XPost: alt.windows7.general   
   From: Newyana2@invalid.nospam   
      
   "Paul"  wrote   
      
   |   
   | But the Dell came from a factory too.   
   |   
   | You're probably thinking that Sparkle Ponies live   
   | in a Dell factory.   
   |   
      
   :)  I figure that Dell doesn't want returns, so they're probably   
   doing a lot of testing with components, to make sure they're   
   making a stable choice. I'm making a slightly educated guess   
   and hoping for the best.   
      
      
   | Sadly, all factories are the same.   
   |   
   | Dell is unlikely to run its own PCB factory. Like   
   | HP, they would get a motherboard from Trigem or   
   | Pegasus or Mitac or Compal or some other ODM.   
   |   
   | Anandtech had a video once, of the Asus motherboard   
   | "two minute functional test". This is the test before   
   | the motherboard is put in the ESD bag. It covers the   
   | main slots, the CPU socket, some memory slot. Most   
   | of the two minutes, is the time needed to plug in the   
   | test items. The actual test runtime is pretty short.   
   |   
   | The reason the test is short, is it takes 2 minutes :-)   
   | Times the 3 million to 5 million motherboards per month   
   | receiving the same test. The result is five hundred tables   
   | with a person at each table, plugging in shit and testing.   
   | It is labor intensive. If any part of the process slows   
   | down... it result in a "need for more tables" :-) I think   
   | you can see the dynamic tension involved in the topic.   
   | If they plugged in all the USB ports, they would need   
   | a thousand tables. That's why we have the joke about   
   | the test time being short because it's short. Because it's short.   
   |   
   | Naturally, the overall production loop, includes statistical   
   | product inspection, which is outside of our little functional   
   | test table fiasco. Every one of N items are pulled aside for   
   | thorough examination. If there's a problem, it could mean   
   | pulling pallets of stuff back from the production area, for   
   | rework or correction of systematic mistakes.   
   |   
   | But ultimately, for "fatal" errors, the pile of material   
   | to be shredded and put in the dumpsters out back, that's   
   | huge. Most of the product 99 44/100 percent of it, *must*   
   | go out the door, or the tipping fee and wasted materials   
   | take all the fun out of it.   
   |   
   | At some point, things defy logic. If a motherboard retails   
   | for $40 (which might be a clearance price for all I know),   
   | there isn't money for test. There should be some price point,   
   | where only statistical process control ensures product quality.   
   | This calls for six sigma ICs. Jelly bean TTL logic of years   
   | ago, that wasn't being tested (only statistical test, if that).   
   | That's well before someone thought the word "sigma" should   
   | be involved.   
   |   
   | While we have expectations of a test strategy, remember that   
   | every factory is a dirty grubby place filled with morons.   
   | You can have 99 employees of normal intelligence, and the   
   | moron running the facility, spoils it for everyone else :-)   
   | Every plant has a weakest link. Plants have unions. Etc.   
   |   
     I'm not really expecting thorough testing. What can we expect,   
   really, given that these are advanced components for relatively   
   cheap prices? But in all the machines I've built (maybe 15?) only   
   one has been a lemon. I just figure that as part of the cost.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)