Originally Posted by
AzTallRider
We expect things like a computer dieing after only 4 years as being "par for the course" with consumer electronics, but there is no technical reason we should have to. The only technically valid reason to replace something that new is for higher performance, as we continue to follow Moore's Law. But we demand the cheapest electronics China can build for us, use it for awhile, then throw it on a toxic slag heap in a third world country, and just buy a new one. The Earth can only handle so much of that, and it is already saying "enough!".
I don't consider it "par for the course". This is the only computer I've had die on me going all the way back to my first PC (4Mhz XT w/ 2 - 360K floppy drives and no HD) and the only one we've ever replaced for a reason other than it being so outdated it no longer met our needs. We have one desktop still in service that is a decade old. The difference between the bleeding edge and the stuff near the bottom is often only a year or so. My needs are not great so I am able to deal with old technology longer than many people are willing to. And our city has a good electronics recycling program to minimize what ends up in landfill.