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Quick Thoughts On Consumer Technology
6 years ago
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As you may or may not know I am almost finished getting my undergrad in Computer Engineering (I have literally two classes and senior design until I'm licensed). I've also been in IT for the better part of a decade and system integration for a few years more. I've had the chance to use a wide variety of consumer to prosumer computers and I've noticed a bit of a trend. No matter what, no matter who you buy from and (to an extent) how much you pay, you are most likely going to have some kind of hardware malfunction in your device.
Throughout my college carrier the vast majority of computers I've owned were HP (I'm fucking poor and HP makes damn cheap computers), and almost universally they have all failed either at or just after the warranty period expired. The last one, an entry level HP OMEN laptop, died after a year and three months. A $1000 USD laptop, dead just over a year. My new computer, an MSI laptop, [which I like very much, it's really nice], has a defective touchpad and probably bad power management on the USB.
Of all the manufacturers I've used and repaired MSI has been the best to work with and on. I have MSI hardware in my desktop, I've built many machines with MSI mainboards and of the gaming laptop manufacturers they have a great reputation. That being said, however, even MSI isn't free from having bad hardware slip through the QA cracks. For most people, it's pretty simple to RMA the machine back to the manufacturer and have it repaired or get a replacement sent out. In my case, I can't afford the down time without a mobile computer. My desktop can do everything I need, but I can't haul it around campus all day.
My problems aren't crippling. I bring a mouse everywhere and aside from not being able to charge my phone the type C port works just fine. I've got the knowledge/experience to work around hardware glitches, but the vast majority of people don't. If you spend multiple thousands on a machine you are pretty much guaranteed a fully working machine that will last.
Take Apple computers for example. Sure, Apple's ecosystem is pretty locked down and very difficult to customize. Sure, once you buy the machine you can change (especially now-a-days) literally nothing about the hardware. But out of all the major PC manufacturers Apple easily takes the cake for longevity. One of my work machines is a decade old Macbook Pro that has been dropped and suffered major chassis damage. It may be a little slow by modern standards but it works completely. I've not seen a single Windows based laptop from the likes of Dell/HP/ASUS/etc that has lasted nearly as long. The long and short of this rant is the technology industry is chock -full of companies that go to extreme lengths to minimize cost in not only manufacturing and QA, but also design and integration. It's pretty difficult to buy a mobile computer that will last more than a few years. (This rant brought to you by Apple, go buy their overpriced and locked down garbage).
Throughout my college carrier the vast majority of computers I've owned were HP (I'm fucking poor and HP makes damn cheap computers), and almost universally they have all failed either at or just after the warranty period expired. The last one, an entry level HP OMEN laptop, died after a year and three months. A $1000 USD laptop, dead just over a year. My new computer, an MSI laptop, [which I like very much, it's really nice], has a defective touchpad and probably bad power management on the USB.
Of all the manufacturers I've used and repaired MSI has been the best to work with and on. I have MSI hardware in my desktop, I've built many machines with MSI mainboards and of the gaming laptop manufacturers they have a great reputation. That being said, however, even MSI isn't free from having bad hardware slip through the QA cracks. For most people, it's pretty simple to RMA the machine back to the manufacturer and have it repaired or get a replacement sent out. In my case, I can't afford the down time without a mobile computer. My desktop can do everything I need, but I can't haul it around campus all day.
My problems aren't crippling. I bring a mouse everywhere and aside from not being able to charge my phone the type C port works just fine. I've got the knowledge/experience to work around hardware glitches, but the vast majority of people don't. If you spend multiple thousands on a machine you are pretty much guaranteed a fully working machine that will last.
Take Apple computers for example. Sure, Apple's ecosystem is pretty locked down and very difficult to customize. Sure, once you buy the machine you can change (especially now-a-days) literally nothing about the hardware. But out of all the major PC manufacturers Apple easily takes the cake for longevity. One of my work machines is a decade old Macbook Pro that has been dropped and suffered major chassis damage. It may be a little slow by modern standards but it works completely. I've not seen a single Windows based laptop from the likes of Dell/HP/ASUS/etc that has lasted nearly as long. The long and short of this rant is the technology industry is chock -full of companies that go to extreme lengths to minimize cost in not only manufacturing and QA, but also design and integration. It's pretty difficult to buy a mobile computer that will last more than a few years. (This rant brought to you by Apple, go buy their overpriced and locked down garbage).
