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from the "bricks"-is-absolutely-accurate-this-time dept.
The Register (aka El Reg) reports:
Many [who installed the latest Dell BIOS update] now cannot boot up their machines. One typical explanation posted was: "Add me to the list Dell Inspiron 20 model 3052, updated on the weekend, woke up to a solid amber/orange light and a dead computer. Contacted Dell on facebook and this is what I was told "The updates Dell releases don't affect the system. But it would enhance the performance of the system" ummmm no....if they broke they need to fix it."
[...] Some users complained screens cycled through red, green, blue and white while others saw nothing but an amber or red power light and a dead screen.
The main model affected by the allegedly dodgy update is the Inspiron 20 3052, although a few users reported similar problems with Inspiron 3252s.
[...] Dell's initial reaction was to tell customers they needed to buy new motherboards.
[...] Although complaints in the forum date back to May 12, Dell took four days to offer up a possible solution... which users subsequently said didn't work. Dell has yet to send [El Reg] a statement.
Have we saved anyone from a big headache?
The relevant Dell forum thread can be found here.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Chromium_One on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:14PM (2 children)
You and I might gladly pay the cost difference to have this kind of feature available, but you are seriously underestimating what kind of cheap-assed short-sighted shitheads are in control of most PC manufacturing companies. A one penny per unit cost difference will be fought tooth and nail no matter what the benefit is.
When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NCommander on Saturday May 20 2017, @07:44PM (1 child)
I had this discussion when I was working in Canonical's OEM group. While I don't disagree with your assessment, this is the line of thinking that went into it:
Let's say that adding a socketed flash adds 5 cents per unit costs (using round numbers for simplicity):
This is a feature that only a very small number of users will ever use (let's say .1%)
Your per-unit cost (for the logic board) is 100 dollars.
You intend to ship 100,000 units.
Your 5 cent change has a total cost of $5,000 now.
As long as you don't brick 500 boards, or have 500 users that could replace a flash chip (and are willing to repair vs. replace), you're ahead.
That's how they see it. It's not necessarily a "wrong" point of view, but it's not one I like.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by Chromium_One on Saturday May 20 2017, @08:06PM
The metric of cost-per-user-serviced-this-quarter is not meaningful for this type of feature, but instead over the lifetime of the product. Having a reputation for products that can be repaired when everyone else consistently makes disposable junk may result in more sales later, though your fuckhead MBA types will claim that anything easily field repairable is a lost new unit sale right then.
When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.