[jopsen]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of the trend.

But one could argue that a computer is just a cheaper implementation of the yesteryears discrete electronics. Which was itself a cheaper implementation of old school mechanical gears, switches and timing wheels, etc.

A locked down computer, could have been mechanical for all the user cares.

Fixing a dishwasher a while my dad told me that back in the day, they operates with a timing wheel that switched between different stages, and they had a lot of wires.

Todays dishwashers are cheaper and have fewer mechanical control parts (if any).

[EasyMark]

which should in theory make them more dependable but I've seen friends go through a few yet my 25 year old whirlpool has only ever had the door seal replaced and it works fine if loud as hell compared to modern ones.

[jopsen]

Could be survivorship bias ;)

But yes, the don't make them like they used to -- in fact they never did!

People said the same thing 25 years ago, and 25 years before that.

A modern fridge is probably cheaper (corrected for inflation) and more energy efficient.

Moreover, few appliances lives to be 30 years old just because they don't break.

Case in point: my better half is looking for a new oven. Because the 10y old one we have is noisy, compared to the new smart ovens. (I personally hate the fact that the top models are so smart, I must spend a second or two watching animated Siemens logo, before it's ready for input).

[baq]

Over those 25 years manufacturers were able to optimize mttf of all components to ‘a few months over warranty’. Solution would be to legally increase minimum warranty as the market extracted all value and is now socially inefficient.