Hardware Insights Forum

Use your imagination to come up with everything (that you can think of) the way you want it, and post it here.

In my best-of-all world:

• Labour would be priced the same no matter where in the world it's from, unlike in the current joke of a system.
• Torx screws would be the norm, and Phillips, Pozidriv, and slotted types would all be banned.
• That adhesive that carbonises with heat would be banned from manufacture.
• The old, obsolete two-transistor self-oscillating flybacks would be strictly prohibited.
• Lifetime requirements for electronics would be at least 50,000 hours activity and 100,000 hours in standby.
• Marketing claims would have to cite real evidence.
• Ventilation grilles would be as open as practical while maintaining structural integrity.
• Indicator LEDs would be low-intensity (except that warnings can be brighter) and diffused by law.
• Shiny surfaces in open sight would be banned except for viewing windows and the like (that need to be seen through), and of course mirrors.
• Home and office equipment would be held to high standards for quietness. This means, among other things, prohibiting fan controllers that just cycle the fan on and off periodically.
• There would have to be an option to switch off any form of background music.

Most of the stuff in the world-control thread would fit here.

Part 2:

• Christmas??? What Christmas??? I would wipe it from all existence, as it creates some serious problems.
• All video displays must be set for realistic saturation by default.
• No high-tech device may have non-replaceable power or interconnection cables.

Everyone would get at least 2mbps internet (including 3rd world countries), and 56K would be banned.

And yes, I agree on Christmas.

2mbps? screw that. How about 20mbps?? it doesn't cost much more to provide 20mbps rather than 2mbps. the cost is the infrastructure. bandwidth itself is cheap.

Part 3:

• External PSUs with integrated plugs must be compact enough to be used in any legal configuration of adjacent sockets. If a unit can't be made that compact, it must use a standard type of replaceable cord.
• All video games must have at least four save slots.

In case you're curious, plug-in fluorescent lamps would likely be allowed to have fixed cords, but LED lamps would not.

Not sure the flat mains cords with separable single-insulated conductors (e.g. SPT) are safe...at least not out in the open where they can get damaged. Also, Y-caps may not be used without an earth connection (a practice that results in tingles and can potentially damage equipment).

Lifetime requirements for electronics would be at least 50,000 hours activity and 100,000 hours in standby.

As much as I would also love this, as I'm sure many know, the reason why electronics aren't designed with longevity (AKA quality) in mind anymore is planned obsolescence. The reason why "planned obsolescence" is the motto of electronics is because, especially here in the states, we live in a disposable society. What better way to convince people that their products of old are obsolete than to make certain that they yield a high failure rate? To do otherwise isn't good for business. That way no one gets attached to their old products and just move on and eat up the next "omfg its shiny so it mst b gud" product like mindless sheep. Forget about making the valid attempt at repairing their old and failed products for most people - it's out to the already overfilled landfill and in with the next barrage of crap that probably won't last a couple years until the cyclic debacle comes to bear again and again. No one's interested in learning anything, much less learning how it works. To be clear, I don't condone any of the practices above that beleaguer the world of electronics, today, as we know it. There is a reason why I don't "upgrade" every couple years and I'm not really trying to judge people, just pointing out how obvious it is that these "modern" devices are designed to be crap and no one seems to care as long as it's new and as long as it helps them peter out their 5-second attention span...

Want to know what I think the best of all worlds is? Keep people a f****** choice when it comes to what they buy. Stop forcing configured-to-fail products down their throat (*cough* *cough* Windows "8" *cough* *cough*) that they don't want.

Marketing claims would have to cite real evidence.

Marketing, unfortunately, is meant to be exaggerated to begin with so you'll go out and buy that which is marketed and be duped, so they can turn profits one time more. More and more it becomes obvious that these companies are only interested in being a business first and foremost, far and away from any sort of tangible interest in customer service.

Home and office equipment would be held to high standards for quietness. This means, among other things, prohibiting fan controllers that just cycle the fan on and off periodically.

This is definitely not good for any DC fan but, to be fair, it does lower the accumulation of dust.

I also agree about shiny surfaces. Not exactly pleasant for the eyes in the vicinity of another light "shining" on it (AKA flashlights when it's too dark to see)....

Two transistor +5VSB circuits are definitely undesirable. But as are crappy capacitors. Of course they're going to implement anything that will further the failure of their product so you'll buy yet another one for it to fail yet again.... so you'll buy yet another one.

Part 4:

• Publishing scare campaigns will lead to fines and, if done repeatedly, imprisonment.
• The old naming system for Zn-C batteries would be abolished (as it's very confusing to have "heavy duty" refer to the lowest-grade cells available).

What excuse do modern video games have not to go all the way and have 6, 8, or even 12 saves??? To have 3 or less is, in this day and age, just silly. Guess who I'm looking at...

Part 5:

• Every television set must have a headphone jack at minimum, and preferably also a digital audio output for surround sound; as continuing to permit them to be built without them is merely penny-pinching in the extreme.
• All music must be archived in a format prior to any equalisation (besides that used to compensate for the recording characteristics). (To the true extent or otherwise of the issue — as it happens, I misjudged at the time, which always happens if you suddenly go from terrible (in my case, the built-in speakers on the LG monitor) to decent audio — it would be worth keeping the rule. The final note goes too, as I've long since worked out the solution to the problem it was about, and it remains in c_hegge's quotation anyway.)

LongRunner wrote:And on another audio-related note, I can't actually use my brand-new headphones with my PC as if I plug them into the front jack, the PC-side signal lines pick up an inexcusable amount of noise from the power circuitry, which includes — among other things — the recognisable whines of HDD spindle motors .

I had that same issue with my last PC. It turned out to be the case. For the most part, it lived in an Antec 1200 and the noise was quite noticeable. For a time, though, it lived in a CoolerMaster Centurion 5 II case, and the noise wasn't there. I worked around it while I had it in the 1200 by plugging it into the headphone jack on my speakers.

Ah, yes. Having just taken another peek inside, I can see why this happens: The audio "cable" on this case is just a bunch of individual wires twisted together. Talk about penny-pinching! (I have also seen both proper shielded and half-assed "twisted-wires" cables for the old-fashioned analog CD-audio carrier.)

Get ready to knock a full point off each case reviewed that has unshielded audio cables (or, indeed, for connection cables in general besides the switch and LED connections).