It strikes me that the ever increasing drive toward miniaturization
and integration of chips and circuitry has lead to an enormous
current and future waste problem.
The positive is that they are smaller, lighter to carry and are more
power efficient. The trade off is that they are tomorrows land fill,
as they are not upgradeable or repairable.
Even if physically possible, the expertise needed to do the job would
far outweigh the cost of replacement. More often than not they expire
due to the iterative changes in software API's and the end of
manufacturer firmware upgrades to keep those devices functional.
When they do physically break you probably lose the functionality of
several items in one swoop. For example, your phone may double as
your watch, calendar, camera, audio player and computer...
Modularity of functionality and modularity of componentry gives you
some freedom to choose individual items which can be repaired or
updated only when that specific item or component requires it.
A phone with a glued in battery vs one with a user replaceable
battery. A computer with replaceable RAM, CPU, graphics or sound
card. A separate wrist watch, MP3 player or camera.
Items designed and made for a specific task are usually much better
at it and much better quality. The UNIX philosophy of doing one thing
well is a universal truth.
I still have one or two AT/ATX motherboards where every function,
apart from maybe serial/parallel ports, is provided by individual
daughter cards (AGP, PCI, ISA). If one component died or became
outdated you could replace it with another, up to a point.
A significant investment in a piece of electronics you would expect
to have around 10 years service from and repair it should it break.
## Hardware choices
My daily driver computer is a second hand HP T620 (16Gb SSD, 4Gb
RAM), both RAM and SSD are user replaceable. It consumes just 15w
which compared to an old ATX is very little. My conscience rests
easier buying used items, I had nothing to do with driving the
marketing forces which caused them to be produced. With me it has a
second life and I'm very happy with its performance. I am already
considering getting another, or the later T630, as a backup system in
case this one should break and I'm unable to fix it.
For portable work I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X61s, which was very
generously given to me, with a recently replaced after-market
battery. Thankfully the quality and appreciation for these laptops
has ensured parts are still available for them. I love the square
screen format and classic IBM build quality. It's fast enough and I
enjoy using it when I have occasion to.
My phone is a Nokia E72. I have maybe 3 spare batteries and a spare
case and keyboard (yes it has a keyboard!). I broke the screen a
couple of years ago when it fell off my dashboard. I bought one for
spares off eBay that turned out to be in better physical condition
than my own so I swapped the internals from my original. You just
can't do that with a modern phone.
I use it primarily as an MP3 player and for text messaging (remember
SMS?) as I don't use any of the modern messenger services. I also use
it occasionally as a phone and for satellite navigation.
For taking photos I have a compact Panasonic Lumix TZ-18 and for
anything more serious a Nikon D40X along with a couple of lenses to
cover most situations.
## There's no excuse
It's a pity that all our developed engineering ability has been used
primarily to increase profitability and not product quality and
longevity. There is absolutely no excuse, we can make products to
last decades, modularly upgradeable and repairable, but this doesn't
make manufacturers and shareholders money.
My love for old hardware is not merely nostalgia. These dinosaurs of
the digital age are infinitely more sustainable than your iThing,
googlebox or fruitySBC.
