On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 08:36:26AM -0700, Sean Kelly wrote: > On Sep 18, 2012, at 12:48 AM, Walter Bright <[email protected]> > wrote: > > The most common failure I've had are the power supplies, they're > > still as bad today as in the 80's. > > There are good power supplies, they just don't come in pre-built > computers because they're expensive. I think the same could be said > of products from any era.
Yeah, I've learned the hard way not to trust pre-assembled PCs. They may have one or two good components listed in the ad just to hook you, but usually many other parts (that people don't usually pay attention to) are crap. PSUs are one of them. Nowadays I only ever buy parts, and assemble my own PCs. Things tend to last much longer this way. (Same thing goes for software... one thing I really like about Linux is that you can replace parts freely without voiding warranties or violating EULAs or wrestling with straitjacketed software licenses or fighting with gratuitous incompatibilities between software not written by the same people, that sorta thing. And usually OSS software comes with alternatives for everything, should the default one turn out to be crap. (Well OK, sometimes all the alternatives are crap too, but that's another story.)) T -- Doubtless it is a good thing to have an open mind, but a truly open mind should be open at both ends, like the food-pipe, with the capacity for excretion as well as absorption. -- Northrop Frye
