THE LAND FILLERS
There’s no denying that some manufacturers create sensational technology, but even the market leaders make questionable design decisions that are preventing R2R. Here are a few examples:
Microsoft’s Xbox Series X
If you’ve been lucky enough to get your hands on an Xbox Series X, you’ll know what a fantastic product it is. Microsoft’s repairability has been noted by iFixit who have praised the fact that, with the right tools, it’s pretty easy to open up. Microsoft has even reused the same optical drive found in the Xbox One S and Xbox One X, but iFixit suggests that Microsoft has used serialisation to pair the optical drive with the motherboard. This can be overcome with a soldering iron, but it’s a big barrier for R2R. I asked Microsoft UK to explain and was told “Microsoft will be politely declining to comment on this occasion”.
Epson’s print heads
As a retailer, I can tell you that the biggest failure point in a domestic printer is the print head. When it blocks, it can be extremely difficult to shift; although chemical kits are available, success rates vary. There was a time when print heads could be easily replaced by a user, which would be the obvious solution to extending the lifespan of a working unit. I asked Epson how many of their domestic printers have replaceable heads. “Epson’s print heads are not commercially available to consumers, however because we are so confident that our hardware can stand the test of time, we do offer additional warranty across a huge range of our products for free.”
Lenovo’s laptops
Last year, I reported on a Lenovo V110 laptop with a RAM fault ( see issue 310, p118). On this model, the RAM is soldered to the motherboard which also features a DIMM socket for RAM expansion. Annoyingly, there’s no hardware or software switch to make the DIMM exclusive should the onboard RAM fail – this would make the repair cost around £30. I asked Lenovo to explain its reasoning: “The RAM module is integrated onto the mainboard to make the product lighter and thinner, so the repairable part is the mainboard.” Which makes sense from Lenovo’s standpoint, less so from that of a repair shop owner trying to save his customers money. “If the product fails within the warranty, then Lenovo would repair it. For out of warranty repair, we would assess the repair and provide a quote once accepted. An out of warranty repair would be in the region of £200 to £250.”