Asus eee Slate Broken Power Plug – BAD Engineering
The two of you who read my blog regularly (my mom and one of my dogs) know that I sometimes get up on a soapbox and start shouting about something. WELL here I go again. This time it’s about some really bad engineering that went into making the Asus EEE Slate power plug.
Whoever designed this plug should never work again. And Asus should replace every power supply they have ever sold free of charge with a newly designed one that can be fitted with a replaceable tip.
The tip of this plug is tiny, maybe 6mm, I don’t know. I haven’t measured it. BECAUSE IT’S BROKEN OFF AND LOST!!! This little tip is on the end of cable hardwired into a 60 watt power supply that costs $100 from the Asus online store.
The tiny little tip of this thing plugs into the side of the slate computer, you know, where it sticks out really far, and is really easy to knock off when you place it on its end, or when you SNEEZE too hard!
So the tip broke off. I went everywhere trying to find a similar tip. I’m handy with a soldering iron. I thought I’d just find a similar tip on another device and solder it onto the spliced cable from the Asus power supply. But guess what? IT’S A NON-STANDARD SIZE!! WHY!?
Why did Asus engineer this thing to break so easily, and then make it a non-standard size so I would have to buy a $100 power supply from them… OH WAIT! It’s so I would HAVE TO BUY A $100 POWER SUPPLY FROM THEM!!
Now I get it. It’s like buying a really cheap printer, then they stick you for those expensive ink cartridges later. BUT WAIT! This computer cost a BLOODY FORTUNE! So it’s not at all like buying a cheap printer. Never mind.
What it’s like, is exactly like Asus engineered this recurring revenue into their product. I’ll have to buy a new $100 power supply about every 6 months, or whenever the tiny hair-thin tip on this crappy power supply, exposed as if it had a sign on it, “BREAK ME!” breaks.
Oh I phoned their tech support. I phoned their online store. I wasted maybe an hour in their purpose-designed voicemail system, designed to keep me from actually talking to someone who might give a sh*t and provide a coupon code for a discount on a CRAPPY PRODUCT DESIGNED BY AN ENGINEER WHO SHOULD BE SHOT! OK, “shot” is too strong a word.
Go ahead, Asus. Charge my credit card for $126.99. You might as well just keep it on file, too. I’ll be needing another one of these the next time it breaks because someone SNEEZES!!!
