Ah, nostalgia.

However, he's also missing the part where the devices have a lot more functionality as well. It isn't just that things are smaller and hard to trace (even if they aren't deliberately obfuscated) but that they do a lot more, too.

And people do still replace single components on a board, if they know how to use a soldering iron and can see what piece is broken. Sometimes it's impossible, but many times there are visual hints as to which piece died.