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Question about how laptops, computers and iPhones are made

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  • 16-03-2015 2:14am
    #1
    carlowplayer
    Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭


    When an laptop is produced is all components produced in the same factory. Ie are lcd screens made in the same place as motherboards and harddrives and keyboards and other peripherals and casings etc. is this the same as PCs and iphones are the components produced in the factories they are assembled in? Also are PCs made in the same place as laptops?are iphones made In the same place as Apple tablets?


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    #2
    Alanstrainor
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 23,157 Mod ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    No.

    Almost all components will be produced in a variety of factories. Screens, hard disks, processors, RAM etc would all be produced in different facilities and ordered in when a manufacturer is producing a new laptop.


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    #3
    carlowplayer
    Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭carlowplayer


    Alanstrainor wrote: »
    No.

    Almost all components will be produced in a variety of factories. Screens, hard disks, processors, RAM etc would all be produced in different facilities and ordered in when a manufacturer is producing a new laptop.

    My question is it more efficient ie less wasteful of energy to have all componants produced in the same factory where it is assembled or is producing them in a different factories better despite having to transport them large distances


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    #4
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,166 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    You'd have to have a factory the size of a country to fab everything in one place.

    HDDs and panels(screens) are made in south east asia to a large degree. Cores are fab'd in a few places including Lexlip and everything else is good old china.

    These components are usually high value compared to their size and weight. If we can import all our cars from asia its no biggie to move 50,000 CPUs in one shipping container from one plant to another.


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    #5
    carlowplayer
    Registered Users Posts: 519 ✭✭✭carlowplayer


    ED E wrote: »
    You'd have to have a factory the size of a country to fab everything in one place.

    HDDs and panels(screens) are made in south east asia to a large degree. Cores are fab'd in a few places including Lexlip and everything else is good old china.

    These components are usually high value compared to their size and weight. If we can import all our cars from asia its no biggie to move 50,000 CPUs in one shipping container from one plant to another.

    Really the size of a country? that big for the construction of a laptop ? Am actually quite suprised


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    #6
    mordeith
    Registered Users Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    carlowplayer wrote: »
    Really the size of a country? that big for the construction of a laptop ? Am actually quite suprised

    That was a figure of speech but surely you see the point. The different tooling required for manufacture of everything from capacitors to HDDs would be ridiculous.


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    #7
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    Theres only a small amount of companys that make ram, cpu,s , hard drives , ipad video displays .
    Samsung ,and apple make most of their own cpus.
    ITS not practical to have 1 large building where hardrive,s and cpu,s ,and screens ,
    are made.
    There,s 1 or 2 companys which make ipads,
    eg they assemble all the components together .
    eg 1 or 2 companys get the contract to make screens for the iphone .BUT there might be 10 companys who make the parts that go into an ipad.
    Apple even buys some chips from samsung ,
    as there s a limited amount of asian companys that make ram,
    video card chips etc .
    eg company x might get the contract to make ram for the iphone 6 .
    eg different companys bid on contracts to supply miilions of components for say, the latest surface tablet.

    Samsung makes a lot of screens, cpu,s ,ram ships etc
    which it uses in phones ,or sells to other companys .

    Apple can get good prices on ram etc cos it makes millions of each model,
    and it only has a small range of phones ,tablets to produce.
    whereas samsung seems to have a least 10-15 different models of smartphones on sale at any 1 time .


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    #8
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Foxconn assemble nearly everything...


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    #9
    degsie
    Registered Users Posts: 8,740 ✭✭✭degsie


    ED E wrote: »
    Cores are fab'd in a few places including Lexlip and everything else is good old china.
    While the die substrate may be made in one location, the wafer cutting, testing and encapsulation may be made in a variety of different locations.


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    #10
    Bob24
    Registered Users Posts: 10,905 ✭✭✭✭Bob24


    carlowplayer wrote: »
    Really the size of a country? that big for the construction of a laptop ? Am actually quite suprised

    The size and flexibility of China's supply chain really is reaching a scale never seen before.

    You have assembly factories dedicated to computers or phones which are employing hundred of thousands of workers per factory, who are all living on site. And that is just for the final assembly - nothing related to the production of the parts. Put all the people who are involved a some stage of the supply chain for Apple laptops on the same site, and you will end up with a very large city.

    Also to answer the original question, aside from (maybe) Samsung, pretty much no company has technical capabilities to produce all the components required for a laptop. Producing a CPU is quite different from producing a LCD display or a battery. Moreover, because you know how to produce these components doesn't mean you have the expertise to put all of them toghether in a way that makes a good laptop.


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