Thing people who think it'll be a bubble don't seem to be understanding is that before China and India weren't big players in tech bubbles. Part of the reason for the enormous capital investment in US AI is fear of both nations. At the end of the day the elites see AI infrastructure as something that can always be pivoted towards the military thru tax outlays/deficit spending (and given their confidence that they control Western politics with their wealth, why would they doubt?). AI is an arms race, not a speculative service.

The problem is that all this AI infrastructure is not like the fiber from the dot com bubble, which became really useful for the speed improvements that came later. These nVidia chips have an estimate lifetime of 3 to 5 years, after that they have to be replaced with new ones either because of end-of-life or obsolescence, and considering they are the most expensive part of the whole thing it should be very costly to keep things running, especially if they're not making any profit and hardware prices keep increasing.

All this is assuming most of these data centers are actually built, which I very much doubt given how people are reacting and the complete bullshit claims of tech bros such as "data centers in space".

When people say this is a bubble, they mean this technology is wildly overvalued, not that it's useless. I'm not very impressed by it, but I recognize it has its uses, however none of them justify the ridiculous investment. Heck, it's even uncertain that any of these AI companies will ever be able to make any consistent profit. What I agree with is that I just don't see the bubble popping any time soon, the big tech companies (Google, Amazon, Microsoft) can easily keep burning money for a while as they have very effective sources of revenue (cloud, ads, etc.), the AI grift must continue!

lti wrote on 2026-06-21, 00:46:

How old can a laptop get before it isn't worth upgrading because the battery is old and no replacements are available?

The laptop can always be used with AC power even if a new battery is not available or manufactured. The real problem is how hard is that laptop to take apart and put back together after its CMOS battery dies. Some are nearly impossible to dismantel and put back together again, just to replace a small lithium 2016 or 2032 or pin batery.

18650 Li-ion and some battery holders. I have two old laptops that use 1.44V & 14.8V. That's 4 in series, and probably 2 sets in parallel. 19V might be harder because 5 cells = 18V nominal, 6 cells = 21.6 nominal. Does anyone know what 19V nominal for laptops really means? I suppose you'd need one that's in good working order to test under load.

Case it up and connect using the power plug if need be.

Personally, I don't take these old things out anyway.

zyzzle wrote on 2026-06-22, 06:39:

lti wrote on 2026-06-21, 00:46:

How old can a laptop get before it isn't worth upgrading because the battery is old and no replacements are available?

The laptop can always be used with AC power even if a new battery is not available or manufactured. The real problem is how hard is that laptop to take apart and put back together after its CMOS battery dies. Some are nearly impossible to dismantel and put back together again, just to replace a small lithium 2016 or 2032 or pin batery.

I've not run into any laptop that was "almost impossible" to disassemble and put back together.

And if you are replacing the coin cell battery, you can usually extend the leads and/or replace the tac welded to leads with a battery holder if there is even a little bit of space.

I've even done that on a NAS before that used a tiny battery. Removed the original battar and added leads and a cr2032 holder in an easy to reach place.

Just because the original design is stupid, doesn't mean it can't be fixed fairly easily.

It depends.

Things like MS Surface tablets are notoriously hard to open safely.

Observe.
https://youtu.be/xaJXQ3d0neQ?is=DvrIWtRDgF0l3IGM

wierd_w wrote on 2026-06-22, 15:38:

It depends. […]
Show full quote

It depends.

Things like MS Surface tablets are notoriously hard to open safely.

Observe.
https://youtu.be/xaJXQ3d0neQ?is=DvrIWtRDgF0l3IGM

That is a tablet, not a regular laptop as was specified in the previous post.

Some laptops are built similarly, with sticky tape and glue being what holds it together.

I'm not a fan.

wierd_w wrote on 2026-06-22, 16:05:

Some laptops are built similarly, with sticky tape and glue being what holds it together.

I'm not a fan.

Such as Apple and a some super lowe end ones from other manufacturers.

Those are also the ones that tend to have soldered in RAM and SSDs. They are basically throw away machines once they have issues outside of warranty.

I've not run into any that I would bother owning that have the base glued together.

Laptop: disassembly level guide.
L1: you have hands and eyes.
L2: you have the hands and eyes to find M2x2.5 screws under rubber plugs and not drop them everywhere and keep them in order in case there are longer ones.
L3: you know what a spudger is.
L4: you have a temperature controlled heatgun and infinite patience.

BitWrangler wrote on 2026-06-23, 01:59:

Laptop: disassembly level guide. L1: you have hands and eyes. L2: you have the hands and eyes to find M2x2.5 screws under rubber […]
Show full quote

Laptop: disassembly level guide.
L1: you have hands and eyes.
L2: you have the hands and eyes to find M2x2.5 screws under rubber plugs and not drop them everywhere and keep them in order in case there are longer ones.
L3: you know what a spudger is.
L4: you have a temperature controlled heatgun and infinite patience.

L10: You have no chill but have a sledge hammer and plenty of anger to vent.

Naw, before then, it's

'You use the heatgun, the suction cup, the spudgers, and the adhesive removal jig to open the lid, only to find the OEM gave you a final gesture of 'good will' by liberally applying black epoxy to prevent component removal/replacement.'

That's when you go to disassembly lv 10.

wierd_w wrote on 2026-06-23, 13:25:

Naw, before then, it's

'You use the heatgun, the suction cup, the spudgers, and the adhesive removal jig to open the lid, only to find the OEM gave you a final gesture of 'good will' by liberally applying black epoxy to prevent component removal/replacement.'

That's when you go to disassembly lv 10.

At that point once I'm done with the laptop I'm going Baba Yaga on the OEM.

BitWrangler wrote on 2026-06-23, 01:59:

Laptop: disassembly level guide. L1: you have hands and eyes. L2: you have the hands and eyes to find M2x2.5 screws under rubber […]
Show full quote

Laptop: disassembly level guide.
L1: you have hands and eyes.
L2: you have the hands and eyes to find M2x2.5 screws under rubber plugs and not drop them everywhere and keep them in order in case there are longer ones.
L3: you know what a spudger is.
L4: you have a temperature controlled heatgun and infinite patience.

For newer laptops (at least most made within the last 8-10+ years), all the screw holes are labeled with the size and length of screws. Also, for the bottom case, most have captive screws as well.

For not glued together laptops, it has gotten way easier to work on them vs what they were like back in the Pentium III and before days.

TheMobRules wrote on 2026-06-22, 01:58:

The problem is that all this AI infrastructure is not like the fiber from the dot com bubble, which became really useful for the speed improvements that came later. These nVidia chips have an estimate lifetime of 3 to 5 years, after that they have to be replaced with new ones either because of end-of-life or obsolescence, and considering they are the most expensive part of the whole thing it should be very costly to keep things running, especially if they're not making any profit and hardware prices keep increasing.

All this is assuming most of these data centers are actually built, which I very much doubt given how people are reacting and the complete bullshit claims of tech bros such as "data centers in space".

When people say this is a bubble, they mean this technology is wildly overvalued, not that it's useless. I'm not very impressed by it, but I recognize it has its uses, however none of them justify the ridiculous investment. Heck, it's even uncertain that any of these AI companies will ever be able to make any consistent profit. What I agree with is that I just don't see the bubble popping any time soon, the big tech companies (Google, Amazon, Microsoft) can easily keep burning money for a while as they have very effective sources of revenue (cloud, ads, etc.), the AI grift must continue!

if those high price nvidea chips are borderline "consumables" then its troubling indeed, like you say - this isn't infrastructure that lasts. The whole data center thing is also simultaneously behind all the "cloud services" businesses are signing up to, all the vast social media and streaming and all the other stuff as well as ai training and 'services', its just expanding everywhere. the world is going full mainframe & terminals!

What is old always becomes new again.

By the same token, once that future appears, the value of personal computing will become obvious, and game changing again. (You just have to go through the suckage first.)

Interesting news about the value is SpaceX coming down?

ElectroSoldier wrote on Today, 11:42:

Interesting news about the value is SpaceX coming down?

is this the beginning of a bubble bursting, or just deflating in stages over time? we'll have to wait i guess. it'll speed up attempts to "realize value" maybe, also known as enshittification! Not sure it'll do much to reduce ram and general hardware prices in next 12 months though

gerry wrote on Today, 12:14:

ElectroSoldier wrote on Today, 11:42:

Interesting news about the value is SpaceX coming down?

is this the beginning of a bubble bursting, or just deflating in stages over time? we'll have to wait i guess. it'll speed up attempts to "realize value" maybe, also known as enshittification! Not sure it'll do much to reduce ram and general hardware prices in next 12 months though

Not sure, it floated to market at $160.95 per share went up to $201.80 4 days later then dropped to $154.60 6 days later.
Its meandering around the $152.00 level right now.

As expected the new normal...again
Micron Locks In Historically High Memory Prices For Five Years
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/06/25/ … -for-five-years