Not really. However, as a long-time Mac and Apple fan, I can say the community has a lot of overly aggressive people who can't stand any criticism (valid or not) of Apple and will do various things in retaliation.
No it just reads as kinda paranoid because li-ion cells typically become spicy pillows long after the device becomes obsolete. It's also trivial to avoid by limiting cell voltage. Many devices, most notably iPhones, automatically go into kiosk mode after charging for a few days for exactly this reason: https://support.apple.com/en-gu/HT208710
Definitely disagree. My own anecdotal evidence is that many many laptops left plugged in 24/7 will develop a spicy pillow after a year or two. That includes a set of Apple laptops and hundreds of Dell laptops.
Definitely a bit paranoid - even if I'd prefer to call it robust :)
I've had very bad luck in this regard... but haven't honestly used a laptop in probably a decade. I was pleasantly surprised to see my latest (dust-collecting) Lenovo will stop somewhere around 80%!
Point being, sure - there are safety things... but batteries are consumables. I like these things to be easy-to-replace!
I find these being difficult to replace accelerates this pattern of obsoleting. CPUs and (especially disks) tend to pack plenty of punch/life, these days - well beyond the mechanical/chemical things they depend on.
Something to ponder - these chips may see particularly long use, being so power efficient. The utility bill won't be such a driver, sipping power and parallelizing decently.
How does one make sure that removable, consumable, high capacity batteries are not discarded as trash but instead taken to the proper facilities to handle them?
Respectfully, today people just chuck the entire phone/laptop in the bin. I don’t think making the battery module removable changes the outcome one bit, except that it would allow a tremendous amount more life out of these devices, reducing all the other (non-battery) waste streams and reducing the environmentally costly manufacture of new devices…. which is the reason why the shareholders love the current strategy and why all electronic manufacturers are moving the same way. Why allow users to get 3 more years of life from their laptop when you could convince them it’s e-waste after 3 because of a $15 battery?
Is the dichotomy here really that we can either have modular batteries, or we can have more intact waste trucks and workers?
However, having just taken an entire stroller out of my shared duplex recycling bin, I know there will never be an ethical way to get 100% of people to care enough to dispose of waste properly.
Having things that are have special handling for disposal not be as user serviceable is one solution... but that goes against the replaceable battery.
The AA lithium ion batteries getting tossed into the trash and setting garbage trucks on fire are problematic enough. The energy capacity of a cell phone is quite a bit more and correspondingly more spectacular in the combustion.
> USA Today reports that 65 percent of fires at waste facilities in California were started by lithium-ion batteries. In a 2018 survey of 21 waste facilities across California, 86 percent reported a fire at their facility in the last two years, according to the California Products Stewardship Council (CPSC). Of those fires, 56 percent were attributed to batteries, with the remainder attributed to “traditional hazards of combustibles.” In other words, batteries are causing more fires than the oils, fuels, and other hazardous materials of waste management—combined.
I was replying to a question on why one wouldn't "just get a MB Air/not use the screen"... not the article.
How is this relevant? I don't say this to be rude, but this internet phenomenon of relentless pedantry is annoying.
Things tend to make [some degree of] sense when your first reaction isn't to shoot from the hip.
Mains batteries exist - most people should save the effort, get a UPS. Hackers on the other hand... it's kind of silly to ask why. The answer is 'because'.
An external/easily replaceable battery would be excellent come time to deal with cell age