Computers and Electronics Repairs

Computers and electronics repairs in general account for an incredibly wide range of businesses, production and day to day operations expenditures.

Planned Obsolescence

One of the main concerns and issues with today’s computer market in general is the term “planned obsolescence”. One would hope that the products they are purchasing are guaranteed to be of highest quality and performance possible, especially when said product is a multi-hundred dollar computer system that is often the fulcrum for personal life and business these days (as well as the smartphone).

This is not the case, however, because an industry reliant on the purchase of new products does not benefit when everyone’s stuff works indefinitely or without a wide variety of issues, thereby spurring (increasingly common) in-house repair industries. This is a tactic in the vertical integration business model that almost guarantees constant cash flow. Computers, and now most smartphones, are not built to last.

Handling Troubleshooting

In the IT repair and troubleshooting department, we more often than not hear of cases when a system will go down almost immediately after its warranty has expired. If you were in charge of a massive corporation, this model would make perfect sense. “Let’s build a machine, market it well, provide a warranty for customer peace of mind, then have it fail as soon as possible so they (the customers) need to pay us to fix it…or buy a new system!” -CEO of Electronics Company. Planned obsolescence is a frustrating and very, very unhealthy way of doing business.

The Flaws of Planned Obsolescence

Planned obsolescence hurts the consumer, hurts the environment, and generally slows the development of certain businesses. On the other hand, just like the ickiness of viruses and malware, planned obsolescence helps computer repair professionals by guaranteeing repeat business.

No matter how good it is for some, this designed failure, rinse, and repeat needs to stop. This creates more e-waste than ever: the amount of phones and similar devices turned over for new ones and thrown away in America alone tops 150 million units. That’s a lot of resources being wasted! In addition, people cannot rely on their products to withstand the test of time, and therefore find themselves caught in the constant upgrade and repair process that saps finances and time.

Stifled Development

The development market is stifled as well, since most advancements come at the mercy of this system, engineers don’t have their eyes set on developing the best performing product but one that is “just better enough” and will subsequently need to be repaired, replaced, or upgraded soon.

And on the corporate side of things, why not diversify your manufacturing and development company to also handle required repairs and upgrades? Now there are two income sources from different sides of the business under one company roof.

All we can do as consumers is be aware of reliability and performance statistics and reviews, and all that can be done as an electronics technician (independent repair businesses only apply) is to offer the best prices for repair and help spread the word. Cheers and happy shopping!

And get that insurance for your new Mac Retina Display repair prevention(pretty much a requirement, like a traffic citation must be paid)…feed the beast for now but save on the repairs when the laptop breaks.