From : https://techhub.social/@[email protected]/115924627853343043 (mastodon)
The enshittification of computer repair is happening.
AI has amazingly managed to make repairable computers practically worthless.
The increase in memory and storage pricing is destroying the second-hand market for computing hardware and this makes me sad. I watched a video from someone that runs a repair shop, and this is what’s happening:
The memory/storage alone is worth more than the rest of the computer, so people are stripping them out to sell separately.
The second hand market is now flooded with computers that have no memory or storage. Buying new memory or storage to put in these used computers is now more expensive than buying a new computer.
So we now suddenly have a giant e-waste problem PLUS a giant problem for repair shops that want to stay in business.
In the video, he was basically saying that they have to pivot to the only computers that folks aren’t stripping RAM and storage out of - computers that have those things soldered on. The irony here is that repair shops now have to ignore the most repairable computers and focus on the least repairable computers instead.
I have a hard time calling this enshittification, it dilutes term if it is just used to mean anything getting worse. Rather it should be used to describe the purposeful corporate destruction of a service’s value to boost profit after attracting users.
Ai is the machine powering turbo-enshittification of other products.
Seems like a good time to collect some free computers and then after the inevitable AI collapse, you can get free RAM, and boom, free computers for everyone.
This is not enshittification. This is a calculated attack. It’s class warfare.
I don’t get it, the PCs that still run DDR4 aren’t as affected (even some new still throw 13th &14th Gen Intel CPUs). Plus DDR4 had been out nearly a decade, so demand shouldn’t be so crazy as it’s everywhere. So if it’s a used market, pricing shouldn’t be so terrible. I haven’t been on eBay too check those prices, but I’m talking new stuff as I still have many desktops I still buy RAM for. Sure it’s higher, but not awful like the 32GB DDR5 i bought for work for $260 lol.
Btw I’ve already informed my bosses that I’m going to completely blow my tech budget this year bc of this stupid bullshit if we do a typical upgrade cycle. We switched to every 6 years vs 4-5. Glad I spent a bunch of RAM & SSDs, last spring! 32GB DDR5 RAM for $90 is now $380 lol
awful like the 32GB DDR5 I bought for work for $260 lol
Check this out, this is DDR4
Ok, but that’s sort of extreme, because I could buy, RIGHT now, 32GB DDR4 3200MHz for about $140. You’re showing off a retailer and/or brand that are gouging, just to prove a point.
Now, yes there’s a difference, because this is so-dimm for laptops vs standard desktop, but Newegg and Amazon are both gouging process pretty bad right now. But deals can still be found!
Edit apples to apples (though my post is 3600MHz)
Actually I pulled out the exact same product I have sitting here on my desk as I was debating selling it and wondering what the price was. I wasn’t trying to do a full market analysis.
