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increasing from $0.20 each to $0.24 each in the United States. To put that into perspective, in Q3 2025, HP sold 15,002,000 laptops and desktops
“This is pretty ridiculous, given these systems are $800+ a machine
I wonder how long the list of these fees for one machine is
Here's two brands I've not touched in decades. Keeping it that way.
What have you touched recently? Asking, because my Lenovo V14 thing is fine inside, but everything mechanical is crumbling in my hands.
Lenovo V series is cheap, prefer Thinkpads, especially T series. Used Thinkpads tend to still last a long time.
HP Pavilion and Dell Inspiron or whatever are also cheap and worse quality than the cheap Lenovos IMO. HP Elitebooks were fine last I touched them, years aho. Dell Latitude too, though bad models exist
It might be possible for you to replace the 'upper case / palmrest' (top section of your laptop with the keyboard and trackpad.)
Check the manual to see, buy a generic computer repair kit with basic tools to open a laptop case, buy a set of screws in bulk from aliexpress. The screw sizes may not have to match exactly, but it depends on the screw and location.
You could try following the manual during the repair, but I found it to be cumbersome and unnecessary. I was able to replace the upper case of my laptop in less than 15 minutes by just looking at it and removing what was in the way.
My problem is mostly with the moving parts and places with screws, all the plastic there is cracked and crumbling.
So it'd be more like replacing the whole "shell", which would make sense if I knew where one can buy that, LOL.
In the worst case? On ebay, as a "For parts/not working" model with a reasonably intact exterior. Might take a bit of patience.
You may be able to find the replacement parts on amazon or the manufacturer's website.
Look up replacement parts for your specific model and go from there.
Is it disabled in hardware, firmware or software? Does Linux enable it?
Anyone has a list of the Dell laptops? I have a Latitude 7350 Detachable with an intel core ultra 164U. I think I might be affected...but then again, I have it running KDE neon, so not sure if this is disabled at hardware level or if it will work on a different OS.
They're a business and they need to make money!
