jawafour wrote:In general, it seems that the older a console is the longer it'll last. Maybe it's because they have more in them, but newer consoles never feel very robust. Having said that, I think I read that "capacitors" only have a working lfe of around twenty years... I'm not knowledgeable about electronics, but does that mean that older machines would need to have these replaced at some point? Would that be possible/easy?
Capacitors are usually generic electronic components. As long as they don't leak and damage the traces on the circuit board, they can be replaced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLZygwZKBsIIf they leak, life gets a lot more complicated, but on simpler systems it's often possible to patch a bad trace with wire.