India's "Frankenstein" laptops
April 7, 2025 7:29 PM Subscribe
Across India, in metro markets from Delhi’s Nehru Place to Mumbai’s Lamington Road, technicians like Prasad are repurposing broken and outdated laptops that many see as junk. These "Frankenstein” machines — hybrids of salvaged parts from multiple brands — are sold to students, gig workers, and small businesses, offering a lifeline to those priced out of India’s growing digital economy. (archive)
Yeah, I wouldn't want a laptop to kill my family and chase me to the Arctic Circle.
posted by BiggerJ at 11:25 PM on April 7 [7 favorites]
posted by BiggerJ at 11:25 PM on April 7 [7 favorites]
"Frankenpad" used to be, or maybe still is, what Thinkpad lovers called the results of certain types of DIY upgrades. Often a thing of envy!
“A college student or a freelancer can get a good machine for INR 10,000 [about $110 USD] instead of spending INR 70,000 [about $800 USD] on a brand-new one.
This stood out to me because I've literally bought great machines (ThinkPads....) for about $100 secondhand - in the US. But I can't access them like that where I live outside of the US, where you earn a lot less and it would be really helpful, because shipping and VAT more than double the price. (And hey, maybe with tariffs the days of cheap used laptops will be over in the US too...)
posted by trig at 1:09 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
“A college student or a freelancer can get a good machine for INR 10,000 [about $110 USD] instead of spending INR 70,000 [about $800 USD] on a brand-new one.
This stood out to me because I've literally bought great machines (ThinkPads....) for about $100 secondhand - in the US. But I can't access them like that where I live outside of the US, where you earn a lot less and it would be really helpful, because shipping and VAT more than double the price. (And hey, maybe with tariffs the days of cheap used laptops will be over in the US too...)
posted by trig at 1:09 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
The ASUS of Thesus.
posted by nanny's striped stocking at 1:22 AM on April 8 [9 favorites]
posted by nanny's striped stocking at 1:22 AM on April 8 [9 favorites]
This is really great and also a huge bummer. I hate that these guys are wrecking their health. I love that they’re enabling people to get the tools they need. I hate that it’s all a workaround to capitalism, because nobody can imagine any other way to do it.
And, the proprietary screws thing is everywhere. My husband lost a screw out of his eyeglasses, some pretty old ray bans. He bought a couple screw box kits of many various sized screws, the shank diameter increasing by even increments. You guessed it — the ray ban screw has an odd sized shank of a diameter you couldn’t buy retail. Fortunately, the eyeglass shop replaced it.
posted by toodleydoodley at 6:29 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
And, the proprietary screws thing is everywhere. My husband lost a screw out of his eyeglasses, some pretty old ray bans. He bought a couple screw box kits of many various sized screws, the shank diameter increasing by even increments. You guessed it — the ray ban screw has an odd sized shank of a diameter you couldn’t buy retail. Fortunately, the eyeglass shop replaced it.
posted by toodleydoodley at 6:29 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
Maybe we’ll get to this point in the US, too. All it takes is the price of electronics to go way up relative to the price of labor. I’ve often thought that’s where we’re headed eventually, when the bubbles underpinning our economy burst, but Trump is really immanentizing that so maybe it will be next week. Some day we won’t be able to afford so much waste and will have to make do. That’s not all bad.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:17 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:17 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
Akshually Frankenstein was the name of the vendor
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:19 AM on April 8 [13 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:19 AM on April 8 [13 favorites]
The street finding new ways to revive old tech feels very William Gibson, BTW. It's nice we also get some of the cool parts of cyberpunk in the hellish dystopia we've built.
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:20 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:20 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
star gentle uterus > The street finding new ways to revive old tech feels very William Gibson, BTW. It's nice we also get some of the cool parts of cyberpunk in the hellish dystopia we've built.
Was just pondering on Gibson as a prophet (a notion which annoys him) and how today's world has become entirely too cyberpunk. Corporate domination, me playing with (possibly soon to be samizdat) 'AI' models, recent news of work towards genetic resurrection of lost animals (Dire Wolves not being *it* yet, but certainly a step in that direction), and so on and so on.
We got a lot of the bad points, but where's my neural boost and cranial cyberdeck? Glassholes need not apply ; - )
posted by Enturbulated at 7:50 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
Was just pondering on Gibson as a prophet (a notion which annoys him) and how today's world has become entirely too cyberpunk. Corporate domination, me playing with (possibly soon to be samizdat) 'AI' models, recent news of work towards genetic resurrection of lost animals (Dire Wolves not being *it* yet, but certainly a step in that direction), and so on and so on.
We got a lot of the bad points, but where's my neural boost and cranial cyberdeck? Glassholes need not apply ; - )
posted by Enturbulated at 7:50 AM on April 8 [3 favorites]
Are these the same dudes that are making all those Boardview layouts for everything? Every time I watch someone do a motherboard repair these days, they seem to dig up a boardview, greatly increasing the efficiency of repairs. I always figured they were graymarket affairs passed around repair shops in non-first world places. But if anyone actually knows...
posted by Rhomboid at 7:50 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
posted by Rhomboid at 7:50 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
can get a good machine for INR 10,000 [about $110 USD] instead of spending INR 70,000 [about $800 USD] on a brand-new one.
Those prices surprised me too. Are prices that much higher in India than the US? You can get a serviceable used Chromebook for $40 or Windows laptop for $60, and a new Windows laptop for $139. Or are the machines they are putting together more powerful?
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:37 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
Those prices surprised me too. Are prices that much higher in India than the US? You can get a serviceable used Chromebook for $40 or Windows laptop for $60, and a new Windows laptop for $139. Or are the machines they are putting together more powerful?
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:37 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
Please- "Modern Prometheus" laptops.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:48 AM on April 8 [4 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:48 AM on April 8 [4 favorites]
Are prices that much higher in India than the US?
I don't know about India specifically, but I think one of the interesting things about the tariff madness is that most Americans aren't aware of how drastically cheaper many imported products can be in the US than in much of the world - including countries with way lower average incomes.
The US had it really, really good.
posted by trig at 9:31 AM on April 8 [5 favorites]
I don't know about India specifically, but I think one of the interesting things about the tariff madness is that most Americans aren't aware of how drastically cheaper many imported products can be in the US than in much of the world - including countries with way lower average incomes.
The US had it really, really good.
posted by trig at 9:31 AM on April 8 [5 favorites]
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