[continued from previous message]   
      
   >>>> Which means that those customers will therefore gravitate to Apple,   
   >>>> despite yon "less bang for the buck" insinuations.  Since they're   
   >>>> voting with their wallet, their vote is quite credible.   
   >>>   
   >>> I doubt that most people who buy Macs or PCs even have an idea of   
   >>> what kind of processor it is equipped with.   
   >>   
   >> Depends on one's level of geekery.   
   >   
   > Well, I can tell you that back when my Dell died in 2010 and I had to   
   > shop for a replacement, I had no idea what the heck an i3 was. I just   
   > knew that the Core 2 Duo Apple was offering was very outdated.   
      
   There's been a lot of creaky cheap stuff on minimal spec systems.  I   
   have a Celeron based PC sitting around that I need to figure out what to   
   do with it, or turn it in for recycling.  Maybe a linux server box for a   
   bunch of tiny old Hard Drives...if its power consumption isn't too bad.   
      
      
   >>>>> With batteries, that might be the result of the offending part   
   >>>>> being glued to other components. My own laptop allows me to replace   
   >>>>> my battery fairly easily if I choose to do so, but I notice that   
   >>>>> quite a few manufacturers are imitating Apple because of the   
   >>>>> thinness obsession and gluing or soldering components.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Which means that it isn't an "only Apple" thing.  And come to think   
   >>>> of it, the battery in the most recent Mac laptop that I've retired   
   >>>> was still unswollen and ~okay condition at the seven (7) year mark.   
   >>>> Doesn't   this observation also run counter to "less bang for the   
   >>>> buck" claims?   
   >>>   
   >>> Lithium-ion will swell no matter what. If it didn't happen with the   
   >>> Apple laptop, I can only wonder what the origin of their lithium is   
   >>> and why the batteries in Razer laptops seem to swell much faster.   
   >>   
   >> Material aging properties like this are why the Engineering plans   
   >> ahead for in the design.  Shortsighted and cheap-ass outfits who cut   
   >> corners will invariably get burned by that decision later on.   
   >>   
   >> I've participated in some Li-Ion powerpack development; the last one   
   >> that I was closely involved with was originally delivered in 2010 and   
   >> as of the last time that I personally saw it in Summer 2022, it was   
   >> still doing fine:  that's 12 years & counting.   
   >   
   > That's why I'm thinking that some companies get a higher quality metal   
   > than others. Alan is suggesting that it's the chemistry and I'll accept   
   > that, but Apple doesn't make its own batteries as far as I know and buy   
   > them from someone else. The question, for me, is who does Razer buy from   
   > for theirs to blow up within two years and who is Apple buying from?   
      
      
   Its probably an "all of the above" situation, where some chemistry   
   specifics apply (good enough vs best practices), ditto the manufacturing   
   & tolerances, and then the supplier/supply chain which does a better job   
   of preventing shoddy counterfeits from getting snuck in.  For example,   
   the stuff I was using was primarily from SAFT; their VL30P had the specs   
   we needed...and we paid for it.  After subtracting off their NRE fee for   
   the first unit, its 2010 cost was a shade over $1000 per kW-hr.   
      
      
   -hh   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)