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0 pointsreitanqild8y ago0 comments

Easily fixable phones and laptops.

My phones and laptops are small enough and lightweight enough.

Making them bulletproof is too expensive. But making them easier to fix, documenting the process and authorizing repair shops would do be great.

PS: I don't need to be able to hot-swap parts.

PPS: pro models from Dell and HP at least are often quite easy to disassemble and fix and I think you can often source parts from eBay for years after you buy them.

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7 comments · 5 top-level

emacsgifs8y ago· 2 in thread

Phones not made by Apple are easy enough to fix.

Just replaced the screen on my Mi Mix for about $100 plus an hour or so of my personal time.

ziggyz8y ago

I think iPhones are among the easiest to fix, nothing is sealed no mess no glue. The cheap replacement screen for 5,6,7 cost around 20£ and takes around 20min to replace.

emacsgifs8y ago

should have known this, since it seems like common sense in retrospect.

I'm projecting from impressions I'd made since the Mac book pro became harder and harder to modify and upgrade. I'd constructed a faulty assumption about the repairability of iPhones.

It's never been difficult for me to find someone to repair one of my old iPhones in the past, I just quit on iPhones last year and feel somewhat disappointed with them since the v7s. (I am a fairly recent switcher to Android.)

tomatocracy8y ago

There are many phones out there that are easy enough to fix the common problems with the right tools (heat gun, opener tool, set of small screwdrivers and picks). Replacing a dead screen is about an hour's work for a beginner and there are enough tutorials on youtube that most beginners will get it right first time. Most parts for common phones are commonly available on aliexpress. Most other problems can be dealt with by replacing motherboard/daughterboards or battery rather than needing to bother with reflowing solder.

The real problem is that phones depreciate so quickly that replacement parts (especially displays - Samsung LED screens etc are notoriously expensive) are often more expensive than buying a new second-hand phone on eBay unless you're willing to go down the route of separating bonded LCDs from glass/touch sensors is economically viable but that is much more difficult to do right, even with the right equipment (temperature-controlled hotplate).

icebraining8y ago

Buy a Thinkpad? I went from opening it for the first time to having the internal screen cable replaced and working fine in a couple of hours.

jamaicahest8y ago

Move to Europe https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9kwaa5/the-europe...

osmyn8y ago

I love how my Raspberri Pi I can just swap out the SD card and have a completely different OS. As a software developer, it would be awesome if I could do that on my laptop or phone.

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