| Squilliam said: Yep the stick sucked however you could probably excuse them for being the first ones of of the gate with a new physical control scheme. The thing with RROD was that it struck nVidia, Sony, Microsoft and a whole slew of companies to a various degree. Whilst for instance Sony created a better console all phat PS3's will fail for the exact same reason as all Xbox 360's. Lead free solder is probably one of the worst things which happened to consumer electronics reliability in the history of consumer electronics. Even relatively modern designs will likely develop tin whiskers or fractures in the solder with time. Microsoft had one of the first new high power devices to come out with lead free solder and Sony had a years worth of design experience to draw upon. http://www.ecnmag.com/articles/2011/12/was-lead-free-solder-worth-effort ""Replacing tin-lead with pure tin is turning out to have been a huge mistake. There are two significant differences between lead-free assembly and lead-based assembly." "1. Lead-free assembly is not better for the environment, it is worse. The additional tin mining required to produce high-purity tin alloys, plus the mining of other precious metals required to alloy with tin in substitution for lead is a poor trade for the use of existing lead, much of which comes from recycled products. This information comes from a study conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The study undercuts the primary basis for RoHS. "2. Lead-free assembly is less reliable than lead-based assembly. The E.U. environmental commission admits this point. That's why they grant exceptions for military and high-reliability applications that still use SnPb solder. (Ref. 3) Microsoft was just as much a victim of circumstance as they were from their own ineptness at the time. Sony was also a victim of the same circumstance and hence the crappy reliability of the PS3 as well. |
Lead free solder is one of the most ridiculous decisions ever made and the reason we all have to now put up with shoddy electronic equipment that will be lucky to last 3-5 years unlike the past where devices would last decades. It's causing harm to the environment, consumers and retailers while not producing any tangible benefit at the moment.
