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> The tiny plugs/sockets that are used inside laptops and mobile phones
> etc often have a designed lifetime of just *ONE* operation! It means
> everything can be made much smaller and thinner and hence cheaper, but
> of course you wouldn't use one of these if you were expecting to
> actually use the plug regularly.
I think my grandparents have used up the one connection on their mobile
phone. It is simply no longer possible to get a reliable USB connection.
You have to try about 8 or 9 times. The connector is just useless...
>> I'm just wondering whether they actually did anything different at all
>> for the extra money, that's all.
>
> Well they must have done if they are guaranteeing it for critical use.
> If they didn't they risk being in a lot of trouble when things do fail
> (or maybe there is even some law that is relevant, I don't know). Are
> they ISO 9000 accredited?
That's the thing. I don't *think* the company in question is actually
guaranteeing it will work. They're just charging lots of money. We're
the ones who do all the calibration checking and so forth.
>> [Seriously - WTF does a mass spectrometer even have in it? It's just
>> an empty tube, some vacuum pumps, an electrode and some magnets. So is
>> my TV! Well, apart from the vacuum pumps anyway... And yet, my TV
>> doesn't cost more than a small housing estate. Wuh??]
>
> How many TVs do you think have been made in total? How many mass
> spectrometers?
If you were asking "particle accelerators", it would be a different
story. ;-) Mass spectrometers are fairly rare, but not all that rare.
Although obviously rarer than TVs.
> What do you think is the tolerance on TVs? Would you care if the green
> on the UK weather map looks a slightly different shade to your neighbour?
That might have something to do with it...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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