its painfull to hear how evil some corporations are when it comes to parts supplys, i have the same problem here in Argentina whith spare parts, for notebooks , phones , pcs , tools and even air conditioners. anyway hope you could find a way to keep goow Good luch " The Greates Technitian That Ever Lived"
Been building computers since the late 80s, and been A+ certified for so long it's grandfathered in as lifetime. Proprietary crap has always been the bane of being a technician, big shop or small. Glad there are some brands making an effort at standardization and part availability like Framework, but the big makers always want that repair money.
@@SalemTechspertsain't it called - corruption? In EU more common thing to get politician or his party in bad light on next election or even start big law stuff on them. Tho not working with auto industry lobbying😢
The problem of right to repair is that it infringe on your right of ownership. Not talking about garbage parts, but imagine buying a car and have to change your battery. Manufacturer's one at 75% the price of your car, licensed ones at 50% or generic one around $150-$200. With the licensed one working 1 out of 10 times or the generic one never working. Then have the same BS for your tires. What really is needed is to bring back true ownership. Anything working like a lease or a rent MUST have the same warranties. Repairs being the seller/manufacturer's problem, without extra charges.
Just like the other nationwide and worldwide issues, most people just don’t care about them until they’re directly affected by it. Then instead of getting angry at the tech giant’s for not supporting their products, they’re mad at some dude in a struggling repair shop for “ruining their child’s birthday”
Ding ding. When most shops get to this point they just stop helping consumers and become an MSP for businesses. It’s more profitable and much less work when setup correctly. I was at this point before RUclips proved to be a viable replacement for my income
And then they won't be mad at the right people, they'll just be mad that there aren't any affordable third party repair providers, instead of being mad at both the manufacturers and the legislators for fucking them over.
i think its deeper than that, most retirements, 401k, and hedgefunds rely on the stock market. companies like google, apple, Microsoft are some of the biggest valued stocks. How do they keep their stocks high? by selling more devices, its easier to scale selling devices than providing services which require labor aka people. Our government has done a poor job with finances so much so that we have to depend on illegal immigrants contributing millions of dollars into social security and medicare. They will not be entitled to use any of these benefits. Politicians don't care because they make so much more than the average citizen that they can afford to go to the dealer/ manufacture to repair or replace their device. avg consumer either doesn't know or doesn't care, you see middle and lower class buying new $1k phones every year for what? We are Currently providing repair services however I do not see this as a long term viable business.
I owned a repair business from the late 1978 to 1989. At its peak, I had two shops with 28 employees. We repaired just about everything TVs, VCRs, Camcorders, Microwave Ovens, Cordless Phones, Calculators, CB and Ham Radios, tons of Walkman's (portable cassette players), and the occasional PC. My business was run on an Intel 8088 PC, but the 286 and 386 were on the market. I was researching what the hell is going on with the brand new Geekom XT13 I purchased. It randomly started to not send video to the monitor and then one morning I came in and the PC was stone dead, not even an LED lit. The PS checked at 19V, so I am in the middle of the journey of trying to get someone in Taiwan to swap this. They of course tried to say it must be the PS. I was told I could take out the SSD storage card and ship it back on my dime and they would send me a GT13 version. I popped the cover and there it is, a blown component near the DC input jack. It literally vaporized; it appears to have been a surface mount resistor. They did try to double down on "it must be the PS" and they know there is a design problem here. Anyway, I went out-of-business in 1989 because the cost to maintain a professional repair shop that did in-warranty, out-of-warranty, and factory repairs (yes, we took in van loads of repairs from manufacturers who were getting out doing repairs), just became impossible. Out-of-warranty parts were a nightmare as we had to shop the universe constantly. One of my technicians wanted to downsize the operation and cheery pick the items that were still viable to repair. He actually managed to keep going for about twenty more years to around 2009. Just some background on him. One day he walked into my shop, he was maybe 25 and he asked if I had any work and that he always loved fixing things, but he had no technical education or job-related experience. He was working in a local pizza dough factory. He turned out to be the most reliable and trustworthy guy and he learned fast. I get a kick out of the uncanny resemblance you are to me as a young man with a trimmed beard and a sense of humor. The shop was in NJ, I had moved to Washington State in 1989 after going out-of-business. I went back to NJ around 2008 and randomly dropped in and he was there. He introduced me to an older man who was working on the bench. He had the same story. The man walked in one day and asked if there was any work and he was handy and could fix things, but didn't have a lot of related experience. The man was his best technician and most loyal. I don't know what happened to my old friend, the business is now a real estate office or some such thing, there is no trace of the thirty plus years of being a repair shop. I still miss doing repairs as it's more than a source of income, it is a positive human experience when you hand back a device someone enjoyed and didn't want to part with. Sadly, today, we live in a throw away society, everything is designed for obsolescence. When I was a kid in the 60's, repair shops were numerous. American built everything here and stood by their products. I went back to school at the age of 33, finished my engineering studies and got an MBA and went back to work for OEM's (as I did before opening the shops). The sad difference being I had work for the Taiwanese/Chinese/Thai OEM's. I retired when the pandemic hit. Now I just have these memories of an America that for most never existed and I did save a box full of discrete components that surely have long lost any hope of use because the devices they served are either in the landfill or a museum. Good luck to you. Few people understand the effort and knowledge it takes to be a good repairman.
This story hits me in the heart Andy. I'm a recent industrial designer graduate and ffs this is exactly what I'll sink my teeth into. Designing consumer goods with a proper lifespan comes first, but then also allow consumers to disassemble and repair without too much hassle. You know... pretty much design consumer goods like they did up to the 90s. I wish you and all other repair shops the best. Give me some time and I'll make your liife easier.
Unless you run your own company, you will not be allowed to do any of those things. And if you do run your own company, you'll find that doing those things costs you time and money you don't have. Then there are the competitors who will undercut you by not doing those things, and will eventually force you to abandon your principles in order to stay in business.
@@anthonyobryan3485 - Nah, it's "planned obsolescence" and it's entirely deliberate. Make the customer blame the repair shops for being shit instead of the manufacturer, and then they go out and buy a new device they shouldn't need because the "awful repair man" can't fix the old one. Brand loyalty ensures that people don't jump ship once their old device no longer works. They just buy a new one from the same company.
I remember the first time I made friends with a bunch of engineering students. They were prototyping something for a project, and while they were actively designing it and showing me things for feedback, I asked "what will you do if you have to change something?" They looked confused and said "what do you mean?" I said "what if you have to take this all apart to change or fix something? you haven't built it for that." Other commenters are, unfortunately, 100% correct. You will be receiving instructions from some fuckass "product manager" who gets to sit at home all day every day firing off 3 e-mails a week asking "how's the product doing?" who makes twice as much in a year as you do. These are the people who will tell you that no, you in fact can't make the battery replaceable as per the customer's request.
Actually its all worse then what same have already said. Since the companies that make the original will sue into the dirt for violating their patent/copyright/trademark to prevent you from making replacements for THIER products.
Farmer here. Recently I spent 150 dollars on an o ring. An O RING. The only thing dumber than that, is the the US postal service charged 60 bucks to ship it.
@@StevenLastname "What kind of o-ring cost that much!? Couldn't just any o-ring with the same dimensions work just as well?" Unlikely. $60 For shipping, probably because it shipped from overseas & was priority (ie he needed it the next day).
Shut my business down march 2023. Everything you are saying now resonates so well it’s bringing me ptsd. Don’t do what i did and keep it open 2 years longer than I should have. Since COVID parts availability quality and difficulty to change without an annoying error (apple) Too many hoops. Juice no longer worth the squeeze. 2020-21 I had next to no phone repairs. Everyone got all that unemployment bonus and went and bought all new devices. Now they can’t get those repaired due to everything you state in your video. They just joined the subscription based everything economy. 2000$ every 3-5 years to get a new pc or 4-600 per year or 35-50 per month. They think this “capitalism” is going to succeed by socializing products and services that long should have imploded from lack of innovation. Thank you for shedding light on the issues.
Sorry to hear about your lost business. It is sad. I resist those subscriptions and my only ones are utility bills LOL. Never had Netflix or Prime, bought one-off MS office 2019, but now switching to Linux I'll have even less temptation to subscribe to anything. Defo not going to pay $30 to Microsoft to run Win10 for one more year. Bought myself a second hand laptop online, great purchase, and revived my old 15 yo one, too, thanks to these guys.
Honestly, I believe the consumer is just as much to blame as the companies. The average person just does not give a flying fuck about right to repair, until they are on the receiving end of this diabolical mess and suddenly they wonder how it could have ever gotten so bad.
@@leviathan5207kinda why the average person is poor or not very wealthy. Low IQ people making even worse low IQ decisions. People who buy an iPhone and barely make 40k are a joke.
@@leviathan5207 The average consumer wants their thing working, they don't want to wait, and they've been told over the last two decades or so by either politicians or corporations that repairing the things you "own" is "dangerous". It's hella frustrating.
I used to repair phones, tablets, computers, consoles, controllers, drones, even got into TVs there at the end (ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE) at my shop, ended up closing it in 2018. The part where you said "You do everything perfectly just to have the part malfunction" hit the hardest with me
I'm a freelance network engineer. One company offered me a contract (years ago) to repair flat screens in residential environments. They sent me a big box of parts and said to replace things one at a time till the problem went away. It took hours, if it worked and didn't pay squat. That was the one and only time I took that kinda contract.
@@Bewefau since you can’t (or at least couldn’t then) buy legit apple screens they were all after market and the defect rate was pretty high on them. Like 10-20% defect rate
I grew up bothering the dudes at Radio Shack as a kid in the 1980's. It's shocking to see how things are now. It makes me sick to see good technology go in the trash but that's all you can do now. I still tinker with SBC's, Pico Pi's, and mini PC's which are fun but laptops and phones literally end up in the garbage. I wish Framework would partner with repair shops instead of running all orders through their website. Literally the only repairable and upgrade-able laptop could make repair shops distributors but nobody ever learns and they are only looking out for themselves in the end.
HVAC Service Technician here, and couldnt agree more between motors that are DOA right out of the box, or faulty control boards that die within the first week its difficult, annoying, and defeating having to come back multiple times to your customer because of a defective part. Not only does it hurt the "look" of what we do its a huge labor sink. Keep up the great work!
At some point, the only option is to just get the parts from Alibaba. Sameish quality, without the Ebay or Amazon markup. Sometimes, you might get lucky and buy the part from the same company that was originally contracted to make the motor.
After the 10th service call to my HVAC tech for my brand new 5 ton Trane unit, I gave up and installed a window unit. I am also an HVAC but im not licensed so I can't work on my own unit. It's very simple for me, if you can't fix the problem, you are the problem. I have replaced entire AC systems in cars, ships, etc and haven't had a problem doing it by myself. Yet an entire team of local morons can't trouble shoot a brand new system. It seems they just let everyone pass tests for competency in the trades these days. I work on everything myself because you can't find competent and honest people anymore. The entire industry is cheap labor; I saw it when I was a machinist in Federal ship yards, and I saw it overseas. Corporations have monopolies and they need to be broken up.
In EU it's quite easy to find spare parts but there are so many low quality ones, and customers look up for parts and choose the cheapest ones. For example, a couple months back, I told a customer his iphone 14 would cost 300€ to replace his display for a genuine one, and he told me he found a 20€ display. I had to explain about about that display and he wouldn't listen. I refused the job.
I've run into that as a end user. It's easy to find replacement batteries (etc) that claim to be compatible. When I replaced a faulty switch on my Logitech G900 (left mouse button doing the double click) the soldering wasn't a problem, but the end result was utter shit because the replacement switch turned out to be mushy garbage despite claiming to be genuine.
Hey Andy. I was also planning on becoming a future repair technician for computers, consoles and phones in New Zealand. What do u think about the situation there?
I'm a consumer lawyer in brazil, and tech nerd. Our contry is a shit place, and our laws and politicians are pretty trash. Buuuut, at least the consumer laws are really good. Every tech product here must have the parts available for its average life. For instance, 5 years for laptops and smartphones, 6 years for TVs, etc. Its not a fixed number, but thats the average. If my phone runs out of battery with 5 years, and the company doesnt have the battery to replace it (being paid, ofc), I can sue them and have all my money back.
@@DefaultProphet Not much if nothing. We have specialized courts here in Brazil for these issues, they are quicker and sometimes cost nothing. We also have some government entities that do some of the work for the consumer depending on the situation.
Yep, I feel your stories. I worked for Louis Rossmann for 5 years in NYC. I didn't move to TX with him so I opened my own shop in NJ. Especially working on MacBooks, parts have always been a mild struggle but now it's getting crazy. For what Louis and I do we need more than just parts, we also need the information (Schematics and board views). A lot of what we do is going beyond upgrading. With all these machines having everything soldered directly to the logic board we need to get the machine working if you ever want to see your data again. Apple has been making it very difficult in the last few years with software pairing chips to the board and making it so chips are not available in any way to anyone. I don't know why they feel their battery charging chip is so revolutionary of a design that nobody else in the world can have it. Like it's the way their battery charges is why their machines are so successful. Same with their USB-C port controllers.
@@breakingthemasks Apart from Framework and Fairphone, maybe the enterprise division of HP or Dell. Angry corporate customers are not what businesses want, and a good way to piss them off is if the IT department gets pissed at being unable to service the laptops they have. Employees break stuff, so laptops get replaced from stock while IT tries to fix them.
@@breakingthemasks same thoughts as demopans, I've always suggested follow what corporations issue their employees, back in the day it was Fujitsu and panasonic, I've always liked Dell myself. But stick to the lines that corporate uses not the slim glued together consumer ones. But straight to your question, framework is the anti apple.
I had to reseat my ram a few weeks ago in my pre build because it kept bluescreening every couple days (and this it fixed it as far as I know) and it was my first time messing with my PC components. RUclips picked up that I was interested in pc maintenance because I watched a ram reseating tutorial and started recommending this channel and I've been binging all the videos and shorts since. So funny and informative, I've learned so much. All this learning will help me keep my rig clean and maybe upgrade/repair it myself in the future depending on the scenario. You guys are really doing a service with these videos and I hope you can stay a float in the industry and keep doing awesome things! Cheering for you from Canada
I stopped doing electronic repairs like satellite receivers, VCRs, etc. back in '96 because I saw the writing on the wall. I moved to computer repair and then quit that five years later for the same reason. I tried getting into mods as a service (MaaS...I guess) and that only lasted a few months. Everything is now designed with a limited lifetime in mind and it's all for profit.
similar timeline for me, I saw the writing for repairs and builds on the wall when the white goods shops started to sell them alongside freezers and tv's with 'extended warranty's'
Part of the problem with repairing electronics today is that every advancement in technology makes repairing them harder. Components get smaller, moved closer together, and more specific to an application. A manufacturing company can't be expected to produce some special display that someone contracted them to mass produce for a short period of time, and the companies that do want to offer repairability of the product after just have to over-order them and hang on to the inventory which will diminish in value over time.
Just watching stuff like you and Louis rossmann for years has been so frustrating and tiring, i couldn't imagine actually dealing with it day to day. Good repair men truly are saints
@@JeredtheShy Not trying to throw shade but I'm honestly surprised Salem's business is even profitable to begin with. Like, he doesn't really "repair" parts, he just replaces entire parts from what I can see. For instance, him complaining about USB-C parts not being modular and having to replace the entire board. Like, it's not exactly hard to replace a USB-C port on a board, man. Like no wonder your repair shop is struggling. Just not exactly flexible when you're putting stock on everything being super easy and modular. I imagine you're missing out on some extra cash on easy to do jobs because you don't want to solder.
@@EvilWifflesI believe he’s said before the reason he doesn’t is the lack of available first party schematics, no reliable part supply for some components, the increased liability, and the low profit margin relative to the time it takes means it’s not feasible.
Even if the big companies launced Self-Repair Programme for the consumer, it's not to show that their products are repairable, but to show that it's not worth to repair their product and better to buy new product (sometimes with the worst build quality than the previous gen product).
Exactly my point regarding “meaningful” right to repair laws. If they have to make parts available, they’ll simply price them so outrageously that it doesn’t make sense to buy. THIS is the most important part of the law. CAP THEIR PROFIT on replacement parts!
@@SalemTechsperts Or at least limit them to like 20% more then original price. They arent making them themselves anyway, and having an extra batch or two from china isnt that expensive as parts are priced.
@@SalemTechsperts they should make it so the sum of all replacement parts to completely construct one from scratch can’t cost more than 1.1x that of the purchase price.
@@alexturnbackthearmy1907 - Make it so that people have a right to buy literally every single component that makes up the device, and assemble a "new one" themselves at no more than a 20% markup over the original device, and shipping services must be offered "at cost." No charging the customer more than the USPS charges them.
My BP went sky high after 14 years of small business tech support and I was essentially forced to retire. Once you leave that world, your body and mind start to heal and the realization slowly dawns that all of that struggle really was not worth it. You and Rossman are correct. The politicians really do not care, so it will never happen. Too many sheep, time to sleep.
Not going to lie, speaking as a Systems Engineer who does repairs on the side for beer money, your videos keeping it real are such a mental reprieve. Like, I appreciate hearing the same stresses other people have; it's incredibly grounding even if we're all just suffering together. Keep your head up, my dude, you're doing great work and educating so many more!
IT-Technician by myself. In Europe we are lucky that we got Greencell. A polish aftermarket battery fabricator which does for most common Batteries. I have good experience with them. Aroung 95% to 100% of the standard battery real capacity and they hold the usual 5 years. But yeah other parts are becomming unoptanium. Worst part are modern Laptop Keyboards. Even worse then Screens imo. A falling waterbottle can destroy 2-3 keys, don't ask how i know, my old Laptop get it 3times replaced, each time 20-30€. When my new one... i need a complete new top and thats a 150€ part, if i get some, my top has the 3D Fingerprint Scanner which works great, i can get used for 110€ without... I love the Laptop but my next will be a framework. I prefer a 1500€ Laptop were i can repair things, insead a 1000€ Laptop which is one accident away of beeing useless.
GreenCell is just branding Chinesene products with European name. Some compare them to Manta or Kruger&Mantz. Maybe it's better than typical no-name one-time brand but quality also varies. I had rechargable baterries from GreenPower (GP) which is sub brand of GreenCell and they couldn't compare to eneloop. Good luck with Framework because in case of issues their Indian support is virtually non-existent and they don't have good representation in EU but that's the dilemma we have to live with these days: buying chinese one-time electronics for a reasonable price or paying clever Indian CEO for very overpriced modular laptop with right to repair. If mobility is not a must, I recommend desktop PC
@@ssthh desktop pc is dying too. it is even harder when you need to repair psu, mobo, GPU, etc. when manufacturer refused to honor warranty and or ask crazy price for replacements. at least unlick laptop, PC last way longer due to having a literal case to disapate spicy 90C hot chips.
I buy broken laptops and flip them as a side hustle and I've simply stopped bidding on any touchscreen laptop with a broken screen because I know the cost of the screen is going to be more than I can sell the laptop for. Mostly I stick to older thinkpads because I know I can fix them.
Well could still be worth it if they're cheap, a few people like myself will gladly buy busted screen laptops as long as I know they boot, but random unknown/untested, is usually a nope from me.
Used to do that a lot in 2005-10, parts were available and laptops were easy to upgrade (New cpu? Not a problem mate!) Now if I do it I buy ones with faulty motherboard that I think I can fix and don't touch screens.
I closed up my PC repair business in 2020 after quite a few years of trying to turn livable profit. Everything you said in the video was true then and I can only imagine is 100x more true now.
Lack of business is a real killer... if you can find something to charge a monthly rate on, be it, reselling anti-virus, or general tech services... that can really help the business survive.
I have the space, tools and equipment to build and repair PC's and I just do it as an occasional side hustle. I have a few friends, people from church, things like that that have had me build their PC's , and occasionally fix and stuff like that and as an occasional and sporadic extra income of a hundred or two every so often but I won't make it a full time business or anything like that, I just don't see the sustainability in it, the only other advantage I have is living in an extremely rural area and there only being one PC shop within an hour an a half of here
Corporate tech here for the last 10 odd years. We've seen it too. The push to stop servicing devices and just replace the whole unit has gone full torque across nearly all sectors. We've been asked to say that devices "just don't break down like they used to anymore", but most of us know better. Anyone who talks to the elders will hear the same cycles of "everything is working, what are you doing here?" into "everything isn't working, what are you doing here?" over the decades. Yes, it's frustrating for everyone involved.....
I feel ya, I worked IT at a company where anything IT related was a complete after thought (this was back in the early to mid 2000's.) I loved cracking open Desktops and Laptops. Cobbling hardware together to make it work, and shopping online to find replacement parts. I was really proud of doing all the pc repairs in house. I really miss trouble shooting and working on hardware.
I've accepted we're already living in the "dystopian world" we heard of as kids back in the 90s and in movies. The government is bought/ran by massive corporations/investment firms to ensure policies are kept or enacted to keep profits rising. Cost of living is out of control that people making $100k/year are struggling. Noting is changing, it's only getting worse daily.
People making 100k a year aren’t struggling lmao. This is straight up propaganda. The only place in the country where $100k/year isn’t enough is Silicone Valley where your neighbors are tech million/billionaires.
We need more people like Lina Khan in office that will actually sue companies for anti-consumer and monopolistic practices. The economics are screwed. We shouldn't have to be forced to buy something every time when a simple repair should suffice. Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle.
Theres a concept in economic meaning reductionism in consumerism. I think we need more people that do this. I know i have been keeping my phone and my old laptop for more than 8 years each.
Lina Khan is absolutely based, but I fear her time in the FTC chair is limited. The thing is, she wasn't actually Biden's pick for FTC chairperson. But the far right was blocking all of Biden's appointments. Biden got the FTC chair filled by throwing a bone to people angry about Trump getting banned off Jack Dorsey's Twitter. Big Tech has learned their lesson: buy more politicians. Elon and Zuck are embracing Trump, Tim Cook is begging Trump to stop the EU from opening up iOS app distribution, and crypto scammers are pouring money into Kamala Harris's coffers (to get her to fire the SEC chair for trying to stop their scams). So it's likely that *no matter who wins*, we're going to either see Lina gone day one, or a manufactured controversy to justify removing her shortly thereafter. The thing is, curbing the power of Big Tech is actually extremely popular, despite the bipartisan opposition. And all of Lina's lawsuits were joined by various state AGs, all of whom can continue the lawsuit no matter what stupid things a future compromised FTC tries to do.
Of course our returning orange "savior" has to put his buddies back in office to put in effect our corporate overlords will and save their profit margins. Its only right of course us normal people dont deserve anything of the sort (/j if you cant tell)@@YakBat
I foresaw this like 10 years ago when I was a phone repairman. I loved what I was doing yet the money wasn't there and the ratio of cost of repair to actually getting a new device gradually killed it. It was becoming worse and right now is at its' peak. I hate the industry that is producing these devices that I once loved.
I explained to my 23 year old co-worker that it was stupid to rent your music from Spotify. He looked at me like I was crazy for suggesting that he buy albums instead of blowing $200 a year on a service. Everything is like that now, software, tv shows - hell BMW tried to make heated seats a subscription! It's insane, everything is designed to be rented out and disposable and people just accept it as the new normal.
@@FreakTimmah I use Spotify for the convenience, which I don’t mind paying for. But I still buy CD’s due to the shitty quality of streamed music. I recently bought the Dio collection and the CD’s are amazing quality compared to the blown out loudness of the same songs on Spotify
@@SalemTechsperts good idea to still buy the music... spotify cut to publisher is already bad, and then said publisher have even worse contract to their artist that receives even less cash... so yeah wanna support your maker, buy cds vinyls and go to concerts.
Here in Iran we have a repair shop and the struggle here is apparent because of sanctions. It's reached a point where repairs people like us end up having to spend a fortune buying broken laptops in hopes of one of them having some spare parts, and ofcourse because we need to make a living we need to also charge a fortune for repairs.
After 10 years, I finally had to close shop. I’m trying to still offer business consulting but Google, and a corporate takeover of the office that I rented, have put me out of business.
Ive been running my IT business from my house for over 10 years. No brick and mortor overhead cost, no employees. I can come to you or you come to me. I do phones, laptops, desktops, servers, whatever. I then got 2 lifts put into my garage and now offer Car Repair. Im also the cheapest mechanic in our county, because i dont have an overhead of owning a shop. As long as I do good work, customers keep talking and word of mouth has done well for free advertising. When i talked to shop owners 15 years ago, their main complaint was the lease cost of their shop, which is why I never invested into a shop, but instead, my home.
Agree with all your points. Will just like to add that sometimes even getting a part shipped to my caribbean region presents a next level of hoops. Sometimes there is no shipping of the replacement parts to the region. When it is shipped, the cost of clearing it from customs is soo huge that it must be passed onto the customer just so the shop could survive. Thus the repair price for the simplest of issues is huge and results in disgruntled customers and negative reviews.
@@SalemTechsperts That's the funny part some don't. Not making enough to cover employee salaries,shop rent and to restock brand new inventory. Trying to sell outdated stuff and telling customer that "we don't do such repairs, we don't sell that, we don't sell graphics cards,we don't have in stock but store down the road has it"doesn't help. Said place i worked at earlier this year closed down.
I feel your pain. Being in he Caribbean is really bad on ordering parts. If the part itself isn't already expensive, substandard quality and sometimes inaccessible for shipping then if you do get it, the governments in act ridiculous measures to charge you for customs and clearance. This makes the entire process madness. Cheaper to jus buy something new, which defeats the whole purpose of repairing and caring for your existing electronics.
@ManBearGote 100% true. I forgot about that. Here in my country computers have no additional charges on them to clear from customs. The parts though are another story.
Very true about phone repairs. The other problem. Not only do all the reputable repair stores go out of business. The space gets filled with skeevy, scammy operators. People who've having taken a basic soldering course. No customer service skills. Stores packed full of knock-off merchandise (cases, stands, screen protectors.) I remember last Christmas trying to get a micro USB charging port repaired. Something which I presume as a fairly basic, tech repair 101 process! Took two attempts. (Charged both times) before it failed a third time. I just decided fuck it, and replace the tablet.
I own a repair shop in California and even though right to repair laws passed here it’s still miserably difficult to find customers because everyone either has something out of my skill range that I have to pass on to somebody else or any decent replacement parts cost an arm and a leg and nobody wants to pay that.
I used to do repair, many years ago. The boss didn't like working or paying for parts, though, so people were always pissed at me, I burned out, and the shop went out of business. Now I'm trying to get SSDI and a home. What pisses me off the most about the straight-to-landfill devices is that somebody built that for shit pay, and now they have to build another one, slightly newer, but much more expensive. Everybody on that entire production chain, from mineral extraction to point of sale, is exploited, made to work to be allowed to have some tiny piece of the fruits of society, to draw breath, to be allowed food, water, when there is so much to go around that nobody needs to do anything for, so much food thrown away, so much housing left unoccupied, just to protect profits. That's what planned obsolescence is for. Creating artificial scarcity, creating dependence on a manufacturer.
here in fiji from my experience as a computer repair technician the main issue is that there are just too many computer repair shops trying to to business at the same time
Currently where i live it's mandated that companies provide spare parts (or fitting alternatives) 7 to 10 years after they stop producing the product itself. I have an old e-bike from 2007, they stopped production of it in 2008 and i can STILL get a new motor, battery, controller etc. Why? Because the company knows it's one of the most sold electric bicycles ever produced (75.000 in just 2008) They aren't making a profit on these parts anymore because of the out-dated machinery they have to keep running but they know that people still use a lot of these and need them. They stopped production of these parts 3 times so far but the demand is just so high they keep restarting production. Now they are set to halt production permanently in 2028 (10 years AFTER the law mandated limit) Companies should be more like this, allowing people to get the parts they need to keep something expensive going for decades, not several years.
Former phone tech here. Can confirm. 99.999% of the parts we get are aftermarket, and have a whole host of issues, and it's been going on since the iPhone 6 or before.
I subsidized a lot of my living costs during college working on PCs, building them and fixing most any electronic brought to me on the cheap for the fellow college kids I was at school with. In just 8 years since I couldn't do 1/8 of what I was able to do out of my apartment's kitchen. The two examples you used of batteries and screens being something I could reasonably source were parts I couldn't even pay someone to find for me when my friend asked me to replace his broken laptop screen and I couldn't find anything to replace the screen on my phone when it went out. When I went to root and flash a new rom onto an old tablet a friend gave me it was so locked down that I was astounded that it was natively an Android device to begin with because I'd never had those kinds of issues in the past when putting a new OS on a device.
I owned a repair shop and 22 years ago I took a F/T IT Director position. I now have most weekends off, I'm not doing my accounting work at midnight and I don't have to sweat my shop rent payments any more. I still miss tech shop work and I'm sad I had to give up my dream job, but I saw the writing on the wall in our disposable, instant gratification world and decided to make this change. I respect everyone who is sticking with it and I'm a little jealous if I'm honest. Keep fighting the good fight! BTW, you're only the greatest Technician because I got out of the game 😉
I repair household appliances in the US and the industry has remained generally the same in the last 20 years. However, just recently I have been noticing a significant shift away from repairs. Parts are becoming much more proprietary and appliances aren't being made for accessibility anymore. Especially in imported appliances such as Samsung's LG's Hisense everything for these things are being sold in kits. Oftentimes are able to purchase individual parts. Won't even get a part number for the individual Parts you need requiring you to buy the entire assembly. The only good thing is that in appliance repair in the United States, these manufacturers are required by law to support their Appliance for some years with replacement parts. I suppose that's the only silver lining to be had from here.
11:01 and the reason they don’t sell it is Razer consider the entire screen assembly a trade secret. Yes. A trade secret. That’s why they don’t sell it to third party. It’s absolutely should be illegal explanation but unfortunately they are legally allowed to use that as excuse to not sell the parts to third party.
I've been doing this for 25 years and the industry has steadily become worse and worse and worse and I'm having to turn away 3 out of every 4 jobs because of parts availability or the sheer cost of repair. Sucks. Good video. keep up the good work.
What kind of jobs? We do general tech stuff, physical repairs, as well as just new computer setups with data (cloned over if we can). We've been steady, and we haven't turned away business unless we're FULL, but it's been about 6 months since we've been totally flooded for a couple weeks.
this is the reason why motherboards especially Laptop motherboards are flooded on the market. because why? customer laptop cannot get repaired because of LACK OF LCD SCREEN AND BATTERY SPARE PARTS. its been a months since i commented here venting about repair jobs. but i really hate about these.. heck even you buy aftermarket parts. you have to wait for them. and when they come. IT DOESN'T EVEN FIT OR CORRECT WITH YOUR LAPTOP THAT YOU REPAIR. these are costing you and your customer time, money, and patience. i have no idea why, the right to repair here in asia are nonexistent, everything is aftermarket from china. but I REALLY WISH I CAN BUY GENUINE SPARE PARTS FOR ELECTRONICS, NOT ONLY LAPTOPS BUT EVERY ELECTRONICS. thanks for the video Andy. wishing you the best with the right to repair so us as a repairman can feed our family.
I'm personally not too bothered simply because I enjoy picking up the occasional bad laptop and using it as a server, I have so many I could make a mini rack and cluster system if I wanted lol
@@vgamesx1 its ok for a few motherboards. But not when you have loads of them. And you cannot sell them because of the supply didn’t even meet the demands.
I wonder if it would be possible to manufacture "universal" LCD screens as a small business, or if it's a difficult process that requires large scale assembly lines. If it were possible, I'd definitely do it, so that repair shops can buy from me when they can't find official parts.
It is intriguing that the United States advocates for environmental sustainability while simultaneously neglecting the fact that individuals dispose of computers that may require simple repairs but lack access to the necessary parts. This situation arises from the absence of a legal mandate compelling companies to facilitate such repairs.
I say hello from France! Your videos are really great! I learned some things watching your repairs ❤ I hope your business will continue to run despite the way manufacturers make their PCs.
The funny thing is since they used a unibody back lid, the kickstand hinge is insanely strong. They KNOW what they’re doing, they just don’t give a shit cause 💸
Our shop just does services for business networks and dropped all repairs for this very reason. We suggest you always keep an extended warranty or just plan on replacing every three years when the warranty runs out. The big deal is not all HP business class equipment has a three year warranty anymore. I used to be that was the clear distinction between consumer grade and business grade is the business always came with 3 year.
We need something like the Magnuson Moss act that the auto industry has. I own a repair shop but also provide IT support. I do new machine sales and in home tech support as well including networking and security cameras. Many of those things people don't like to do or aren't qualified for. You need to branch out to stay alive.
We need a meaningful Right to Repair law. Branching out is the only solution, but if you’re in a high cost of living area, it’s not feasible as a one man retail shop.
@@SalemTechspertsIt can be if you run it from a home basement. If no basement, set aside a repair room and do pickups and drop offs if you must. You have to think outside the box, as the Box walls slowly squeeze in on you. 😊
16:50 Thank you for the software, I like when people film the little details (also we care about the device specs), I also like this type of videos where you talk to the audience normally, please record more of these normal repair videos, I think the customers would be happy too watching you repair their devices professionally :)
Rather ironic, I'm currently viewing a kiddy movie, Robots (2005) on YT, where the maker of robots does not make replacement parts. Maximizing profits by having robots scraped rather than fixed.
Learned how to disassemble and troubleshoot PC and PC components in 2008. Moved onto learn how to disassemble and reassemble laptops. Did that for a couple of years, then tablets really began taking off. More phones and tablets that couldn't easily be disassembled (by design) kept coming in and ultimately became easier to tell people that they may as well buy a new replacement. Even if replacement screens and parts could be obtained, the labor cost would end up more expensive than just outright buying a new device. I really wanted to keep repairing PCs and laptops but ultimately had to face that the industry was making that kind of work unsustainable. I wasn't even repairing PCs by the time the pandemic hit so I can't even imagine how much harder it got with supply chain issues and cost. I am sorry about your business and hope you thrive at your next endeavor! I hope to still keep up the content posting since I'd miss seeing those raccoon like fingers and I'm sure some peoples' mothers would suffer without you.
I have an Acer Nitro 5 (an515-5X for those who want more specifics) and it came from Acer defective. The screen was glitching, and the bottom of the screen just turned into unrecognizable nonsense. I went to college for IT and learned a lot about how to fix laptops and computers and thought this is a perfect opportunity. It was incredibly hard to find a matching screen from AliExpress, and it was impossible to find a legit, from Acer original screen. Hours, days, and weeks looking for authentic Acer parts for nothing. I have it replaced now with a knockoff (oddly enough, it looks better than the original in quality and sharpness) and works flawlessly. Despite it being a bit too plasticy for my liking, the Nitro 5's for now (mine is 7 going on 8 yo) are pretty damn tough and relatively repairable. Anyways, thought I'd share the story and join in on the misery. Great video as always!
Non-fused laptop displays are one of the only parts left where you CAN still buy the original part. Only a few companies actually make display panels, and you can grab the exact part number off the back of the panel. It’s one of the only exceptions.
@SalemTechsperts Once I got the number off the back of the panel, it made the search much more refined. My model number (laptop wise) is one of the less common models. Asked Acer, and they more or less said, "Sucks to suck, bro." The right to repair is so crucial to businesses like yours and consumers. They have to realize that repairing a device can also make them more money in the long run. Computers 10 years old need major replacements usually, and if they still sell the parts, then they can gain the initial revenue from a new computer with long-term revenue from replacement parts.
@@a.billinski9614What good is right to repair if you can't find the parts to repair it with? Is right to repair going to force manufacturers to hold a stock of parts inventory? Will that apply to me, a small time builder? Although I support right to repair as an IT repair shop, I don't want the government making specific laws controlling my sources. I don't mind the government saying that you can't build something with the express purpose of keeping a repair difficult or impossible. When the government gets involved in business, repair costs are going to rise, no question. Added to that, manufacturers are making so many variations of a particular product which is obsoleted in about 6 months, when they've moved on a whole different model. It's like herding cats. Difficult, if not impossible.
Not a shop owner, but a bus mechanic for MAN. I’ve noticed over the years now that the quality of our original parts has been declining. Last week we had a case where a brand new caliper was mounted, and less than a month later, the bus stopped getting a signal from the potentiometer for the brake pad wear sensor. We’ve replaced so many calipers recently because of the potentiometer, and we can’t get a hold of that part on its own. It’s tragic, man.
I own and operate a repair shop out of St Louis, and yeah you're pretty spot on. I at least knew from the beginning that this was going to be temporary, that I would have to find a another job, and I just feel bad for everyone who didn't know that and are now panicking
Your and Louis Rossman channels are much needed because we are in this high tech industry where the focus is too much on the new shinny thing but not much about what's happening when the product is delivered, unless it generates clicks because a big corporation messes up. Imagine a Linus or a MKHD talking about those topics.
For what it's worth, Linus has touched several times on Right to Repair, he just doesn't have the same influence outside of RUclips with the US government, because well, canadian. Andy and Louis, alongside companies like iFixit are the loudest voices we have on capital hill for right to repair, and even then their reach is limited often if not by lobbying, than by simply _time_. There is only so much time in the day, and lobbyists have more of it, Andy is one guy. All that said, we appreciate the effort you put in to make consumers aware of this issue, and serve as the canary in the coal mine for hardware repair.
@Rassiel13 that's great I didn't know, because I don't watch everything they do, but I remember MKHD interviewing Tim Cook and not challenging him on the topic of environmental impact let alone repairs.
I am sorry for that. PC builders put so much effort yet their profit margin is so less. Also, the fact that there's a tutorial for almost every problem doesn't help. My brother started a PC building repair shop back in the 2000s. It was a huge success but since the late 2010s, it started declining. He had to close it down earlier this year.
Yeah I mean I have a shop but it's not just repair it's IT support and in home support for Networking and all things tech. You need to branch out to stay alive.
@jtkachlmeier agreed. I started repairing computerized assemblies in 1975 and have had an on-call IT repair business since 1991. I'm not closing for sure, but as you said, you have to be flexible and branch out. Computer builds started becoming slow more than a decade ago, so I work out pre-built packages with customization, installation and network troubleshooting. Things I don't do, programming apps, make websites, SEO work, or hosting email. Also I stay away from Apple repairs, phone repairs and anything that might be internally glued. Gotta pick your poison and be the best at it.
Not just computers. I bought the last new passenger side windshield wiper molding (plastic panels below the windshield wipers) for a 2004 Honda Accord in America (possibly the world). So far, here's what's also something you can't buy new on it: the lens, meter (clear plastic cover over your driver gauges), the plastic strip that keeps dust out of your shifter, all air bag covers (they're just covers, not the actual airbags, but they're probably out of stock too). And the list goes on. The car does 350k easily. Mine is currently at 77k. A new car that's closest to mine (they no longer make V6) is over $40k.
I folded my computer repair business back in 2008 mostly due to lack of reliable replacemt parts, just couldn't afford to bust my ass for nothing. Best of luck to you and thank you for making these videos and for sharing your insight.
I am so happy that the EU passed a law that batteries have to be replacable in phones, scooters, E-bikes etc. by 2027. They should have done this years ago and they need to go even further than this, but it's a good start. Alas, I fucking HATE that the EU wants to force new car buyers into EV's by 2035, because the ones who are going to suffer are the poor folks trying to buy up old used cars they can actually afford, as supply dries up and prices increase. You win some, you lose some, I guess.
No, you lose them all. You just don't realize you lost until months or years later when they show the fine print or some other law they had going behind everything. Government is not the peoples freind and hasn't been even decent for decades or more. It's coming to a head in the next decade or so one way or another.
As much as Right to Repair (RtR) needs to be implemented, a perfect example of the obstacles facing RtR is Apple "adopting" USB-C. It took an entire continent's supranational political and economic union's efforts to force Apple to put USB-C on all devices. Imagine all the political bs that would occur in the US without having such a entity like the EU to back RtR.
I used to rebuild computers for parochial schools. I would pick up discarded equipment, salvage good parts and reuse them on other systems. One day I called the corporation where I was getting computers from, they decide to stop and went with something else instead and couldn't donate computers, I had schools lined up for refurbished computers and had to tell them I no longer couldn't because the corporation when with another supplier.
i also experienced this in the exhibiton industry people will buy tvs for 200$, for 1 day tradeshows and leave them at the showroom for because it costs 600$ to ship the tvs
I manage an automotive repair place and I just ran into the problem of having to order refurbished parts for a customer because the new parts are no longer made and it's nearly a thousand dollars my cost for the parts that are still left on a car thats from the last ten years. It's absolutely wild how companies can make something that's designed to fail yet not even offer the replacement parts easily.
THANK GOD here in Greece there are still companies that inport batteries and have shop that you can simply take there your laptop baterry and with low prices you can buy an aftermarket similar one.
Part of the problem is that in order to keep costs low every single part is outsourced to someone which outsurces it as well. Margins on suppliers are also very low so spair parts are kept to a minimum. Its becoming so ridiculous. Pretty soon you have to buy a second item to guarantee parts. If the right to repair isnt a law a warranty of 5 years should regardless of the part. But i guess corporates specially in US love that 1 warranty policy. In EU it is now 3 years bit dont get too excited because normally the extra 2 are in most cases given by the local supplier or the shop. I've heard of cases where the shops eventually get all the loss. This is also valid on cars, manufacteurs in most cases they dont care about after sales and they dont want that risk in their balance sheets.
I was gonna rant about how everything is outsourced to other companies, but you hit the nail on the head. I don’t think most manufacturers could get the parts if they wanted too. They ordered a run out of China, or Taiwan or whomever and getting another run isn’t feasible. We live in the world of just in time inventory so most businesses are not going to double a run just to have parts available for an item. Even if it were in stock the vast majority of consumers would rather just buy the latest thing than to try and repair it. I know most of my friends won’t buy a frameworks laptop just because of the higher upfront costs. It’s easier and cheaper to buy a disposable computer at Walmart. Repairs and parts are just tomorrow’s me problem and nobody cares about that guy. Good luck getting any politician to care about this when their donors pay them not to care and the citizens don’t care.
So I actually sell used laptop parts on E-bay and do repairs as well. (for 10yrs+ now). They are effectively genuine parts removed from written off machines. The fused LCD and digitzer screens are an absolute nightmare to replace. I see so many high end expensive laptops written off now for broken screens, whereas previously you could buy a screen for £30-40 and add repair cost, now they are £100-200. (if your lucky!) Totally agree that unavailable screens is an utter disaster for repairers. 50% of standard jobs are broken screens. Your lucky with that machine that the memory isn't hard soldered on to the board. Another point of failure on newer machines that was an easy replace and fix previously.
Unfortunately, right-to-repair is not only not going to happen in this environment, but now purchasing tech doesn't mean you own it. It's more like a rental. They are now telling you what you can and cannot put on it, force 'features' on you that you don't want and somehow can't remove, and something on it won't work unless you have a subscription.
@@gallowaylights NYC is one of the more backwards places from what I know about it, such as forgetting re-use is still better for the environment than tossing or recycling perfectly functional devices.
@@JulesMauuary-Maetz Z book too, over 10 year old Quadro book ? HP was the only factory that did these Quadro machines good. Repair it yourself please, wait till you find parts.
@lucasrem Oh and I and a friend repasted a 2006 HP Pavilion A1600 multimedia desktop last month and this PC is located at that robotic club. It has an Intel Pentium D/VIIV CPU, 2 GB RAM, 114 GB HDD and Windows XP. This thing works fine despite how old it is and takes about 40 s to boot up.
Honestly, repairing your own stuff just feels so good. My laptop hinge broke off, the speaker diaphragm rot away (ik it sounds weird, rotting away) and the battery literally won't hold a charge. I'd hate to put this laptop in some land fill because this laptop helped me out during trying times back in 2020 to at least get some food on the table. I'd want technology that's repairable and not irreparable and use it for years to come.
I had a shop back in the early 00s, We were doing great until office depot moved in. We could no longer compete with those computer prices and were forced to close a year later as we were in a small town and new builds were over half the income. We did make the business work for another couple years working out of my business partners garage with service calls and repairs, but it wasnt enough sadly and Infinity Computers closed Permanently in 2004. I still do some freelance stuff from time to time. Never let my skills stagnate either but Im at the age now where a shop will always pick the fresh college kid over the mid 40s nerd.
People I know: can’t you repair this?!?!?! Me: nope for the cost of the repair, you can get new unit at the same price People: but I don’t want this in the garbage Me: nothing I can do It’s like people don’t bother researching the cost of things and want things fixed not realizing it doesn’t exists or is too expensive just buy new and take care of it
when i graduated last year i couldn't find a job and started to try and do tech repair with my limited knowledge patience and you tube ended up loosing all my savings on either faulty parts or reimbursing my customers, i really love tech repair i genuinely find it fun to fiddle with all day regardless of the monotony but it just isn't viable under most conditions.
I've been doing repairs of all kinds for decades. The types of repair I do have definitely dwendled down substantially, mostly due to parts availability. And like you say, many of the parts I can get are substandard. Including critical autoparts where safety is a concern. Recently, I was surprised to find a good replacement screen for a repair to a Nokia x100 that was cheap, fit well, and worked good. The only way to get corporations to change their selfish ways is Industrial Action. If enough consumers stopped buying new products for a week, a month, or even a year in protest, things might change, but that will never happen. Don't give up the fight. Be the straw!
I ran a repair shop in Alaska for a decade, eventually had to just quit and find a new profession due to the issues you described. It was extremely frustrating with trying to get parts that were reliable and economical. Back then we also parted out abandoned systems where possible just for the screens. I remember the first time I ran into a glued and potted phone, that was when I saw the writing on the wall.
@ 15.35 "defective parts" needing returned also adds return shipping and losses of price difference. As the suppliers are shams and never refund the full amount as well as refuse to reimburse on clearly defective parts. I've been seriously toying the idea and steps to open and create a proper US parts supplier specifically phone parts etc, which if I had access to 20 million would do it in a heart beat All of his points shared are valid and very real happenings in this industry that directly impact our ability to offer and provide quality services. All of which the tech monopolies work to keep that way. Even so I still work my ass off to maintain it while enjoying doing so. The challenges in repair only motivate me further while providing a bit of joy and accomplishment.
Making originals parts available is not the only problem. The price is much bigger issue. For some brands, you get to the price of brand new product by changing 1/5 of the parts (shipping prices excluded). Problem no.2 - glue, one way clips, fillers and rivets Problem no.3 - parts unpaired with MB (mostly Apple products) dont work even if perfectly functional (try swap some parts between two new iPhones)
Need that right to repair! As someone who's always been a cheap ass but also really enjoys learning new stuff, proprietary shit without replaceable parts is awful. Last summer I thought I was gonna have to replace the bulb socket for my cars tail light... The only way I could get it is if I took it to a dealership and have them do it or go to to scrap yard and pull one from a totaled car...
I'm writing this on a Framework laptop. It costs more, and there is a performance hit, but I can fix it with a screwdriver that has two bits and a spudger. It's possible to make and sell repairable products. I'm not going to pull out a solderiring iron and replace capacitors, but I should be able to replace a screen, keyboard or mainboard with available parts.
I've been learning it's better to get the community on your side and their support for combating issues like these especially against politicians cause if you are soloing it, it's such a huge mountain to climb. Having small repair shops is so vital to the community.
I work for a dealership for heavy machinery and used to work for the distribution center of the parts we sell. The one thing I noticed is that the distribution center was like a drop ship station and we would just repackage parts from other businesses and sell them as ours. By doing that alone it drove the price of these parts from 50-60 dollars to 1500 or 1700 a piece. and thats for just a simple pulley. I always feel bad when someone has to come in and spend 7 grand to replace a cylinder when I know half of it can be bought by the manufacturer at half the price.
I learned today from my stepdad that his concrete surface grinder is finally dying. However, the factory allows you to bring the machine in yourself, take the whole thing apart, and then give you parts to fix it (you pay for them obviously) and show you how to put it back together. So then you can repair and manage the equipment yourself. Right to repair is there, and companies are starting to take hold of the concept again, I say again because it used to be a thing back in the 50's and 60's. Tech - however - is struggling to understand this and unfortunately, politicians - as we recently learned in the last four years - can promise much but can only do very little. The best thing to do is vote with your wallet and by devices with repair and upgrading in mind. Devices like Framework laptops and - to a certain extent - the Valve Steamdeck.
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its painfull to hear how evil some corporations are when it comes to parts supplys, i have the same problem here in Argentina whith spare parts, for notebooks , phones , pcs , tools and even air conditioners. anyway hope you could find a way to keep goow Good luch " The Greates Technitian That Ever Lived"
Been building computers since the late 80s, and been A+ certified for so long it's grandfathered in as lifetime. Proprietary crap has always been the bane of being a technician, big shop or small. Glad there are some brands making an effort at standardization and part availability like Framework, but the big makers always want that repair money.
@@renzoeerens Fixed! Sorry about that!
@@EXTREMOZAU Fixed!
@@Mepharius Fixed it my bad
right to repair is honestly probably one of the most important things in any industry. It's sad this isn't the case in the US.
As long as lobbying exists we will never have anything meaningful for the people
@@SalemTechsperts It's ironic how the bill that allowed lobbying was lobbied for smh.
and just like anything else, you need to fight for your rights
@@SalemTechspertsain't it called - corruption? In EU more common thing to get politician or his party in bad light on next election or even start big law stuff on them. Tho not working with auto industry lobbying😢
The problem of right to repair is that it infringe on your right of ownership.
Not talking about garbage parts, but imagine buying a car and have to change your battery. Manufacturer's one at 75% the price of your car, licensed ones at 50% or generic one around $150-$200. With the licensed one working 1 out of 10 times or the generic one never working.
Then have the same BS for your tires.
What really is needed is to bring back true ownership. Anything working like a lease or a rent MUST have the same warranties. Repairs being the seller/manufacturer's problem, without extra charges.
Just like the other nationwide and worldwide issues, most people just don’t care about them until they’re directly affected by it. Then instead of getting angry at the tech giant’s for not supporting their products, they’re mad at some dude in a struggling repair shop for “ruining their child’s birthday”
Ding ding. When most shops get to this point they just stop helping consumers and become an MSP for businesses. It’s more profitable and much less work when setup correctly. I was at this point before RUclips proved to be a viable replacement for my income
@@SalemTechsperts You know what else is a viable income? Selling d
GAMBLING!!!
I'm just wondering how some repair shops even survive, right to repair is more like right to live now
And then they won't be mad at the right people, they'll just be mad that there aren't any affordable third party repair providers, instead of being mad at both the manufacturers and the legislators for fucking them over.
@@SalemTechspertsDis is de wae
greedy companies won't help the greatest technician that's ever lived, but we will.
😂 you are the best 🥰 THANK YOU!
@@SalemTechsperts you are the the greatest technician that's ever lived
Very cool guy.
i think its deeper than that, most retirements, 401k, and hedgefunds rely on the stock market. companies like google, apple, Microsoft are some of the biggest valued stocks. How do they keep their stocks high? by selling more devices, its easier to scale selling devices than providing services which require labor aka people. Our government has done a poor job with finances so much so that we have to depend on illegal immigrants contributing millions of dollars into social security and medicare. They will not be entitled to use any of these benefits. Politicians don't care because they make so much more than the average citizen that they can afford to go to the dealer/ manufacture to repair or replace their device. avg consumer either doesn't know or doesn't care, you see middle and lower class buying new $1k phones every year for what? We are Currently providing repair services however I do not see this as a long term viable business.
@@SalemTechsperts love your videos and humor hope everything's ok.
I owned a repair business from the late 1978 to 1989. At its peak, I had two shops with 28 employees. We repaired just about everything TVs, VCRs, Camcorders, Microwave Ovens, Cordless Phones, Calculators, CB and Ham Radios, tons of Walkman's (portable cassette players), and the occasional PC. My business was run on an Intel 8088 PC, but the 286 and 386 were on the market.
I was researching what the hell is going on with the brand new Geekom XT13 I purchased. It randomly started to not send video to the monitor and then one morning I came in and the PC was stone dead, not even an LED lit. The PS checked at 19V, so I am in the middle of the journey of trying to get someone in Taiwan to swap this. They of course tried to say it must be the PS. I was told I could take out the SSD storage card and ship it back on my dime and they would send me a GT13 version.
I popped the cover and there it is, a blown component near the DC input jack. It literally vaporized; it appears to have been a surface mount resistor. They did try to double down on "it must be the PS" and they know there is a design problem here.
Anyway, I went out-of-business in 1989 because the cost to maintain a professional repair shop that did in-warranty, out-of-warranty, and factory repairs (yes, we took in van loads of repairs from manufacturers who were getting out doing repairs), just became impossible. Out-of-warranty parts were a nightmare as we had to shop the universe constantly.
One of my technicians wanted to downsize the operation and cheery pick the items that were still viable to repair. He actually managed to keep going for about twenty more years to around 2009. Just some background on him. One day he walked into my shop, he was maybe 25 and he asked if I had any work and that he always loved fixing things, but he had no technical education or job-related experience. He was working in a local pizza dough factory. He turned out to be the most reliable and trustworthy guy and he learned fast. I get a kick out of the uncanny resemblance you are to me as a young man with a trimmed beard and a sense of humor.
The shop was in NJ, I had moved to Washington State in 1989 after going out-of-business. I went back to NJ around 2008 and randomly dropped in and he was there. He introduced me to an older man who was working on the bench. He had the same story. The man walked in one day and asked if there was any work and he was handy and could fix things, but didn't have a lot of related experience. The man was his best technician and most loyal.
I don't know what happened to my old friend, the business is now a real estate office or some such thing, there is no trace of the thirty plus years of being a repair shop. I still miss doing repairs as it's more than a source of income, it is a positive human experience when you hand back a device someone enjoyed and didn't want to part with. Sadly, today, we live in a throw away society, everything is designed for obsolescence. When I was a kid in the 60's, repair shops were numerous. American built everything here and stood by their products.
I went back to school at the age of 33, finished my engineering studies and got an MBA and went back to work for OEM's (as I did before opening the shops). The sad difference being I had work for the Taiwanese/Chinese/Thai OEM's. I retired when the pandemic hit. Now I just have these memories of an America that for most never existed and I did save a box full of discrete components that surely have long lost any hope of use because the devices they served are either in the landfill or a museum.
Good luck to you. Few people understand the effort and knowledge it takes to be a good repairman.
This story hits me in the heart Andy. I'm a recent industrial designer graduate and ffs this is exactly what I'll sink my teeth into. Designing consumer goods with a proper lifespan comes first, but then also allow consumers to disassemble and repair without too much hassle. You know... pretty much design consumer goods like they did up to the 90s.
I wish you and all other repair shops the best. Give me some time and I'll make your liife easier.
You're the future!
Unless you run your own company, you will not be allowed to do any of those things. And if you do run your own company, you'll find that doing those things costs you time and money you don't have. Then there are the competitors who will undercut you by not doing those things, and will eventually force you to abandon your principles in order to stay in business.
@@anthonyobryan3485 - Nah, it's "planned obsolescence" and it's entirely deliberate. Make the customer blame the repair shops for being shit instead of the manufacturer, and then they go out and buy a new device they shouldn't need because the "awful repair man" can't fix the old one. Brand loyalty ensures that people don't jump ship once their old device no longer works. They just buy a new one from the same company.
I remember the first time I made friends with a bunch of engineering students. They were prototyping something for a project, and while they were actively designing it and showing me things for feedback, I asked "what will you do if you have to change something?" They looked confused and said "what do you mean?" I said "what if you have to take this all apart to change or fix something? you haven't built it for that."
Other commenters are, unfortunately, 100% correct. You will be receiving instructions from some fuckass "product manager" who gets to sit at home all day every day firing off 3 e-mails a week asking "how's the product doing?" who makes twice as much in a year as you do. These are the people who will tell you that no, you in fact can't make the battery replaceable as per the customer's request.
Actually its all worse then what same have already said. Since the companies that make the original will sue into the dirt for violating their patent/copyright/trademark to prevent you from making replacements for THIER products.
Farmer here. Recently I spent 150 dollars on an o ring. An O RING. The only thing dumber than that, is the the US postal service charged 60 bucks to ship it.
Unless it went via express mail I cannot possibly fathom how or why USPS charged you 60 to ship.
You sure the VENDOR didn’t charge you that?
You got ripped off twice. Once on the part, then on markup on shipping. It probably cost like
This is exactly the reason why the auto repair business is dying out
What kind of o-ring cost that much!? Couldn't just any o-ring with the same dimensions work just as well?
@@StevenLastname "What kind of o-ring cost that much!? Couldn't just any o-ring with the same dimensions work just as well?"
Unlikely. $60 For shipping, probably because it shipped from overseas & was priority (ie he needed it the next day).
Shut my business down march 2023. Everything you are saying now resonates so well it’s bringing me ptsd. Don’t do what i did and keep it open 2 years longer than I should have. Since COVID parts availability quality and difficulty to change without an annoying error (apple) Too many hoops. Juice no longer worth the squeeze. 2020-21 I had next to no phone repairs. Everyone got all that unemployment bonus and went and bought all new devices. Now they can’t get those repaired due to everything you state in your video. They just joined the subscription based everything economy. 2000$ every 3-5 years to get a new pc or 4-600 per year or 35-50 per month. They think this “capitalism” is going to succeed by socializing products and services that long should have imploded from lack of innovation. Thank you for shedding light on the issues.
Sorry to hear about your lost business. It is sad. I resist those subscriptions and my only ones are utility bills LOL. Never had Netflix or Prime, bought one-off MS office 2019, but now switching to Linux I'll have even less temptation to subscribe to anything. Defo not going to pay $30 to Microsoft to run Win10 for one more year. Bought myself a second hand laptop online, great purchase, and revived my old 15 yo one, too, thanks to these guys.
Honestly, I believe the consumer is just as much to blame as the companies. The average person just does not give a flying fuck about right to repair, until they are on the receiving end of this diabolical mess and suddenly they wonder how it could have ever gotten so bad.
@@leviathan5207kinda why the average person is poor or not very wealthy. Low IQ people making even worse low IQ decisions. People who buy an iPhone and barely make 40k are a joke.
Capitalism without quotes. Call it technofeudalism if you want, but there's nothing socialized in this.
@@leviathan5207 The average consumer wants their thing working, they don't want to wait, and they've been told over the last two decades or so by either politicians or corporations that repairing the things you "own" is "dangerous". It's hella frustrating.
I used to repair phones, tablets, computers, consoles, controllers, drones, even got into TVs there at the end (ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE) at my shop, ended up closing it in 2018. The part where you said "You do everything perfectly just to have the part malfunction" hit the hardest with me
I'm a freelance network engineer. One company offered me a contract (years ago) to repair flat screens in residential environments. They sent me a big box of parts and said to replace things one at a time till the problem went away. It took hours, if it worked and didn't pay squat. That was the one and only time I took that kinda contract.
Howd you learn all that
same here the only difference is i made it to 2021
suuuuure blame it on the part maybe it was just you ?
@@Bewefau since you can’t (or at least couldn’t then) buy legit apple screens they were all after market and the defect rate was pretty high on them. Like 10-20% defect rate
I grew up bothering the dudes at Radio Shack as a kid in the 1980's. It's shocking to see how things are now. It makes me sick to see good technology go in the trash but that's all you can do now. I still tinker with SBC's, Pico Pi's, and mini PC's which are fun but laptops and phones literally end up in the garbage. I wish Framework would partner with repair shops instead of running all orders through their website. Literally the only repairable and upgrade-able laptop could make repair shops distributors but nobody ever learns and they are only looking out for themselves in the end.
It's probably better that they make the sales through their website until they get enough volume to sell to the shops.
HVAC Service Technician here, and couldnt agree more between motors that are DOA right out of the box, or faulty control boards that die within the first week its difficult, annoying, and defeating having to come back multiple times to your customer because of a defective part. Not only does it hurt the "look" of what we do its a huge labor sink.
Keep up the great work!
At some point, the only option is to just get the parts from Alibaba. Sameish quality, without the Ebay or Amazon markup. Sometimes, you might get lucky and buy the part from the same company that was originally contracted to make the motor.
After the 10th service call to my HVAC tech for my brand new 5 ton Trane unit, I gave up and installed a window unit. I am also an HVAC but im not licensed so I can't work on my own unit. It's very simple for me, if you can't fix the problem, you are the problem. I have replaced entire AC systems in cars, ships, etc and haven't had a problem doing it by myself. Yet an entire team of local morons can't trouble shoot a brand new system. It seems they just let everyone pass tests for competency in the trades these days. I work on everything myself because you can't find competent and honest people anymore. The entire industry is cheap labor; I saw it when I was a machinist in Federal ship yards, and I saw it overseas. Corporations have monopolies and they need to be broken up.
@@GamerGrease In Australia they call them "Dynamic workforce"........only dynamic is the accent.
In EU it's quite easy to find spare parts but there are so many low quality ones, and customers look up for parts and choose the cheapest ones. For example, a couple months back, I told a customer his iphone 14 would cost 300€ to replace his display for a genuine one, and he told me he found a 20€ display. I had to explain about about that display and he wouldn't listen. I refused the job.
I've run into that as a end user. It's easy to find replacement batteries (etc) that claim to be compatible. When I replaced a faulty switch on my Logitech G900 (left mouse button doing the double click) the soldering wasn't a problem, but the end result was utter shit because the replacement switch turned out to be mushy garbage despite claiming to be genuine.
$20 😂 don’t worry he found out eventually
@@SalemTechsperts Can I also find out how to get my mom's toothbrush back
It's funny how people want to have an expensive phone, but will cheap out on repair.
@@Steamrick One problem is getting too much flux on the board/switch, and it creeps into it. Result: mushy click. I've had it happen to me.
Specs:
- **Processor**: Intel Core i7-8565U (1.8 GHz base frequency, up to 4.6 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, 4 cores, 8 MB L3 cache)
- **Graphics**: NVIDIA Quadro M620 (2GB GDDR5)
- **Display**: 13.3-inch, 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) touchscreen
- **Memory**: 16GB DDR4 RAM
- **Storage**: 1TB NVMe SSD
- **Operating System**: Windows 11 Pro
- **Battery**: Up to 12 hours (probably like 3 with an aftermarket battery now)
- **Weight**: Approximately 1.65 kg (3.6 lbs)
- **Ports**: 2 USB Type-C, USB Type-A, HDMI, microSD card reader, headphone/microphone combo jack
specs
Hey Andy.
I was also planning on becoming a future repair technician for computers, consoles and phones in New Zealand. What do u think about the situation there?
SPEEEEEEECS, fuck yeah
see, we care
@@simpletrailers1161 ikr
I'm a consumer lawyer in brazil, and tech nerd. Our contry is a shit place, and our laws and politicians are pretty trash. Buuuut, at least the consumer laws are really good. Every tech product here must have the parts available for its average life. For instance, 5 years for laptops and smartphones, 6 years for TVs, etc. Its not a fixed number, but thats the average. If my phone runs out of battery with 5 years, and the company doesnt have the battery to replace it (being paid, ofc), I can sue them and have all my money back.
How much does it cost to sue tho?
Should be nothing because due to consumer laws most cases are settled out of court.@DefaultProphet
the more you buy products of blood thirsty and money suckers company like apple the more your right to repair gets smashed
That's the nice thing about not having companies headquartered in your country. A bit pricier, but they don't try to lobby it to hell.
@@DefaultProphet Not much if nothing. We have specialized courts here in Brazil for these issues, they are quicker and sometimes cost nothing. We also have some government entities that do some of the work for the consumer depending on the situation.
Yep, I feel your stories. I worked for Louis Rossmann for 5 years in NYC. I didn't move to TX with him so I opened my own shop in NJ. Especially working on MacBooks, parts have always been a mild struggle but now it's getting crazy. For what Louis and I do we need more than just parts, we also need the information (Schematics and board views). A lot of what we do is going beyond upgrading. With all these machines having everything soldered directly to the logic board we need to get the machine working if you ever want to see your data again. Apple has been making it very difficult in the last few years with software pairing chips to the board and making it so chips are not available in any way to anyone. I don't know why they feel their battery charging chip is so revolutionary of a design that nobody else in the world can have it. Like it's the way their battery charges is why their machines are so successful. Same with their USB-C port controllers.
Are there any brands that are opposite in philosophy to apple that you recommend to family and friends when they need computers and devices?
@@breakingthemasks
Apart from Framework and Fairphone, maybe the enterprise division of HP or Dell. Angry corporate customers are not what businesses want, and a good way to piss them off is if the IT department gets pissed at being unable to service the laptops they have. Employees break stuff, so laptops get replaced from stock while IT tries to fix them.
I dont know how apple gets off calling itself environmentally friendly
@@Demopans5990 ... Solid point, thanks for sharing. I can definitely see myself targeting company laptops etc from a few generations back. 👍
@@breakingthemasks same thoughts as demopans, I've always suggested follow what corporations issue their employees, back in the day it was Fujitsu and panasonic, I've always liked Dell myself. But stick to the lines that corporate uses not the slim glued together consumer ones. But straight to your question, framework is the anti apple.
I had to reseat my ram a few weeks ago in my pre build because it kept bluescreening every couple days (and this it fixed it as far as I know) and it was my first time messing with my PC components. RUclips picked up that I was interested in pc maintenance because I watched a ram reseating tutorial and started recommending this channel and I've been binging all the videos and shorts since. So funny and informative, I've learned so much. All this learning will help me keep my rig clean and maybe upgrade/repair it myself in the future depending on the scenario. You guys are really doing a service with these videos and I hope you can stay a float in the industry and keep doing awesome things! Cheering for you from Canada
I stopped doing electronic repairs like satellite receivers, VCRs, etc. back in '96 because I saw the writing on the wall. I moved to computer repair and then quit that five years later for the same reason. I tried getting into mods as a service (MaaS...I guess) and that only lasted a few months. Everything is now designed with a limited lifetime in mind and it's all for profit.
Sorry to hear that. Seems the inevitable route for people like us is to serve businesses only instead of consumers.
similar timeline for me, I saw the writing for repairs and builds on the wall when the white goods shops started to sell them alongside freezers and tv's with 'extended warranty's'
While they sell you sustainability and carbon neutral BS in the same breath.
Part of the problem with repairing electronics today is that every advancement in technology makes repairing them harder. Components get smaller, moved closer together, and more specific to an application. A manufacturing company can't be expected to produce some special display that someone contracted them to mass produce for a short period of time, and the companies that do want to offer repairability of the product after just have to over-order them and hang on to the inventory which will diminish in value over time.
Should be banned. Europe demanded C type standard power cords. it can be done. our government does nothing.
Just watching stuff like you and Louis rossmann for years has been so frustrating and tiring, i couldn't imagine actually dealing with it day to day. Good repair men truly are saints
It gets to you man. Either you yell at a cloud for 30 years with no changes or you accept everything is fucked and move on.
It's crazy, you'd expect this skillset to be wildly lucrative but you'd be so, so wrong.
@@JeredtheShy Not trying to throw shade but I'm honestly surprised Salem's business is even profitable to begin with.
Like, he doesn't really "repair" parts, he just replaces entire parts from what I can see. For instance, him complaining about USB-C parts not being modular and having to replace the entire board. Like, it's not exactly hard to replace a USB-C port on a board, man. Like no wonder your repair shop is struggling. Just not exactly flexible when you're putting stock on everything being super easy and modular. I imagine you're missing out on some extra cash on easy to do jobs because you don't want to solder.
@@EvilWifflesI believe he’s said before the reason he doesn’t is the lack of available first party schematics, no reliable part supply for some components, the increased liability, and the low profit margin relative to the time it takes means it’s not feasible.
@@stthomas_ USB-C ports are readily available parts. Quick and easy fix. No schematics needed. Terms of repair should take care of liability.
Even if the big companies launced Self-Repair Programme for the consumer, it's not to show that their products are repairable, but to show that it's not worth to repair their product and better to buy new product (sometimes with the worst build quality than the previous gen product).
Exactly my point regarding “meaningful” right to repair laws. If they have to make parts available, they’ll simply price them so outrageously that it doesn’t make sense to buy. THIS is the most important part of the law. CAP THEIR PROFIT on replacement parts!
@@SalemTechsperts Or at least limit them to like 20% more then original price. They arent making them themselves anyway, and having an extra batch or two from china isnt that expensive as parts are priced.
@@SalemTechsperts they should make it so the sum of all replacement parts to completely construct one from scratch can’t cost more than 1.1x that of the purchase price.
You don't want to buy a $120 battery + shipping fees for a 4 years old tablet? How entitled! /s
@@alexturnbackthearmy1907 - Make it so that people have a right to buy literally every single component that makes up the device, and assemble a "new one" themselves at no more than a 20% markup over the original device, and shipping services must be offered "at cost." No charging the customer more than the USPS charges them.
My BP went sky high after 14 years of small business tech support and I was essentially forced to retire. Once you leave that world, your body and mind start to heal and the realization slowly dawns that all of that struggle really was not worth it. You and Rossman are correct. The politicians really do not care, so it will never happen. Too many sheep, time to sleep.
Not going to lie, speaking as a Systems Engineer who does repairs on the side for beer money, your videos keeping it real are such a mental reprieve. Like, I appreciate hearing the same stresses other people have; it's incredibly grounding even if we're all just suffering together. Keep your head up, my dude, you're doing great work and educating so many more!
IT-Technician by myself. In Europe we are lucky that we got Greencell. A polish aftermarket battery fabricator which does for most common Batteries. I have good experience with them. Aroung 95% to 100% of the standard battery real capacity and they hold the usual 5 years. But yeah other parts are becomming unoptanium. Worst part are modern Laptop Keyboards.
Even worse then Screens imo. A falling waterbottle can destroy 2-3 keys, don't ask how i know, my old Laptop get it 3times replaced, each time 20-30€.
When my new one... i need a complete new top and thats a 150€ part, if i get some, my top has the 3D Fingerprint Scanner which works great, i can get used for 110€ without... I love the Laptop but my next will be a framework. I prefer a 1500€ Laptop were i can repair things, insead a 1000€ Laptop which is one accident away of beeing useless.
GreenCell is just branding Chinesene products with European name. Some compare them to Manta or Kruger&Mantz. Maybe it's better than typical no-name one-time brand but quality also varies. I had rechargable baterries from GreenPower (GP) which is sub brand of GreenCell and they couldn't compare to eneloop. Good luck with Framework because in case of issues their Indian support is virtually non-existent and they don't have good representation in EU but that's the dilemma we have to live with these days: buying chinese one-time electronics for a reasonable price or paying clever Indian CEO for very overpriced modular laptop with right to repair.
If mobility is not a must, I recommend desktop PC
@@ssthh desktop pc is dying too. it is even harder when you need to repair psu, mobo, GPU, etc. when manufacturer refused to honor warranty and or ask crazy price for replacements. at least unlick laptop, PC last way longer due to having a literal case to disapate spicy 90C hot chips.
I buy broken laptops and flip them as a side hustle and I've simply stopped bidding on any touchscreen laptop with a broken screen because I know the cost of the screen is going to be more than I can sell the laptop for. Mostly I stick to older thinkpads because I know I can fix them.
Yup! It’s depressing when they part alone costs more than the laptop is even selling for
Well could still be worth it if they're cheap, a few people like myself will gladly buy busted screen laptops as long as I know they boot, but random unknown/untested, is usually a nope from me.
Why don't you replace broken touchscreens by non-touch screens? Are there no compatible screens, or does that cause issues?
@@rocket2739 Depends on the laptop. If it's something like a Lenovo yoga the only compatible screen available is the touch screen.
Used to do that a lot in 2005-10, parts were available and laptops were easy to upgrade (New cpu? Not a problem mate!) Now if I do it I buy ones with faulty motherboard that I think I can fix and don't touch screens.
I closed up my PC repair business in 2020 after quite a few years of trying to turn livable profit. Everything you said in the video was true then and I can only imagine is 100x more true now.
Sorry to hear that man, hope you found something better!
Lack of business is a real killer... if you can find something to charge a monthly rate on, be it, reselling anti-virus, or general tech services... that can really help the business survive.
As a hobbyist that has always built my own PCs for decades, I finally stopped a few years ago.
@@Dvance you are literally worse than the big companies if you sell anti-virus, no one in good conscience should be selling that crap.
I have the space, tools and equipment to build and repair PC's and I just do it as an occasional side hustle. I have a few friends, people from church, things like that that have had me build their PC's , and occasionally fix and stuff like that and as an occasional and sporadic extra income of a hundred or two every so often but I won't make it a full time business or anything like that, I just don't see the sustainability in it, the only other advantage I have is living in an extremely rural area and there only being one PC shop within an hour an a half of here
Corporate tech here for the last 10 odd years. We've seen it too. The push to stop servicing devices and just replace the whole unit has gone full torque across nearly all sectors.
We've been asked to say that devices "just don't break down like they used to anymore", but most of us know better.
Anyone who talks to the elders will hear the same cycles of "everything is working, what are you doing here?" into "everything isn't working, what are you doing here?" over the decades.
Yes, it's frustrating for everyone involved.....
I feel ya, I worked IT at a company where anything IT related was a complete after thought (this was back in the early to mid 2000's.) I loved cracking open Desktops and Laptops. Cobbling hardware together to make it work, and shopping online to find replacement parts. I was really proud of doing all the pc repairs in house. I really miss trouble shooting and working on hardware.
Careful saying you have tiny raccoon like fingers they may take you next.
My favorite comment so far
@@SalemTechsperts Looks like Ma was right, you do read comments.
@@IttarraOda wait how does your Ma knows? @_@
@@shirsendumaiti5682 he does more than one type of business in the bedroom
the same ppl defending the acorn guy
I've accepted we're already living in the "dystopian world" we heard of as kids back in the 90s and in movies. The government is bought/ran by massive corporations/investment firms to ensure policies are kept or enacted to keep profits rising. Cost of living is out of control that people making $100k/year are struggling. Noting is changing, it's only getting worse daily.
If our government is bought and ran by massive corporations and investment firms, then it is a null government and needs to be abolishe.
We have always lived in a dystopia, you just never bothered to study history.
Yeah but the theme becomes more mainstream. Heck even the incogni ad felt like straight out of some (slightly satirical) sci fi.
People making 100k a year aren’t struggling lmao. This is straight up propaganda.
The only place in the country where $100k/year isn’t enough is Silicone Valley where your neighbors are tech million/billionaires.
@@Aliens1337 I live in Canada. Our cost of living is a lot higher.
We need more people like Lina Khan in office that will actually sue companies for anti-consumer and monopolistic practices. The economics are screwed. We shouldn't have to be forced to buy something every time when a simple repair should suffice. Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle.
Theres a concept in economic meaning reductionism in consumerism. I think we need more people that do this. I know i have been keeping my phone and my old laptop for more than 8 years each.
Lina Khan is absolutely based, but I fear her time in the FTC chair is limited. The thing is, she wasn't actually Biden's pick for FTC chairperson. But the far right was blocking all of Biden's appointments. Biden got the FTC chair filled by throwing a bone to people angry about Trump getting banned off Jack Dorsey's Twitter.
Big Tech has learned their lesson: buy more politicians. Elon and Zuck are embracing Trump, Tim Cook is begging Trump to stop the EU from opening up iOS app distribution, and crypto scammers are pouring money into Kamala Harris's coffers (to get her to fire the SEC chair for trying to stop their scams). So it's likely that *no matter who wins*, we're going to either see Lina gone day one, or a manufactured controversy to justify removing her shortly thereafter.
The thing is, curbing the power of Big Tech is actually extremely popular, despite the bipartisan opposition. And all of Lina's lawsuits were joined by various state AGs, all of whom can continue the lawsuit no matter what stupid things a future compromised FTC tries to do.
Well, you can kiss Lina Khan goodbye, and everything she's done along with her.
She just got voted out. I give her a month before she's fired for another Ajit Pai.
Of course our returning orange "savior" has to put his buddies back in office to put in effect our corporate overlords will and save their profit margins. Its only right of course us normal people dont deserve anything of the sort (/j if you cant tell)@@YakBat
I foresaw this like 10 years ago when I was a phone repairman. I loved what I was doing yet the money wasn't there and the ratio of cost of repair to actually getting a new device gradually killed it. It was becoming worse and right now is at its' peak. I hate the industry that is producing these devices that I once loved.
3:14 bro who said we dont care ? I DO! I love to hear about the specs of devices in your repairshop
I explained to my 23 year old co-worker that it was stupid to rent your music from Spotify. He looked at me like I was crazy for suggesting that he buy albums instead of blowing $200 a year on a service. Everything is like that now, software, tv shows - hell BMW tried to make heated seats a subscription! It's insane, everything is designed to be rented out and disposable and people just accept it as the new normal.
@@FreakTimmah I use Spotify for the convenience, which I don’t mind paying for. But I still buy CD’s due to the shitty quality of streamed music. I recently bought the Dio collection and the CD’s are amazing quality compared to the blown out loudness of the same songs on Spotify
@@SalemTechsperts 🤘🤘
Because people don't care how it works only that it works that's it simple
@@SalemTechsperts good idea to still buy the music... spotify cut to publisher is already bad, and then said publisher have even worse contract to their artist that receives even less cash... so yeah wanna support your maker, buy cds vinyls and go to concerts.
Yes, I found out that I was “renting” the songs from Spotify and that when I ended my subscription.
Here in Iran we have a repair shop and the struggle here is apparent because of sanctions. It's reached a point where repairs people like us end up having to spend a fortune buying broken laptops in hopes of one of them having some spare parts, and ofcourse because we need to make a living we need to also charge a fortune for repairs.
It's messed up what America did to y'all. America's biggest weapon is sanctions. Cuba still feels it to this day, they could be doing so well.
Brother
I love how your shorts don't show how stressed and miserable you can be. I find all your content interesting. Keep up the great work!!!
Shorts give you the dopamine rush that they’re meant to give, the long form is the come-down to reality afterwards.
@@SalemTechspertslmao yup well said
After 10 years, I finally had to close shop. I’m trying to still offer business consulting but Google, and a corporate takeover of the office that I rented, have put me out of business.
Ive been running my IT business from my house for over 10 years. No brick and mortor overhead cost, no employees. I can come to you or you come to me. I do phones, laptops, desktops, servers, whatever. I then got 2 lifts put into my garage and now offer Car Repair. Im also the cheapest mechanic in our county, because i dont have an overhead of owning a shop. As long as I do good work, customers keep talking and word of mouth has done well for free advertising. When i talked to shop owners 15 years ago, their main complaint was the lease cost of their shop, which is why I never invested into a shop, but instead, my home.
Agree with all your points. Will just like to add that sometimes even getting a part shipped to my caribbean region presents a next level of hoops. Sometimes there is no shipping of the replacement parts to the region. When it is shipped, the cost of clearing it from customs is soo huge that it must be passed onto the customer just so the shop could survive. Thus the repair price for the simplest of issues is huge and results in disgruntled customers and negative reviews.
I can’t even imagine how shops in places like yours exist due to shipping alone. God speed 🫡
Yeah I'd just tell em if they can find it cheaper anywhere else you're free to go there.
@@SalemTechsperts That's the funny part some don't. Not making enough to cover employee salaries,shop rent and to restock brand new inventory. Trying to sell outdated stuff and telling customer that "we don't do such repairs, we don't sell that, we don't sell graphics cards,we don't have in stock but store down the road has it"doesn't help. Said place i worked at earlier this year closed down.
I feel your pain. Being in he Caribbean is really bad on ordering parts. If the part itself isn't already expensive, substandard quality and sometimes inaccessible for shipping then if you do get it, the governments in act ridiculous measures to charge you for customs and clearance. This makes the entire process madness. Cheaper to jus buy something new, which defeats the whole purpose of repairing and caring for your existing electronics.
@ManBearGote 100% true. I forgot about that. Here in my country computers have no additional charges on them to clear from customs. The parts though are another story.
Very true about phone repairs.
The other problem. Not only do all the reputable repair stores go out of business. The space gets filled with skeevy, scammy operators. People who've having taken a basic soldering course. No customer service skills. Stores packed full of knock-off merchandise (cases, stands, screen protectors.)
I remember last Christmas trying to get a micro USB charging port repaired. Something which I presume as a fairly basic, tech repair 101 process! Took two attempts. (Charged both times) before it failed a third time. I just decided fuck it, and replace the tablet.
Was the actual soldering fkd?
(I've heard of some destroying the actual port or not even connecting it)
I own a repair shop in California and even though right to repair laws passed here it’s still miserably difficult to find customers because everyone either has something out of my skill range that I have to pass on to somebody else or any decent replacement parts cost an arm and a leg and nobody wants to pay that.
I used to do repair, many years ago. The boss didn't like working or paying for parts, though, so people were always pissed at me, I burned out, and the shop went out of business. Now I'm trying to get SSDI and a home. What pisses me off the most about the straight-to-landfill devices is that somebody built that for shit pay, and now they have to build another one, slightly newer, but much more expensive. Everybody on that entire production chain, from mineral extraction to point of sale, is exploited, made to work to be allowed to have some tiny piece of the fruits of society, to draw breath, to be allowed food, water, when there is so much to go around that nobody needs to do anything for, so much food thrown away, so much housing left unoccupied, just to protect profits. That's what planned obsolescence is for. Creating artificial scarcity, creating dependence on a manufacturer.
here in fiji from my experience as a computer repair technician the main issue is that there are just too many computer repair shops trying to to business at the same time
Currently where i live it's mandated that companies provide spare parts (or fitting alternatives) 7 to 10 years after they stop producing the product itself.
I have an old e-bike from 2007, they stopped production of it in 2008 and i can STILL get a new motor, battery, controller etc.
Why? Because the company knows it's one of the most sold electric bicycles ever produced (75.000 in just 2008)
They aren't making a profit on these parts anymore because of the out-dated machinery they have to keep running but they know that people still use a lot of these and need them.
They stopped production of these parts 3 times so far but the demand is just so high they keep restarting production.
Now they are set to halt production permanently in 2028 (10 years AFTER the law mandated limit)
Companies should be more like this, allowing people to get the parts they need to keep something expensive going for decades, not several years.
Former phone tech here. Can confirm. 99.999% of the parts we get are aftermarket, and have a whole host of issues, and it's been going on since the iPhone 6 or before.
I subsidized a lot of my living costs during college working on PCs, building them and fixing most any electronic brought to me on the cheap for the fellow college kids I was at school with. In just 8 years since I couldn't do 1/8 of what I was able to do out of my apartment's kitchen. The two examples you used of batteries and screens being something I could reasonably source were parts I couldn't even pay someone to find for me when my friend asked me to replace his broken laptop screen and I couldn't find anything to replace the screen on my phone when it went out. When I went to root and flash a new rom onto an old tablet a friend gave me it was so locked down that I was astounded that it was natively an Android device to begin with because I'd never had those kinds of issues in the past when putting a new OS on a device.
I owned a repair shop and 22 years ago I took a F/T IT Director position. I now have most weekends off, I'm not doing my accounting work at midnight and I don't have to sweat my shop rent payments any more. I still miss tech shop work and I'm sad I had to give up my dream job, but I saw the writing on the wall in our disposable, instant gratification world and decided to make this change. I respect everyone who is sticking with it and I'm a little jealous if I'm honest. Keep fighting the good fight!
BTW, you're only the greatest Technician because I got out of the game 😉
I repair household appliances in the US and the industry has remained generally the same in the last 20 years. However, just recently I have been noticing a significant shift away from repairs. Parts are becoming much more proprietary and appliances aren't being made for accessibility anymore. Especially in imported appliances such as Samsung's LG's Hisense everything for these things are being sold in kits. Oftentimes are able to purchase individual parts. Won't even get a part number for the individual Parts you need requiring you to buy the entire assembly. The only good thing is that in appliance repair in the United States, these manufacturers are required by law to support their Appliance for some years with replacement parts. I suppose that's the only silver lining to be had from here.
11:01 and the reason they don’t sell it is Razer consider the entire screen assembly a trade secret. Yes. A trade secret. That’s why they don’t sell it to third party. It’s absolutely should be illegal explanation but unfortunately they are legally allowed to use that as excuse to not sell the parts to third party.
I've been doing this for 25 years and the industry has steadily become worse and worse and worse and I'm having to turn away 3 out of every 4 jobs because of parts availability or the sheer cost of repair. Sucks. Good video. keep up the good work.
thegreatdeconstruction
For me it's way more easy than years ago.
I just need time to find parts, donor models.
What kind of jobs? We do general tech stuff, physical repairs, as well as just new computer setups with data (cloned over if we can). We've been steady, and we haven't turned away business unless we're FULL, but it's been about 6 months since we've been totally flooded for a couple weeks.
this is the reason why motherboards especially Laptop motherboards are flooded on the market. because why? customer laptop cannot get repaired because of LACK OF LCD SCREEN AND BATTERY SPARE PARTS.
its been a months since i commented here venting about repair jobs. but i really hate about these..
heck even you buy aftermarket parts. you have to wait for them.
and when they come. IT DOESN'T EVEN FIT OR CORRECT WITH YOUR LAPTOP THAT YOU REPAIR.
these are costing you and your customer time, money, and patience.
i have no idea why, the right to repair here in asia are nonexistent, everything is aftermarket from china. but I REALLY WISH I CAN BUY GENUINE SPARE PARTS FOR ELECTRONICS, NOT ONLY LAPTOPS BUT EVERY ELECTRONICS.
thanks for the video Andy. wishing you the best with the right to repair so us as a repairman can feed our family.
I'm personally not too bothered simply because I enjoy picking up the occasional bad laptop and using it as a server, I have so many I could make a mini rack and cluster system if I wanted lol
@@vgamesx1 its ok for a few motherboards. But not when you have loads of them. And you cannot sell them because of the supply didn’t even meet the demands.
I wonder if it would be possible to manufacture "universal" LCD screens as a small business, or if it's a difficult process that requires large scale assembly lines.
If it were possible, I'd definitely do it, so that repair shops can buy from me when they can't find official parts.
It is intriguing that the United States advocates for environmental sustainability while simultaneously neglecting the fact that individuals dispose of computers that may require simple repairs but lack access to the necessary parts. This situation arises from the absence of a legal mandate compelling companies to facilitate such repairs.
I say hello from France!
Your videos are really great! I learned some things watching your repairs ❤
I hope your business will continue to run despite the way manufacturers make their PCs.
Hp eliminated the problem by removing the hinge, that's genius
The funny thing is since they used a unibody back lid, the kickstand hinge is insanely strong. They KNOW what they’re doing, they just don’t give a shit cause 💸
They took the H out of the P
@@xXDeiviDXx
And left us with P without the H
Our shop just does services for business networks and dropped all repairs for this very reason. We suggest you always keep an extended warranty or just plan on replacing every three years when the warranty runs out. The big deal is not all HP business class equipment has a three year warranty anymore. I used to be that was the clear distinction between consumer grade and business grade is the business always came with 3 year.
We need something like the Magnuson Moss act that the auto industry has. I own a repair shop but also provide IT support. I do new machine sales and in home tech support as well including networking and security cameras. Many of those things people don't like to do or aren't qualified for. You need to branch out to stay alive.
We need a meaningful Right to Repair law. Branching out is the only solution, but if you’re in a high cost of living area, it’s not feasible as a one man retail shop.
@SalemTechsperts My fiance is a paralegal. Hopefully in the future I can get her to start biting back with us.
I pirate music as I hate ads
@@SalemTechspertsIt can be if you run it from a home basement. If no basement, set aside a repair room and do pickups and drop offs if you must. You have to think outside the box, as the Box walls slowly squeeze in on you. 😊
16:50 Thank you for the software, I like when people film the little details (also we care about the device specs), I also like this type of videos where you talk to the audience normally, please record more of these normal repair videos, I think the customers would be happy too watching you repair their devices professionally :)
Rather ironic, I'm currently viewing a kiddy movie, Robots (2005) on YT, where the maker of robots does not make replacement parts. Maximizing profits by having robots scraped rather than fixed.
Learned how to disassemble and troubleshoot PC and PC components in 2008. Moved onto learn how to disassemble and reassemble laptops. Did that for a couple of years, then tablets really began taking off. More phones and tablets that couldn't easily be disassembled (by design) kept coming in and ultimately became easier to tell people that they may as well buy a new replacement. Even if replacement screens and parts could be obtained, the labor cost would end up more expensive than just outright buying a new device. I really wanted to keep repairing PCs and laptops but ultimately had to face that the industry was making that kind of work unsustainable. I wasn't even repairing PCs by the time the pandemic hit so I can't even imagine how much harder it got with supply chain issues and cost.
I am sorry about your business and hope you thrive at your next endeavor! I hope to still keep up the content posting since I'd miss seeing those raccoon like fingers and I'm sure some peoples' mothers would suffer without you.
I have an Acer Nitro 5 (an515-5X for those who want more specifics) and it came from Acer defective. The screen was glitching, and the bottom of the screen just turned into unrecognizable nonsense. I went to college for IT and learned a lot about how to fix laptops and computers and thought this is a perfect opportunity. It was incredibly hard to find a matching screen from AliExpress, and it was impossible to find a legit, from Acer original screen. Hours, days, and weeks looking for authentic Acer parts for nothing. I have it replaced now with a knockoff (oddly enough, it looks better than the original in quality and sharpness) and works flawlessly. Despite it being a bit too plasticy for my liking, the Nitro 5's for now (mine is 7 going on 8 yo) are pretty damn tough and relatively repairable.
Anyways, thought I'd share the story and join in on the misery. Great video as always!
Non-fused laptop displays are one of the only parts left where you CAN still buy the original part. Only a few companies actually make display panels, and you can grab the exact part number off the back of the panel. It’s one of the only exceptions.
@SalemTechsperts Once I got the number off the back of the panel, it made the search much more refined. My model number (laptop wise) is one of the less common models. Asked Acer, and they more or less said, "Sucks to suck, bro." The right to repair is so crucial to businesses like yours and consumers. They have to realize that repairing a device can also make them more money in the long run. Computers 10 years old need major replacements usually, and if they still sell the parts, then they can gain the initial revenue from a new computer with long-term revenue from replacement parts.
@@a.billinski9614What good is right to repair if you can't find the parts to repair it with? Is right to repair going to force manufacturers to hold a stock of parts inventory? Will that apply to me, a small time builder?
Although I support right to repair as an IT repair shop, I don't want the government making specific laws controlling my sources.
I don't mind the government saying that you can't build something with the express purpose of keeping a repair difficult or impossible.
When the government gets involved in business, repair costs are going to rise, no question.
Added to that, manufacturers are making so many variations of a particular product which is obsoleted in about 6 months, when they've moved on a whole different model.
It's like herding cats. Difficult, if not impossible.
I really love these videos. Hope the greatest technician can survive the next ten years or so
Not a shop owner, but a bus mechanic for MAN. I’ve noticed over the years now that the quality of our original parts has been declining. Last week we had a case where a brand new caliper was mounted, and less than a month later, the bus stopped getting a signal from the potentiometer for the brake pad wear sensor. We’ve replaced so many calipers recently because of the potentiometer, and we can’t get a hold of that part on its own. It’s tragic, man.
I own and operate a repair shop out of St Louis, and yeah you're pretty spot on. I at least knew from the beginning that this was going to be temporary, that I would have to find a another job, and I just feel bad for everyone who didn't know that and are now panicking
RIP Peanut 😢
Your and Louis Rossman channels are much needed because we are in this high tech industry where the focus is too much on the new shinny thing but not much about what's happening when the product is delivered, unless it generates clicks because a big corporation messes up.
Imagine a Linus or a MKHD talking about those topics.
For what it's worth, Linus has touched several times on Right to Repair, he just doesn't have the same influence outside of RUclips with the US government, because well, canadian. Andy and Louis, alongside companies like iFixit are the loudest voices we have on capital hill for right to repair, and even then their reach is limited often if not by lobbying, than by simply _time_. There is only so much time in the day, and lobbyists have more of it, Andy is one guy.
All that said, we appreciate the effort you put in to make consumers aware of this issue, and serve as the canary in the coal mine for hardware repair.
@Rassiel13 that's great I didn't know, because I don't watch everything they do, but I remember MKHD interviewing Tim Cook and not challenging him on the topic of environmental impact let alone repairs.
@@enamuossuo I remember that interview and I was super disappointed by it.
@@Rassiel13 I guess that's how he got his rise to fame, being as consensual as possible, but he also crushed products no one cared about.
I am sorry for that. PC builders put so much effort yet their profit margin is so less. Also, the fact that there's a tutorial for almost every problem doesn't help. My brother started a PC building repair shop back in the 2000s. It was a huge success but since the late 2010s, it started declining. He had to close it down earlier this year.
Yeah I mean I have a shop but it's not just repair it's IT support and in home support for Networking and all things tech. You need to branch out to stay alive.
@jtkachlmeier agreed. I started repairing computerized assemblies in 1975 and have had an on-call IT repair business since 1991. I'm not closing for sure, but as you said, you have to be flexible and branch out.
Computer builds started becoming slow more than a decade ago, so I work out pre-built packages with customization, installation and network troubleshooting. Things I don't do, programming apps, make websites, SEO work, or hosting email. Also I stay away from Apple repairs, phone repairs and anything that might be internally glued. Gotta pick your poison and be the best at it.
Not just computers. I bought the last new passenger side windshield wiper molding (plastic panels below the windshield wipers) for a 2004 Honda Accord in America (possibly the world). So far, here's what's also something you can't buy new on it: the lens, meter (clear plastic cover over your driver gauges), the plastic strip that keeps dust out of your shifter, all air bag covers (they're just covers, not the actual airbags, but they're probably out of stock too). And the list goes on. The car does 350k easily. Mine is currently at 77k. A new car that's closest to mine (they no longer make V6) is over $40k.
I folded my computer repair business back in 2008 mostly due to lack of reliable replacemt parts, just couldn't afford to bust my ass for nothing.
Best of luck to you and thank you for making these videos and for sharing your insight.
I am so happy that the EU passed a law that batteries have to be replacable in phones, scooters, E-bikes etc. by 2027. They should have done this years ago and they need to go even further than this, but it's a good start.
Alas, I fucking HATE that the EU wants to force new car buyers into EV's by 2035, because the ones who are going to suffer are the poor folks trying to buy up old used cars they can actually afford, as supply dries up and prices increase.
You win some, you lose some, I guess.
No, you lose them all. You just don't realize you lost until months or years later when they show the fine print or some other law they had going behind everything. Government is not the peoples freind and hasn't been even decent for decades or more. It's coming to a head in the next decade or so one way or another.
@@l33tninja1 Yeah that will happen when they're in bed with the bankers and corpos.
I hate the forcing to buy EV cars by 2035 as well, my father can not afford a brand new car
Might be worth getting a used electric car since gas prices over there are outrageous.
@@cutliss Electric cars aren't great and a used one will no doubt have shot batteries, which aren't cheap.
As much as Right to Repair (RtR) needs to be implemented, a perfect example of the obstacles facing RtR is Apple "adopting" USB-C.
It took an entire continent's supranational political and economic union's efforts to force Apple to put USB-C on all devices. Imagine all the political bs that would occur in the US without having such a entity like the EU to back RtR.
I used to rebuild computers for parochial schools. I would pick up discarded equipment, salvage good parts and reuse them on other systems. One day I called the corporation where I was getting computers from, they decide to stop and went with something else instead and couldn't donate computers, I had schools lined up for refurbished computers and had to tell them I no longer couldn't because the corporation when with another supplier.
i also experienced this in the exhibiton industry people will buy tvs for 200$, for 1 day tradeshows and leave them at the showroom for because it costs 600$ to ship the tvs
I manage an automotive repair place and I just ran into the problem of having to order refurbished parts for a customer because the new parts are no longer made and it's nearly a thousand dollars my cost for the parts that are still left on a car thats from the last ten years. It's absolutely wild how companies can make something that's designed to fail yet not even offer the replacement parts easily.
1:21 that smirk and head tilt is hilarious
THANK GOD here in Greece there are still companies that inport batteries and have shop that you can simply take there your laptop baterry and with low prices you can buy an aftermarket similar one.
Part of the problem is that in order to keep costs low every single part is outsourced to someone which outsurces it as well. Margins on suppliers are also very low so spair parts are kept to a minimum. Its becoming so ridiculous. Pretty soon you have to buy a second item to guarantee parts. If the right to repair isnt a law a warranty of 5 years should regardless of the part. But i guess corporates specially in US love that 1 warranty policy. In EU it is now 3 years bit dont get too excited because normally the extra 2 are in most cases given by the local supplier or the shop. I've heard of cases where the shops eventually get all the loss. This is also valid on cars, manufacteurs in most cases they dont care about after sales and they dont want that risk in their balance sheets.
That’s already been the norm for a while. In phone repair, every experienced shop buys 3 parts just to get 1 functional one. It’s a joke.
I was gonna rant about how everything is outsourced to other companies, but you hit the nail on the head. I don’t think most manufacturers could get the parts if they wanted too. They ordered a run out of China, or Taiwan or whomever and getting another run isn’t feasible. We live in the world of just in time inventory so most businesses are not going to double a run just to have parts available for an item. Even if it were in stock the vast majority of consumers would rather just buy the latest thing than to try and repair it. I know most of my friends won’t buy a frameworks laptop just because of the higher upfront costs. It’s easier and cheaper to buy a disposable computer at Walmart. Repairs and parts are just tomorrow’s me problem and nobody cares about that guy. Good luck getting any politician to care about this when their donors pay them not to care and the citizens don’t care.
So I actually sell used laptop parts on E-bay and do repairs as well. (for 10yrs+ now). They are effectively genuine parts removed from written off machines. The fused LCD and digitzer screens are an absolute nightmare to replace. I see so many high end expensive laptops written off now for broken screens, whereas previously you could buy a screen for £30-40 and add repair cost, now they are £100-200. (if your lucky!) Totally agree that unavailable screens is an utter disaster for repairers. 50% of standard jobs are broken screens. Your lucky with that machine that the memory isn't hard soldered on to the board. Another point of failure on newer machines that was an easy replace and fix previously.
Unfortunately, right-to-repair is not only not going to happen in this environment, but now purchasing tech doesn't mean you own it. It's more like a rental. They are now telling you what you can and cannot put on it, force 'features' on you that you don't want and somehow can't remove, and something on it won't work unless you have a subscription.
The HVAC industry has laws making some repairs illegal. Have to replace.
Related to ozone depleting refrigerants? Or refrigerants with a high GWP in the thousands? Yeah it's better to replace them
@@imeakdo7 - I'm pretty sure that's the case. Still, why does a lot of stuff hasn't any sort of redundancy whatsoever?
@@imeakdo7 he meant asbestos
@lucasrem New York City, all gas appliances that break have to be replaced with none gas.... unless they change the rules again!
@@gallowaylights NYC is one of the more backwards places from what I know about it, such as forgetting re-use is still better for the environment than tossing or recycling perfectly functional devices.
I got that identical hp cheap laptop since 2012 and it still work fine
Nice. You can find these for around $350 on eBay which is absolutely insane considering they were over $3k in 2018
I've got a much higher end 2012 HP laptop but the screen and the cooling fan broke.
So, I took it apart.
@@JulesMauuary-Maetz Z book too, over 10 year old Quadro book ?
HP was the only factory that did these Quadro machines good.
Repair it yourself please, wait till you find parts.
@@lucasrem Nope its a Folio 13 aka HP's very first ultrabook.
I'm gonna a give the laptop to a robotic club and I put the SSD in a plastic box.
@lucasrem Oh and I and a friend repasted a 2006 HP Pavilion A1600
multimedia desktop last month and this PC is located at that robotic club. It has an Intel Pentium D/VIIV CPU, 2 GB RAM, 114 GB HDD and Windows XP.
This thing works fine despite how old it is and takes about 40 s to boot up.
Politicians believe planned obsolescence is part of capitalism because the industry lobbyists pay them money to think that way. Good luck with that.
Spending more money is good for the economy! (and bad for individuals)
Broken Window Fallacy
Honestly, repairing your own stuff just feels so good. My laptop hinge broke off, the speaker diaphragm rot away (ik it sounds weird, rotting away) and the battery literally won't hold a charge. I'd hate to put this laptop in some land fill because this laptop helped me out during trying times back in 2020 to at least get some food on the table. I'd want technology that's repairable and not irreparable and use it for years to come.
You could turn it into a clock on your wall. 😅
I had a shop back in the early 00s, We were doing great until office depot moved in. We could no longer compete with those computer prices and were forced to close a year later as we were in a small town and new builds were over half the income. We did make the business work for another couple years working out of my business partners garage with service calls and repairs, but it wasnt enough sadly and Infinity Computers closed Permanently in 2004.
I still do some freelance stuff from time to time. Never let my skills stagnate either but Im at the age now where a shop will always pick the fresh college kid over the mid 40s nerd.
People I know: can’t you repair this?!?!?!
Me: nope for the cost of the repair, you can get new unit at the same price
People: but I don’t want this in the garbage
Me: nothing I can do
It’s like people don’t bother researching the cost of things and want things fixed not realizing it doesn’t exists or is too expensive just buy new and take care of it
when i graduated last year i couldn't find a job and started to try and do tech repair with my limited knowledge patience and you tube ended up loosing all my savings on either faulty parts or reimbursing my customers, i really love tech repair i genuinely find it fun to fiddle with all day regardless of the monotony but it just isn't viable under most conditions.
sounds like you didn't do it right lol
@Bewefau probably not but it's not like I'm actually that smart. I just like trying to do things I enjoy
10:06 heartfelt speech/Gooch Collector desktop background
I've been doing repairs of all kinds for decades. The types of repair I do have definitely dwendled down substantially, mostly due to parts availability. And like you say, many of the parts I can get are substandard. Including critical autoparts where safety is a concern.
Recently, I was surprised to find a good replacement screen for a repair to a Nokia x100 that was cheap, fit well, and worked good.
The only way to get corporations to change their selfish ways is Industrial Action. If enough consumers stopped buying new products for a week, a month, or even a year in protest, things might change, but that will never happen.
Don't give up the fight. Be the straw!
I ran a repair shop in Alaska for a decade, eventually had to just quit and find a new profession due to the issues you described. It was extremely frustrating with trying to get parts that were reliable and economical. Back then we also parted out abandoned systems where possible just for the screens. I remember the first time I ran into a glued and potted phone, that was when I saw the writing on the wall.
the greatest technician thats ever lived, lol famous words that still linger in my head,must admit imma big fan of this technician
@ 15.35 "defective parts" needing returned also adds return shipping and losses of price difference. As the suppliers are shams and never refund the full amount as well as refuse to reimburse on clearly defective parts. I've been seriously toying the idea and steps to open and create a proper US parts supplier specifically phone parts etc, which if I had access to 20 million would do it in a heart beat
All of his points shared are valid and very real happenings in this industry that directly impact our ability to offer and provide quality services.
All of which the tech monopolies work to keep that way. Even so I still work my ass off to maintain it while enjoying doing so.
The challenges in repair only motivate me further while providing a bit of joy and accomplishment.
This man dies and comes back to life every video to bestow knowledge for us thank you sir
My pleasure
There really are no limits when it comes to corporate greed.
Thank you so much for rising awareness about R2R!
Making originals parts available is not the only problem. The price is much bigger issue. For some brands, you get to the price of brand new product by changing 1/5 of the parts (shipping prices excluded).
Problem no.2 - glue, one way clips, fillers and rivets
Problem no.3 - parts unpaired with MB (mostly Apple products) dont work even if perfectly functional (try swap some parts between two new iPhones)
As a shadetree mechanic I now have to check ANY parts I buy, even OEM to make sure they work properly. ALL industries are just shit now.
Hey Salem, you have done a great job. I am your based lovely pc Technical support from South East Asia from Malaysia. Don't terminate your account
Need that right to repair! As someone who's always been a cheap ass but also really enjoys learning new stuff, proprietary shit without replaceable parts is awful. Last summer I thought I was gonna have to replace the bulb socket for my cars tail light... The only way I could get it is if I took it to a dealership and have them do it or go to to scrap yard and pull one from a totaled car...
I'm writing this on a Framework laptop. It costs more, and there is a performance hit, but I can fix it with a screwdriver that has two bits and a spudger. It's possible to make and sell repairable products. I'm not going to pull out a solderiring iron and replace capacitors, but I should be able to replace a screen, keyboard or mainboard with available parts.
I've been learning it's better to get the community on your side and their support for combating issues like these especially against politicians cause if you are soloing it, it's such a huge mountain to climb. Having small repair shops is so vital to the community.
I like thisType of video that you explain anything and share your bad experiences.
“Right to Repair is Communist” is what companies tell the government when lobbying I assume
I work for a dealership for heavy machinery and used to work for the distribution center of the parts we sell. The one thing I noticed is that the distribution center was like a drop ship station and we would just repackage parts from other businesses and sell them as ours. By doing that alone it drove the price of these parts from 50-60 dollars to 1500 or 1700 a piece. and thats for just a simple pulley. I always feel bad when someone has to come in and spend 7 grand to replace a cylinder when I know half of it can be bought by the manufacturer at half the price.
I learned today from my stepdad that his concrete surface grinder is finally dying. However, the factory allows you to bring the machine in yourself, take the whole thing apart, and then give you parts to fix it (you pay for them obviously) and show you how to put it back together. So then you can repair and manage the equipment yourself. Right to repair is there, and companies are starting to take hold of the concept again, I say again because it used to be a thing back in the 50's and 60's. Tech - however - is struggling to understand this and unfortunately, politicians - as we recently learned in the last four years - can promise much but can only do very little. The best thing to do is vote with your wallet and by devices with repair and upgrading in mind. Devices like Framework laptops and - to a certain extent - the Valve Steamdeck.