Stop buying new stuff, says government advisor

noodle_doodle

prowla wrote: »

I really believe in the repair rather than buy approach where possible:
- I run a 12 year old car and I'm hoping for another 5 years out of it.
- My tumble drier broke so I got a replacement element and fitted it.
- My mobile phone broke so I had it repaired.
- My computer was slow so I replaced its CPU.
- My toaster stopped doing one side of a slice so I replaced the element.

Of course, some things it is as well to buy new than repair; it's just a matter of gauging the options in each case.

PCs are about the only electronic piece of kit worth repairing rather than buying new because they're designed to be modular and fixable by yer average joe. Mine's had a new motherboard, graphics card and memory since I got it 6 years ago and I am a cack-handed nightmare. In that time I've chucked out two toasters, a microwave, a telly and a tumble dryer because fixing them was a) impossible by me and b) too expensive by someone else

grizzly1911

michaels wrote: »

Everyone's favourite apple make their mega profits because they make their phones with built in batteries and no memory card slot so guaranteed built in obsolescence. Android manufacturers are now rushing to copy this design brilliance

I have an android app on my tablet that allows me to read a USB drive attached to it via OTG cable. I haven't tried an SD card via a USB adapter yet.

Lion batteries have a fairly long life if used properly but i can't understand why they don't make them easily replaceable. I know my missus windows phone has the battery "fixed" in as part of the chasis for strength.

grizzly1911

bugslet wrote: »

Oh I know they will go on and work elsewhere - often Latvia, but that's another story. The point I was making is that there is this obsession with having a new vehicle from the customer, when the vehicle is perfectly roadworthy and still looks pretty much like new.

Perceived image consciousness. The same reason individuals need to indulge themselves.

The end customer pays.

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

We never bother to repair anything, it's usually a waste of money.

Take white goods, they usually last averagely 7 years - by the time they break there are usually better, greener and more economical models on the market that will save you more money in the long run.

Old computers don't have enough memory...

Old phones don't do anything...

Honestly, can't think of anything worth repairing...we'll always just replace rather than chase good money after bad. Works for us.

grizzly1911

noodle_doodle wrote: »

PCs are about the only electronic piece of kit worth repairing rather than buying new because they're designed to be modular and fixable by yer average joe. Mine's had a new motherboard, graphics card and memory since I got it 6 years ago and I am a cack-handed nightmare. In that time I've chucked out two toasters, a microwave, a telly and a tumble dryer because fixing them was a) impossible by me and b) too expensive by someone else

The only down side to having an older PC is the power consumption.

Are the newer ones less power hungry and more efficient or do they consume more to keep all the bits going and keep the heat sink in use?

noodle_doodle

grizzly1911 wrote: »

The only down side to having an older PC is the power consumption.

Are the newer ones less power hungry and more efficient or do they consume more to keep all the bits going and keep the heat sink in use?

I think the CPUs for desktops use as many watts as ever, but obviously now with more processing oomph per watt (and they do seem to be smarter at idling now.) It's the laptop market that has went for the low power cpus as that means the battery lasts longer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CPU_power_dissipation_figures


Newer graphics cards are more power hungry than the old ones, more so than the cpus nowadays, that's why I had to change the power unit in mine too...

zagubov

grizzly1911 wrote: »

Not so much sure that all cars are just fashion progress. For many they have become a necessity of life, particularly in out of town environments. Poor public transport and centralisation of services into distant hubs let alone the work commute.

I saw yesterday that BMW are considering a 4X4 Rolls. Wonder if it will become the X20. No doubt make towing the horse box easier or making your passengers even sicker as you hustle 21/5 tons of Conolly indulgence through the home counties lanes.

The use of Chelsea Tractors in cities is pointless. I have to drive through lanes where two small cars can barely pass let alone these monsters. Powerful cars in cities where high gears are rarely used.

An awful lot of cars get used for what public transport could do better.

Stagecoach run the US yellow school bus network IIRC but we've nothing like that and it would be a massive improvement over the parking mayhem we have around schools. The clear roads we see during school holidays show how much useless duplication of journeys is going on.

There's got to be a better way to arrange things!

kabayiri

grizzly1911 wrote: »

The only down side to having an older PC is the power consumption.

Are the newer ones less power hungry and more efficient or do they consume more to keep all the bits going and keep the heat sink in use?

My core I7 can masquerade for a corby trouser press. So much for efficiency! It'd burn my flippin lap, so I keep it on a laptop cooler.

When the fans for the graphics card kick in, its like an A320 taxiing to first runway!

N1AK

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Not being hard up for 30 quid, I'll still take it down the tip. You can have it for nothing if you wish!

I can't imagine you're remotely interested, but we tend to list similar items on freeCycle rather than dump them.

It's amazing what we've listed not expecting to go and had it snapped up quickly. Our old cheap Argos sofas were the last thing on there. We thought they were pretty desperate but apparently the young lady who got them, having just come out of rehab, was chuffed to have something that wasn't moldy or torn apart in the horrid place she had to stay.

kabayiri

Here's a great example of our consumption culture.

Microsoft XP support will be stopped this year. There are still hundreds of thousands , if not millions of PCs happily running as an administration or office machine. Some companies will be forced to dump the machine and upgrade to something like Windows 7.

Hey, but in a free market, one should be able to pay a separate company to pay for specific Microsoft XP support right? Nope! There is no way Microsoft will release any code base under a public support license.

I can't see a rapid retreat from the consumption culture anytime soon.