Laptops and notebooks have become part of everyday life for many people. But as a rule they remain, at least as far as the inner values are concerned, a closed book . Now that’s changing. Because you can repair this laptop without tools.
If you imagine a computer shop, there are usually a few stereotypes that are fulfilled: A nerdy PC mechanic talks in technical language about things that nobody understands but you urgently need. In addition, components and PCs such as laptops are stacked wildly behind the counter. And so far it has been these stores that have been the only ones who have been able to fix your old laptop. But that should change. Because Dell has a laptop up its sleeve that any kid can disassemble.
DELL WITH A NEW LAPTOP CONCEPT
The Luna project was just presented in the run-up to CES 2023 and wants to declare war on screws and cables. The laptop shown looks like any commercially available folding computer. But the trick is in some interesting details. This way you don’t disassemble the computer with precision engineering tools.
A small tool similar to a SIM card needle, only larger, opens part of the case. This is very easy and takes just a few seconds. Once you’ve done that, you can lift off the keyboard and the plate it’s embedded in. Then the interior and thus the individual components come to light. But the innovation doesn’t end there. Because Dell didn’t provide the components in the laptop with cables and screws. Instead, you can easily remove them from their slots without tools.
CONCEPT LUNA: COMPONENT REPLACEMENT MADE EASY
According to Dell, you can remove the speakers, hard drive, battery, motherboard and fan without turning a single screw. This makes repairing the laptop considerably easier by replacing the individual components. Sure, you still have to screw around on the circuit board for the processor, the graphics card or the RAM, but the “wearing parts” are easy to change.
And another component, which usually leads to the death of the laptop in the event of a defect, can be easily removed: the display. The same principle applies here: With the simple tool you open the housing of the laptop – this time on the lid, of course – and you can then unclip the display from the housing. Here, however, the first and basically only cable is hidden. But this is also connected to the lower part of the housing with a plug-in connection.
ONE CONCEPT SO FAR: IS THIS THE FUTURE?
More and more companies attach importance to repairability and sustainability. This can be seen on the one hand in smartphones like the Fairphone , on the other hand in the promises made by many tech giants to use more recycled material in laptops as well. The repairability of laptops used to be a matter for experts and has now become virtually impossible with the current Ultrabooks. Thus, the Concept Luna is an interesting approach on how to escape from the current ways. There will probably not be high-end models with this principle in the future, but the upgrade option in particular could lead to new impulses in business areas, education and inexpensive laptops. However, Dell has not revealed when that will be.
