4 ms·

> that the added cost of the supercapacitor Anything made in the millions of units per year is value engineered to death. Even if the cost is only $0.10 more t

by KMnO4 6y ago

> that the added cost of the supercapacitor Anything made in the millions of units per year is value engineered to death. Even if the cost is only $0.10 more that will really add up. I’m not sure the cost is offset when the repairs are out of warranty.

iso1631 6y ago
Which is so frustrating, as nobody would check the box for a 0.02% discount to avoid having to change batteries.
- DavidPeiffer 6y ago
  True, but it's the difference between making a single product that's identical and consistent, versus a made-to-order item. Inevitably when making a single high volume product, engineering decisions are made which reduce the envelope of theoretical potential capability compared made-to-order. Right now I can go to the store and grab a console. If I'm not alright with a car on the lot of a dealer, I'm selecting exactly what I want, paying a bunch more, and waiting many weeks to take delivery. It's hugely more complicated from a manufacturing and supply chain standpoint - simply a different operating model.
  - iso1631 6y ago
    I'd love to know who would willingly pay $234.65 for a console with "value engineed" nickle and diming rather than paying $238.87 for a few decent components You don't decide to buy an xbox rather than a playstation because it's 5 bucks cheaper.
    - fomine3 6y ago
      This applied to every single parts/designs so finally accumulated to dozens of dollars. IMO they shouldn't rely on external reliable clock.
dfox 6y ago
I think that consoles (at least in first few hardware revision of given generation) are in somewhat special category. The hardware strongly looks like the engineering was primarily optimized optimized for time to market (see for example the amount of EMC shielding in both Xbox One and Series, which strongly suggest that the design target was to minimize the time spent on EMC (pre)conformance testing while ignoring the price of the thing).

by KMnO4 6y ago

iso1631 6y ago

Which is so frustrating, as nobody would check the box for a 0.02% discount to avoid having to change batteries.

DavidPeiffer 6y ago
True, but it's the difference between making a single product that's identical and consistent, versus a made-to-order item. Inevitably when making a single high volume product, engineering decisions are made which reduce the envelope of theoretical potential capability compared made-to-order. Right now I can go to the store and grab a console. If I'm not alright with a car on the lot of a dealer, I'm selecting exactly what I want, paying a bunch more, and waiting many weeks to take delivery. It's hugely more complicated from a manufacturing and supply chain standpoint - simply a different operating model.
- iso1631 6y ago
  I'd love to know who would willingly pay $234.65 for a console with "value engineed" nickle and diming rather than paying $238.87 for a few decent components You don't decide to buy an xbox rather than a playstation because it's 5 bucks cheaper.
  - fomine3 6y ago
    This applied to every single parts/designs so finally accumulated to dozens of dollars. IMO they shouldn't rely on external reliable clock.

dfox 6y ago

I think that consoles (at least in first few hardware revision of given generation) are in somewhat special category. The hardware strongly looks like the engineering was primarily optimized optimized for time to market (see for example the amount of EMC shielding in both Xbox One and Series, which strongly suggest that the design target was to minimize the time spent on EMC (pre)conformance testing while ignoring the price of the thing).