Hardware Freedom Day 2026 is on April 18th this year: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/hfd It’s a great time to get together with people in your neighborhood and discuss topics such as Right to Repair, creating Makerspaces, reducing electronic waste and reusing old computers and/or what to do when there’s an emergency like a power outage or the Internet goes down. What are you doing this Saturday? Please share posts about Hardware Freedom Day on your favorite social media channels and blogs and include #HFD2026
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Just had a 2 year old computer in for repair, will not boot.
Tried everything but still failed, so opened the box, everything is soldered onto the motherboard including the ssd. Nothing to repair or replace or remove…. dead recycle or scrap.
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That is not hardware freedom… more like hardware lockin… and terribly wasteful. I bet it was a laptop.. Sad thing is people dont even know what they are buying.
Yes
So cheap nothing to repair motherboard size of childs hand even battery hard wired, no cmos battery capacitors instead for costs. You pay 250 euros to throw away after 2 years
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These ‘machines’ are why when I’m getting ready to get a newer laptop, I may spend as long as a year researching just what I’ll end up with if I choose one of the devices who’s feature set meets my needs. When I do get a newer laptop, I’ll choose the best quality combined with the feature set that I can afford, and I’ll set aside as much as my cost of living allows each month until I have enough saved up to actually make my purchase.
When it comes to getting a newer desktop device, I’ll choose the best quality components I can afford, then when I have everything I need, I’ll assemble my stash of components into my new desktop ‘build’, while perhaps repurposing the existing box, giving it continuing life and functionality.
I’m disgusted with what some of today’s computer manufacturing companies are willing to put out on the market these days, and I feel bad for the average consumer who ends up purchasing these junk boxes thinking they’re getting a deal!
Ernie
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Perhaps on your list should be upgrades possible, so removalable battery, cmos possible to change, add more memory or replace, hard disk replacement.
I get many new machines in and can do none of these things on a laptop. The newer cases have no screws so to open I may damage the case, even with great care. Just to get at component that I can then do nothing with.
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Hi my friends,
This is a subject that really saddens me.
I’m an electronics technician, and it’s becoming increasingly impossible to repair equipment—even from well-known brands—because there are no replacement parts. It’s very difficult to replace anything other than simple capacitors and little else.
The same thing happens with computers, and I’ll pose a very simple hypothetical question: you carefully choose the type of laptop you’re going to buy, with features X, Y, and Z, and once the warranty expires, the laptop’s fan breaks down - is there even a single original or compatible fan that fits in the same spot?
It’s just another example to add to the many we already have here in this thread.
I’m a bit fuzzy on the dates, but I believe it was last year that my TV (LCD) broke down.
After finding the manual and doing some research, I concluded it was an IC (Integrated Circuit, commonly known as a chip), and, truth be told, I wanted to replace both identical ICs, because one of them was faulty.
I went online to search for the IC in stores, both domestic and international, to buy the component, but I couldn’t find it.
I turned to a store that usually sources used motherboards and components from certain European countries, but they no longer had my motherboard in stock.
I searched online and found tons of videos explaining the problem I was having and which component was fault - the very same IC I’d been trying to buy.
I found a used IC on AliExpress - dessoldered from the motherboard - but they hadn’t even cleaned the pins. It’s an SMD (surface-mounted device) IC with about 30 pins, but the photo didn’t inspire enough confidence for me to buy it, especially since I wanted two ICs and, even used, they were extremely expensive.
Really annoyed by this new “break it, throw it away, buy a new one” mindset, I had to buy a new TV.
Without mentioning specific brands, because I don’t want to bring that discussion into this, one of the things I’ve been thinking about is new electric cars, or those with large LCD touchscreens on the side condole, or with “ergonomic” LCD panels, for example, that stretch from the instrument panel to the side console.
And when they break down? Is that entire assembly of parts that makes up the monitor - the “complete monitor” - supposed to be a single unit, meaning you have to remove the entire monitor and install a new one? And in five years, will there still be replacement monitors available, or, since the touchscreen is the “access terminal” to the car’s system, will you have to buy a new car?
Let’s not even get into the batteries in electric cars, please…
Happy hardware freedom day
Jorge
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There was a time I was capable of changing a chips, but sadly no longer, with flow solder pins cht so short plus being able to diagnose component like this requires a lot of technical skills not to mention time and patients.
I have enough difficulty now with the ribbon câbles connecting items to the motherboard such as keyboard or trackpads.
Some time back with memory, hard disks cmos batteries you just unclipped and replaced.
About a month back my wife phone came apart battery overheated and force the screen off. Took one look and though fix my phone shop, they quote 300 euros for a battery and 3 days to install as they had to reglue the battery in place and then the screen.. I bought her a new phone better spec and 200 euros. The old phone is on my desk waiting for a replacement battery if i do it.
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In the past 15 years or more, I have had very good luck buying my laptops and desktops used off of E-bay.
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Thank you for that! I’ll keep that in mind, now that chip costs have become so outrageous!
Ernie
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Thank you! Excellent point!
Ernie
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