what can we do? don’t buy toshiba.
Right to repair and right to information though are another.
This also means guaranteed minimum supported lifetimes, access to documentation, system upgrades, and the like.
As for laptops: I've been actively putting off upgrading for numerous reasons including the fact that no current offerings really seem to suit my needs, wants, or reasonable expectations, but bullshit games (factory-installed spyware, Lenovo, craptacular ergonomics (Apple keyboards, strips), and BDSM bootloaders (Android) leave me feeling physically ill.
I was reminiscing earlier that in his 1976 book Imperial Earth, Arthur C. Clarke more-or-less pressages the smartphone, with his minisec, though with some glaring distinctions.
There's a physical keyboard (the 'E' key is mentioned as being worn), devices are durable enough to be intergenerational hand-me-downs (the protagonist inherits his father's old device), and apparently the economics and business models of manufacturing, servicing, upgrading, and developing for the platforms have been solved, as they're never mentioned.
It's the business models of hardware, software, and services which are killing us. To the point of creating actively shitty products and business practices.
Upvoted for this, lol. I think using a lot of products are essentially becoming a BDSM game nowadays... i.e. It has some broken useless features because of some bullshit due to the marketing department. To improve something, you would need to hack it to bypass some arbitrary restrictions first, and many enjoy this process of hacking...
Those hackers are heros, but it would be the best if some arbitrary problems are not deliberately introduced by the manufacturers in the first place.
That's not as true if you count the browser as part of a web application, which you should.
I love the new Macbook keyboards. At least, I prefer the keyboard on my 2019 Macbook Air to that on my 2015 Macbook Pro. There's obviously an element of personal preference there, but I don't think it's fair to say that the ergonomics are "craptacular".
(The reliability issues are another matter, of course. We'll have to see if the 4th gen has finally fixed those.)
Do you know how to keep your stuff from being easily cloned by Chinese?
You make it 'cloudy' by baking all your features in a closed and proprietary API on your premises. That's great for the company as it provides significant leverage against external competitors AND naughty customers. Bans can be instilled by "block user and hardware_id".
Of course, when that API goes away, so does utilizing any of that hardware. And what does that mean? Your $X00 device is now worthy of a doorstop or a space-filling-device in the trash.
I have never understood why they can host so much copyrighted material.
I just wish their archive (Wayback Machine specifically) was easier to fulltext search.
I wonder if Thinkpads really survived this after it was bought by lenovo. Maybe high end Dell laptops are durable? ASUS? System76? Honestly I don't know what brand to choose from, and I think I would prefer not to invest in a new laptop if it's not durable, and keep using desktop PCs.