This is a very good thing. Thank you EU for forcing us dirty heathens in NA to have consumer protections.
Once again, the EU drags the rest of us into modernity kicking and screaming.
Everything with a battery needs to have a replacable battery by 2027.
electric cars, phones, wireless mice, headphones etc etc etc
Some need to be "user replacable"
some needs to be replacable by a professional (electric car batteries, for example)
I have a 2012 asus s46c laptop. Replacing its battery is as easy as sliding a nitendo switch joycon into/out of the console. Other laptops from around that time have similarly easy to remove batteries. There's no lack of know-how and I doubt making it easily replaceable is "more expensive" during production. Any company that solders or glues them must do it out of pure spite against the customers.
I learned to crack open my laptop shell and replace the battery, which saved me 30 bucks when capacity was dead and I was getting a spicy pillow in the works.
My model had an easily searchable servicing guide, and I'd followed it to replace the thermal paste as well. That being said, I am looking for a future replacement as it no longer runs some indie games I have and there's no way to upgrade its internals to newer standards. My dear laptop is future e-waste, as it pains me to say.
This industry needs to go back to focus on repairability. It would push for more sustainable part and product designs, which has become a big factor in purchase consideration lately.
Isn't pretty much everything replaceable in Steam Deck? Including official guides?
Yes, but ideally you can swap the battery without having to disassemble the entire thing.
That's not what the EU law says, it says it needs to be user replaceable, which means:
- it mustn't void warranty
- it must be doable using common tools
I know what it says, that's why I said "Ideally."
You don't disassemble the entire thing. You remove a few screws and remove the back cover. There are some plastic clips to be mindful of, but side from that, it's not much harder than upgrading RAM in a laptop.
Compare this to something like an iPhone that is sealed shut with adhesive, and you have to peel off the fragile glass digitizer and screen off. Then remove every component, and the battery is bound to the back of the chassis with adhesive. And Apple wants to sue outlets that actually do this.
Totally different game.
Really like the initiative by the EU to try and empower consumers again. I think generally the Switch and Steam Deck feature replaceable parts, but device manufacturers need to be held to a consumer-friendly standard.
I think there should be a requirement for easily expandable storage as well.
Switch and Steam Deck seem to be OK for this, but I'd like to further piss on Apple's chips.
I think it should be fully replaceable storage, not just expandable because a lot of companies throw out completely fine devices to get rid of sensitive information on the soldered drives
Steam Deck with swappable batteries would be badass.
Thank you EU! Please come to America and slap the shit outta everyone.
Interestingly enough, I sometimes get into disagreements with my employer's German branch because they want to do the bare minimum for standards while the US branch prefers to have internal standards that are more stringent
Is there an example you can share? I'm curious to understand the differences you mean. Thank you
Unfortunately I can't really go into detail due to NDA
This is a fantastic change, every battery powered device should have self serviceable replaceable parts if it is safe for an untrained individual to do so.
if it is safe for an untrained individual to do so.
Remove this part and I agree. If you don't know how to repair it yourself, you can always go to an independent repair shop. But if manufacturers don't have to make parts available, you are at the mercy of the manufacturer.
So make the parts available and publish schematics, and those who want to can attempt the repair themselves, and those who don't can take it to a repair shop.
Manufacturers use the "but it's dangerous!" excuse to lock people into their ecosystem and/or support planned obsolescence. That needs to end.
During the early days of cell phones, replaceable batteries was the norm, not the exception, and it was as complicated to perform as your TV remote. No need for training. In these modern days, you may want to turn off your phone cleanly before proceeding, but that's pretty much it!
Let's not even talk about the early handheld game sets: the GameBoy (Nintendo) and GameGear (Sega), that were using regular disposable batteries (rechargeable ones were recommended though!).
Vendors have made our devices complicated to repair to lower costs and later to make our smartphones water resistant. They started off being easy to disassemble and re-assemble.
Steam deck done. https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Steam_Deck
Steam deck done.
Not really. Look up the Linus Tech Tips teardown. The battery is glued in super hard. Linus said he spoke to Valve about that and according to him Valve said they're looking into making it easier to replace at a later date. Since then I've not seen any reports about a change.
Isn't the main issue whether or not there's an ease to replace? There's like 20 steps and a bunch of easily breakable cables involved with replacing it currently.
I mean I think you can replace the Switch's battery too by that standard.
Same site even says it's only 1 extra step in total, though instead of the cables being in the way, it sounds like the shields a bit more difficult.
But like either of these replacements would require a technical user to do it.
New switch confirmed before 2027!
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