Post #144301

2026-01-20 00:37 UTC

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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6eiFyJMWgM cc @pluralistic@mamot.fr @iFixit@mastodon.social

Replies (16)

@ferrix@mastodon.online 2026-01-20 00:55

@sawaba@infosec.exchange @pluralistic@mamot.fr @iFixit@mastodon.social can we please pop this annoying bubble 📍 🎈 sooner than later

Open ##144302
@JustinMac84@mastodon.social 2026-01-20 04:02

@sawaba@infosec.exchange @pluralistic@mamot.fr @iFixit@mastodon.social Is this hike in RAM gonna be permanent then?

Open ##1113261
@properlypurple@tech.lgbt 2026-01-20 06:17

@sawaba@infosec.exchange @pluralistic@mamot.fr @iFixit@mastodon.social What's the issue, you can just use 'AWS cloud computer'for a low low price of only $99/mo. Computers are an outdated concept, you lot just don't want progress. /s

Open ##1113270
@sawaba@infosec.exchange 2026-01-20 05:27

@pluralistic @iFixit It just KILLS me that repairable, modular manufacturers are getting punished here, because they can be more easily stripped for their most valuable parts and then discarded.

Open ##1670326
@falcon@mastodon.falconk.rocks 2026-01-20 01:36

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit man it happened 20 years ago when I used to fix computers for a living and laptops were becoming increasingly monolithic and unrepairable.

Open ##1670335
@algaeman@mastodon.social 2026-01-20 04:33

@sawaba SSD prices have more than doubled in the last month or two.

Open ##1670347
@davbram@ravenation.club 2026-01-20 07:02

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit When OpenAI goes belly up there will be a fire sale on all that RAM they ordered and can't pay for.

Open ##1670350
@ramkay@mastodon.social 2026-01-20 07:28

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit This is very sad annoying, & frustrating. For years I have been one of many who depend on 2nd hand devices, repaired & repurposed - esp.. laptops . To help other people & my self have access to decent computers (often as their first device) Some have served me well - a Thinkpad X1, a X 220 , old Dell's , they more that did their job. Suddenly such options such access will be more expensive or not available - Apart from the gross environmental costs.

Open ##1670357
@skjeggtroll@mastodon.online 2026-01-20 07:34

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit RAM theft is going to become an issue again for companies, isn't it?

Open ##1670358
@f4grx@chaos.social 2026-01-20 08:02

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit tu as deja commence a remarquer ca @inforea ?

Open ##1670361
@thedyslexicKitchenwitxh@mastodon.green 2026-01-20 08:15

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit yes, it is frustrating (I got very lucky last year, and that will probably tide us over the worst personally, but systemically it is just infuriating) at this point all I can do is hope the chinese have in fact reverse engineered the EUV lithograph and get going.. but there is a lot of damage that was done this year T_T

Open ##1670363
@gilesgoat@toot.wales 2026-01-20 08:16

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit Seen this video yesterday ... very bad times indeed ..

Open ##1670364
@tofu@is-a.cat 2026-01-20 08:31

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit soldered RAM has upsides like better bandwidth, especially in the DDR5 era. I'm so glad I bought a maxed out T14s gen 6 AMD right before the shortages started. I was intentionally avoiding slotted RAM in my upgrade because I'd rather have faster memory and I would've maxed it out as soon as possible anyway. SODIMMs need to go in the mobile space, they just can't get the necessary signal integrity and take up extra space, and there are alternatives out there on the horizon that solve these issues. On destkop side, DDR5 has been a nightmare to deal with and it took years for CPU vendors to write proper code to train and handle RAM that doesn't cause multi minute training times at random and even a shot at faster speeds.

Open ##1670365
@adarr_volte@mamot.fr 2026-01-20 08:40

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit The famous "natural efficiency of capitalism"

Open ##1670382
@jrootham@mastodon.acm.org 2026-01-20 10:27

@sawaba @pluralistic @iFixit Can you survive until the bubble bursts? I expect a flood when that happens.

Open ##1670386
@rspfau@ecoevo.social 2026-01-20 12:19

@aspensmonster Demand for server-grade ram is causing manufactuters to *divert resources* from production of laptop ram. Theyre not putting used ram in supercomputers. People are buying used because new is in short supply because of the diversion.

Open ##1670387