jsims@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (J. Robert Sims) (02/20/91)
There are several reasons to not socket any chips:
1. Size - sockets are large
2. Availability - surface mount sockets aren't the most common beasts. Through
hole sockets would cost a lot in production if the rest of the
board is surface mounted.
3. Reliability - sockets are probably the second least reliable part of a
machine like this one (keyboard number 1). Soldered parts are
_much_ more reliable.
4. The HP48sx probably costs under $50 to produce (no software development).
I'll bet that reasons 1 and 3 were the major factors in deciding to not
socket the ROMs. The reason the case is sealed so well is reliability,
not to keep you out of it. If the case had to be sealed for reliability
anyway, why bother socketing the ROM?
I'm just glad that HP offers the upgrade for free. Why should we criticize
HP's design decisions when it doesn't really affect us? It would be nice to
not lose the use of the calc for a week, but I'd rather lose it for a week
than have it die a couple of years down the road.
Rob