[continued from previous message]   
      
   >> I have to admit that I would have found that attractive if I were a   
   >> computer user in the 80s and the Apple ][ and/or Mac were available   
   >> for purchase. OF course, living through the 80s, the only computer I   
   >> really thought was awesome was the Amiga.   
   >   
   > The Amiga was a good attempt at a GUI centric OS that was competing   
   > against Apple and had its fans.  I don't recall why why it flamed out.   
      
   Commodore kept selling the same machine since 1987. The upgrades were   
   few and far between and even after they were released, developers   
   targeted the lowest common denominator in the Amiga 500. It was the same   
   problem with the Atari 520ST being targeted despite many improvements.   
   People wanted something superior and only the PC and Mac developers were   
   bothering to develop for the latest technology.   
      
   >>> 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 knew that the Core 2 Duo Apple was offering was very outdated.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.   
      
   You can always give it away to a needy family. I'm going to start doing   
   that with older laptops I use at work. A ten-year-old machine is a piece   
   of crap unless you put Linux on it and give it to a kid whose family can   
   barely afford to eat. Luckily, I work in a school where there are tons   
   of poor families and they would appreciate the gift.   
      
   >>> 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.   
   I honestly don't know enough about how they produce the batteries to   
   comment, but I know that once the original battery of a typical PC   
   manufacturer's machine wears out, you are likely to get a terrible   
   counterfeit if you seek to get it from anywhere but the manufacturer   
   itself. I had what turned out to be a complete piece of garbage in my   
   old MSI GT72 when I replaced the original battery and the experience was   
   almost traumatizing.   
      
   --   
   CrudeSausage   
   John 14:6   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)