Free Laptop for Life - Brilliant or Back-Asswards?
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 12. 1.08
Image via Fujitsu Siemens
Fujitsu Siemens has launched a new deal in which customers can buy a Lifebook and a 3-year warranty that states at the end of three years, you get a brand new Lifebook replacement. And the new-Lifebook-every-three-years deal lasts for the rest of your life.
Crazy great deal or the opposite of eco-friendly? Hummmm. Let's weigh the pros and cons.
There are a couple pros and a couple cons to this approach. The pros are that three years is a long time for a notebook to stick with a single owner – most people are replacing their notebooks every 18 months or so. So a program that encourages users to stick with their notebook for about double the usual time is pretty great. And, the deal is cheap - the warranty is only about $80, so working laptops are more readily available to folks with low incomes.
However, there are definite issues that make this a very ungreen plan. If a person is encouraged to make their own upgrades and modifications to their notebooks, they could keep it for far longer than three years. But with a product under warranty, a customer can’t do their own upgrades and mods without breaking the warranty and foregoing a free laptop in a few years. So it essentially requires buying into planned obsolescence.
There is no guarantee that Fujitsu Siemens is going to refurbish and resell that used laptop they were just mailed – more likely they’ll dump it in the e-waste bin. That means every three years for every customer, there’s going to be a whole laptop to recycle, plus a whole new laptop going out the door.
Another issue is, in the grand scheme of things, what tiny percentage of the population actually wants a Lifebook? When there are netbooks, MacBooks, and all sorts of other options out there to choose from, this program doesn’t do much to ensure people stick with one laptop for three years.
So back to the question: Crazy great deal or opposite of eco-friendly? We’re going to rule the opposite of eco-friendly.
We’re also going to recommend the company rethink this deal and instead of offering cheap replacements, they offer notebooks that will last a good long time and that are upgradeable. Then offer quality parts for upgrading along with classes that teach customers how to make those upgrades themselves instead of a whole new notebook every three years. Cheaper for the company, better for the earth, and would most definitely encourage the customer loyalty they're seeking with this 3-year plan.
Let’s teach planned maintenance and repair rather than planned swap and dump.
Via Fujitsu Siemens via PC World
More on Greening Up Computers:
ASUS N Series Notebooks Finally Make EPEAT Gold
Dell to Transition All Laptop Displays to Mercury-Free LED Backlights
HP Bags Wal-Mart's Reduced Packaging Award With Laptop In A Bag
Windows 7 Improves Laptop Battery Life by 11%
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- New E-Waste Problem: People Want to be Burried with their Cell Phones
- Consumer Guides for E-Cycling After the Holidays
- This or That: Roomba Vs Upright
- Does it make sense to buy extended product warranties?
the phrase 'the best is the enemy of the good' springs to mind. sure, it encourages people to not do the upgrades themselves but, in the real world, what percentage of people actually do this? i would think that most people either don't have the necessary know-how or just can't be bothered to do any upgrade work themselves, so keep their laptops until they are more-or-less useless, then buy new ones. a scheme that encourages them to hold out on buying a new one for 3 years seems to be a good idea. similarly, on the subject of e-waste, there is nothing to suppose that Fujitsu-siemes aren't going to recycle the new laptops. Indeed, if this project was run in Europe they would have to. surely they can't be blamed for the US governments lack of environmental leadership?
But if they refurb every laptop they get back not only does the original buyer get a decent deal but future buyers can purchase a refurbed older model for a great deal. Also I don't think you are allow to say that the average person only has a laptop for 18 months and at the same time say that it is not green because you can't upgrade to keep it longer. If the average person only keeps them for 18 months then it is not a big deal to be limited to 3 years.
I think more info is needed here. One of my first posts on TH was about Fuji Xerox's inverse manufacturing program. Read it here http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/who_knew_photoc.php
This is setting the stage for a very good product of service system. The company now has the incentive to make as much of the laptop very durable and easily upgradable, so that when it is returned they just pull out the processor and pop in a new one. I suspect Fuji would not be doing this if they planned to just junk the old laptop.
According to Fujitsu Siemens:
"you will be eligible to receive a brand new LIFEBOOK of like for like specifications every 3 years for the rest of your LIFE!"
So two points:
1) What happens if they suspend the Lifebook brand?
2) What exactly do they mean by like for like spec? It I get the exact same spec in 3 years that's pretty much useless as by then Windows 9(?) and MS Office 2011, 2014 etc will need a better spec machine. If I get the same spec every 3 years it just means they suspect the laptop will fall apart after 3 years, so it's saving me from that as opposed to technological obsolescence? And they'll just pull a dusty 3/6/9 year box off the shelf and give me that?
people are replacing every 18months!? I use a whole bunch of really demanding apps: autocad, maya, adobe cs etc etc, and my last laptop lasted 4 years, I expect a similar tour of duty from my new one. who are these 'most people' whose needs are increasing so quickly?
Three years is a long time and the most significant changes to the technology aren't really user upgradable. You aren't just talking about swapping out a CPU or some RAM but also of better battery technology and components with better power management, and changes to form factors for using shared components in the supply chain, and things like OLED screens with their lower energy footprint. These are the real advances.
Making more replaceable parts will probably see more component parts in the landfills and the old technology staying around longer to justify the DIY infrastructure. It would make it harder to introduce things like power cells or cleaner batteries into the industry because you'd have to keep the old stuff available too.
If you look at the holistic picture, I'd bet it's much better to reclaim and recycle the old components and replace the device than trying to make every part user serviceable and maintaining the infrastructure required for that.
Definitely Back-Arsewards
Since I can't find any further useful information on their website, I'm going to assume that "like for like specifications" means you'll be getting a refurbished version of the lifebook you originally bought.
So...for an additional $80, you can opt to have the same, increasingly obsolete laptop for life, every three years. Not sure I see the point.
I mean, I suppose it could be useful for government, where upgrades move at a glacial pace, but even then...
@ Rob - not much use to the government here in the UK - they lose most of their laptops before they have a chance to become obsolete!
Many mobile phone operators operate a similar deal to keep people tied to contracts - I don't know it's had much greening effect on mobile phone recycling...
Geeks Are Sexy wrote about this last week. The deal is an upgrade to a brand new laptop that costs up to 110% the price you originally bought your laptop for.
And uh, who the hell gets rid of a laptop after 18 months?