with modern electronics?

Because they have orders of magnitude less moving parts - if any.at all. Is it unreasonable to expect something that has one moving part to not fail after two years?

Actually, I wouldn't want a car exhibiting mechanical problems after such a short period.

[rasz]

Old gear didnt depend on low ESR (simplified resistance at high frequencies). Every time you turn on a piece of electronic with linear power supply electrolytic caps will slowly reform and start working better and better with time. Modern gear is DC-DC converters all the way down. Aged cap means no supply voltage at all (doesnt turn on), or crazy ripple (crashes, produces funny sound or visible artifacts).

>Actually, I wouldn't want a car exhibiting mechanical problems after such a short period.

Nobody would, thats what scheduled services are for.

[ungamedplayer]

If this is the case, you could consider bearingless fans, which should prevent them from wearing out. The only issue is you may not be able to find them in the size requirement you need.

Good luck !