jrothwell97's Journal: The long hardware lives of yesteryear - what happened?

Around six months ago, my old HP Deskjet 500 printer died. I'd had it for 10 years, and someone else had it before me. So, all in all, the printer's probably two or three years older than me.
After the sad death of the printer, I got a very cheap Lexmark Z617 (£30, probably around US$50). It worked fine for around a week. After that, I started getting banding and bad print quality. Around five months down the line, the machine died just outside the 90-day warranty.
To replace it, last week I got a Canon Pixma MP150 for £65. This shows no sign of breaking down and is built sturdily. (The Lexmark machine was rather tacky.)
So what affected the printer? It was obviously made cheaply, and the manual was very short (and badly translated). The old HP machine and my new printer both have extensive manuals, are well made and good value for money. The Canon machine even had five sheets of photo paper bundled with it.
So, there is only one thing we can do about 'disposable' hardware, as it is becoming: stop buying it. I prefer to spend £200 on something that will last five years than £30 on something that will last three months.
And one word to the manufacturers: do it properly, or we're not interested.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
-Einstein