4 ms·
> It is a triangle of size, efficiency and cost. It's interesting to consider that the reason there are tradeoffs is because uniformly bad technologies get dis
by kens 7y ago
> It is a triangle of size, efficiency and cost.
It's interesting to consider that the reason there are tradeoffs is because uniformly bad technologies get discarded, so the remaining choices have tradeoffs.
For chargers, consider the 1990s-style line transformer and linear regulator (big wall warts). These are larger, less efficient, and cost more than a modern switching power supply, so essentially nobody uses them.
So it may seem like you're stuck in a triangle of choices that are bad in some way, but in the historical picture, these choices are all very good.
- milesvp 7y agoYeah, you’re sort of describing engineering in a nutshell. It’s all about tradeoffs, and there’s so much min-maxing going on. Then eventually you discover some property or design where the tradeoffs aren’t as bad while still mostly maxing the desired property and it becomes a common solution. What’s interesting, is that periodically you can go back to what looked like a bad solution, and because of advancements in related designs, this solution can actually end up being superior in some ways.