My 5yo netbook is no etchasketch.  Without getting into OS debates, this &quot;old&quot; machine boots up and gets my presentation to the projector faster than any off-the-shelf apple&#x2F;MS machine.  5years is nothing for a digital machine.  Capacitors can and do last far longer.  They cost pennies, not even, fractions of pennies.  If iPads are failing because of such fundamental components then apple has questions to answer.<p>256mb belongs in the 90s, not 2010.  This machine came with 1gb and upgraded a couple years ago with a ssd and 4gb of memory.  And anyone who travels will tell you that having an oldschool VGA output is very useful.  The average conference-hall projector is far older than the average portable.  One less adapter is one less thing to loose.<p>You don&#x27;t have to &quot;open source&quot; designs.  Look at what car companies do.  They maintain a supply of spares and they license out designs they don&#x27;t want to build themselves.  That&#x27;s what people expect from car companies.<p>Throwing working machines in the trash simply because they are scratched or fail to keep pace with fashion is wasteful vanity.