13 Jun
2006
13 Jun
'06
3:52 a.m.
Billy Pettit wrote:
But let's ask the list: is there anybody else out
there or that you know
who buys a product only if it has repair documentation available?
Since I have 0% electronics repair skills, no.
And as a corollary, do you only buy products you want
to run 20 years? Or
can you accept a product as being expendable? How long should a computer
part last?
Computer parts without any moving parts should last forever, and in my
experience, they usually do (if cared for properly). Fans, hard drives,
and floppy drives have come and gone, but CPU, RAM, etc.
Monitors, OTOH, have been very hit or miss for me. I have an IBM 5153
CGA monitor that is as perfect as the day it was manufactured (and it
gets fairly regular use!), as well as a low-scanning VGA Amiga monitor
(horizontal goes down to 15Khz, something I wish all VGA monitors would
do), but I have thrown away more typical VGA monitors than I can count
on both hands. Even the trinitrons eventually gain a red cast, or a
voltage irregularity, or the flyback transformer blows, or something.
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/