Refresh Computers Tech Talk
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Refresh Computers Tech Talk
06-07-26 Humanoid Robots For Sale
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Humanoid robots are no longer a “someday” product, they’re showing up in real shopping carts with real price tags. We walk through what you actually get when a humanoid robot costs $18,000 to $20,000, starting with the Unitree G1 and the sensors that try to keep it upright and aware, like depth cameras and 3D LiDAR. We also talk candidly about the gap between flashy demos and everyday home reality, including the risks of falls, stairs, and how much trust you should place in a machine that’s still learning its way around the world.
We then compare that to the next wave of home assistant robots, including the 1X NEO, and why the idea of monthly AI updates is both exciting and unsettling. If your car can feel different after an over-the-air update, what happens when the same update lands on a robot that folds laundry, carries items, or moves around your house? We also dig into the robot subscription model and the uncomfortable question of whether features could become paywalled by task over time.
After all the robot talk, we bring it back to what people need right now: dependable computer repair, real troubleshooting, and the right to repair movement sweeping across the US. We explain why being able to fix what you own matters for your wallet, your freedom to choose local repair, and the planet through reduced e-waste. Finally, we share a practical Wi-Fi security tip that pays off immediately: use your router’s guest network to isolate smart home and IoT devices from the laptops and phones that hold your most important data. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review with the tech topic you want us to tackle next.
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Welcome And What’s Coming
SPEAKER_01Hey there, and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073 FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, President and Founder of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have a comment during the show, use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website at refreshcomputers.net or stop at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434. Just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And now for David Levitt and Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_02All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to this Sunday morning edition of Tech Talk with Refresh Computers.
Buying Humanoid Robots Right Now
SPEAKER_02We've got a really cool show today. We're going to talk about robots. And if you're in the market for a robot, a humanoid robot, we are going to tell you where you can buy one, how much they're going to cost, what their features are, what they can do, what they can't do. We're going to have a whole segment on that. It's going to be fun. We're going to then talk about you know the fact that, hey, all these robots that are coming out, they still can't fix that laptop yet. So but we can at Refresh Computers still takes a human being for that. So we'll be talking a little bit about our capabilities in that area. And then we're going to talk about the right to repair and how it's sweeping across America right now and why you should be able to fix your own stuff. Right? I mean, you should just be able to do that if you have the hankering to do so. And then we'll finish the show off today with your Wi-Fi router's secret weapon. And what is that? It's the guest network. We'll talk about how and why you should get that set up as soon as possible. And so back to robots, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This was this was something I had to look up because I just I couldn't believe it. And it's available right now for purchase.
SPEAKER_02You can buy your own human humanoid robot. And you know, and so there's several options actually. There's one main option that's like ready right now on Amazon. If you really want to go and and buy a robot and see what it can do for you, of course it's Amazon.
SPEAKER_00If there's anything that's going to be available, it's always available on Amazon.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's from a Chinese company. It's called Unitry, is the name of the company, and they are selling a walking programmable human humanoid robot. It's called the G1. It costs about 18 grand right now. And so, and some of the things that it can do, I'm reading right from the Amazon web website. You know, it stands at about four feet four inches tall. It weighs about 77 pounds. So, you know, it's a little guy. But it's but it's gonna walk around and do, you know, walk walking human robot things. It's constructed with aerospace grade aluminum alloy with carbon fiber. So there's a lot of carbon fiber alloys out there and vehicles and stuff like that, but this robot has its own and features a full joint hollow internal wiring system, dual encoders. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. Not one encoder, Adam. It has two. Has two of them. Why not four? I don't know what the encoders do.
SPEAKER_00I I think it's it's it's an internal way to basically process stuff. So it's got a a main one that processes like vision and what it's doing. Maybe that secondary one is just fact-checking the first one.
SPEAKER_02Well, it could be like an agent.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of robotic agents that that work like that to make sure that the first one is doing what it's supposed to, and if it fails, the second one can pick up instantly. So there's no there's no risk.
SPEAKER_02Well, and it has its own localized air cooling system, right? So it ensures high operational precision, stability, and resistance to impact from falls.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Sounds like something I need.
SPEAKER_02So it has 23 joint degrees of freedom. So it has six joints per leg, five joints per arm. It offers an extensive range of motion, right? For safety, it currently supports basic movements like walking, rotating, even handshake with plans to expand the movement library via online updates. Over the air. Over the air updates that you can do with your your robot.
SPEAKER_00Now, this is this is something that's just crazy to me, but I've always known that China has kind of really dominated this market lately with their robotics, with and especially humanoid robotics.
SPEAKER_02They are certainly projecting that they are.
SPEAKER_01They are yeah, you know that's a that's a great point. They certainly project that image.
SPEAKER_00They're showing a lot more, but you don't know really where they are fully because I've seen before that a lot of these humanoid robots that you know a lot of companies do showcase. End of the day, they've got they've got a puppet master behind the scenes, actually controlling it by a bodysuit.
SPEAKER_02That's that's what I mean. Yeah, they're projecting that they are so who knows, you know, when when you see it, well, you know what, you want to spend what what 18 grand?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 18, 20 grand, I imagine.
SPEAKER_01For this thing, it can be cheap to ship air air-grade aluminum, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, the robot also has a depth camera, right? And 3D LIDAR. We've talked about LIDAR before. Right. A lot of cars have LIDAR.
SPEAKER_01But is it more Tesla or is it more Waymo? Because Waymo gets stuck in floods. So that's true.
SPEAKER_00That's very true.
SPEAKER_02It drives right through Peso. It rides right into it.
SPEAKER_00And that's that's that's a big you know difference, is there, you know, you have full vision, which I know Tesla's Optimus robot is going to be using, but then you have this one from Unitree, which is you know using a combination of vision and lidar. And what I've seen from my past research, when you combine the two, they work great. Pretty good. But you have one fact-checking the other. If you have, you know, maybe LIDAR gets confused about something, what happens? You know, does it react to the LIDAR input or does it fix itself because through vision it says, oh, the LIDAR is wrong? Right. You know, there's there's questions of that. And I think that's gonna be a big thing with these robots as they become more, you know, readily available in our in our homes of what they're gonna be used for, but what the risks are as well. Right.
SPEAKER_01Like, are you willing for an $18,000 robot to fall down your stairs to be the trial on the room? Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, let's just see if it can climb these stairs. Nah, not me. First of all, I wouldn't buy a $20,000 robot. Not not today's robots, anyway.
SPEAKER_00If I had the capital, I think I'd do it, honestly. I just I know I love this technology. We don't have one. So, you know, it's and that's again drive it to work with them. Exactly. I'd have it in the passenger seat with me. That's right.
SPEAKER_02I'll drive to work with you.
SPEAKER_00You know, there, but again, it's not just this Chinese company Unitree doing it. We've got Tesla that's making their Optimus robot. We've got Figure, I think they're making the Figure Three. We also have X1X making their Neo robot. Yeah. So there are a lot of companies that are getting into the game, but again, the the the one from Unitree was the one that's kind of shown the most so far publicly.
SPEAKER_02Publicly and actually for for for sale. Yeah. And you bought brought up the 1x Neo. So this is a cool robot. I I'm kind of like if I was good to buy a robot, I might lean towards this one, although it's not available just yet. The owner or the the people who make the 1x Neo are the same people that operate open AI, right? It's OpenAI, ChatGPT, it's it's that company. And they already have over 10,000 pre-orders. So if you want one, you can go to one x dot tech slash neo N E O. One X dot T E C H slash Neo N E O. And you can go there and it's a really cool website. You should check it out anyway. You can see what this robot's doing. It's and and in the background and and and and how it's helping, you know, with laundry and helping them do all kinds of household chores. Uh, you know, they have all this video of it doing that right there on that one x dot tech slash neo website. And they expect to be able to deliver that by the end of this year, by the end of 2026. Um so it's uh pretty, pretty cool thing. And some of the features that the NEO has. So, first of all, they're touting that it's engineered from the ground up for safety and domestic assistance. So it's made for your home.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's not made for a factory, it's not made for anything else.
SPEAKER_00It's not a factory robot retrofitted to be in a home.
SPEAKER_02It's a little bit taller and a little bit lighter than the United, the Chinese robot. It's five foot six inches tall and it weighs 66 pounds. So not bad. It can lift up to 154 pounds. That's impressive. That's pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_00That is pretty good. And you and you don't have to worry about it hurting its back doing it either. That's right.
SPEAKER_02Well, it lifting weight. Now, actually carrying it and walking with it, it's 55 pounds, but still impressive. Yep. Impressive. It can walk with 55 pounds.
SPEAKER_00Soon is the day that we're gonna have moving companies ran by these autonomous robots that can just walk your boxes into your house from your U-Haul.
SPEAKER_02That's what I'm envisioning right now with that. And compare it to the Unitry for the Chinese company that's selling on Amazon right now. That Unitree robot has about a two-hour battery life. Yeah, the battery life in the NEO is double that. Yeah, it's like four hours of active runtime. So, and guess what else it'll do? It's just like your little robot vacuum cleaner. When it senses that it's going getting low on battery, it walks right to its charging dock and plugs itself in.
SPEAKER_01I don't like any of this. All of what you've described to me, I get it. I I see I see where everybody wants to go with it, but I prefer my robots to only be able to do backflips. That's about all I want to do. Oh, yeah, like the like the Atlas robot. Yeah. Boston Dynamics. That everybody thought that was cutting edge. I thought I don't want my robots to do much more than that. I don't want to have to fight my robot when he decides that he doesn't want to go back to his driver. That's right. When he decides that these dishes, they're terrible. I don't like your taste in dishes, Greg. I'm gonna have to fight somebody.
SPEAKER_00I like the idea of you know having these in-home because, you know, setting your robot off to go fold your laundry, that'd be great. But again, two-hour battery life, you know, there's not much it can achieve before it's got to go charge. And how long is that charge gonna take, too?
SPEAKER_02Well, and you know, another impressive thing about the NEO is the processor that it uses, right? Its brain is a NVIDIA. We talked about NVIDIA yesterday a lot. Yeah, and NVIDIA has a what they call the Jetson Thor. It's a CPU that it uses that heck, it's built in large language models for voice interaction, right? It's called the 1X Neo Cortex, is what they're they're calling it. So kind of cool. Now, if you want to buy one, what's it gonna set you back?
SPEAKER_00I can't I don't even want to think about the number.
SPEAKER_02This one is also in the $20,000 range. Okay. So it includes the Neo unit, also monthly AI updates, because it's needs a you know regular update because it's a it's a robot, right? And and you know they're gonna always be updating these things. And it gives you access to what they're calling expert mode. I don't want to know what that is. I can't.
SPEAKER_00I I can imagine it's some sort of developer mode that lets you, you know, maybe dictate and and code out what you want it to do yourself. Yeah. But you know, thinking it thinking about this, it's it's got me just running it in my head now because my experience, at least with you know, these over-the-air updates in my car with how it's it's self-driving is is every time there's an update, it changes a little bit how it drives. Maybe it favors hugging a side of a lane, maybe it's a little more responsive to doing a lane change. I wonder how these are going to be impacted on these kinds of robots, because if you have a robot that, you know, for sure it folds your laundry exactly how you want, and then an update's pushed, and the next day you wake up and now suddenly it's throwing the laundry out the window because it doesn't like the color shirt that you have. Telling you, you know, maybe I don't I don't know what to expect out of that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm starting to get pulling them on the bicep, right? You are.
SPEAKER_02You are. I don't know. I I think a lot of people will go for it. Now, if you don't want to spend twenty thousand dollars outright for the Neo, yeah, you don't have to. They actually have a subscription model, it's five hundred bucks a month. And you can just subscribe and get yours. You're basically a lease, you're leasing a robot. And so if you want to order yours, you can do it now. You can go ahead and and and get your it's a refundable deposit of 200 bucks, is all it's gonna cost you to place your order for one. They haven't shipped yet, they're gonna be shipping towards the end of the year, so they say. So, but they if you want to secure your place in line for the NEO, you go to that one X website, which is onex.tech slash Neo, and you can sign up right there, spend your $200, and you have secured your place in their delivery queue.
SPEAKER_00I now a little food for thought I have for you, Greg, and you, Dave. Because now that now that uh Dave brought it up, subscription models. We talked about that, I believe, last not last week, but the week before that. What kind of subscription model do you maybe are these companies going to push into these robots? Maybe you know it's not gonna fold your laundry unless you pay an extra $20 a month for like a downloadable update on it. Maybe maybe they call it allowance, not a subscription.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, maybe you have to pay it by the task it's gonna do. Who knows? I I hope not.
SPEAKER_00I hope not either. But again, you know, after what I've seen with the changeover to subscriptions, who knows what they're gonna do anymore?
SPEAKER_02Well, hey,
Factory Robots And Real-World Risks
SPEAKER_02look, we're almost out of time for this segment, but I have to get in the figure three. The figure three, if you haven't heard of that robot, that's mostly a factory robot, but they they are in production, and figure three is the company that actually already has a manufacturing plant where the robots are building the robots.
SPEAKER_00Nope, there it is. That's what we were worried about, Greg.
SPEAKER_02That's happening already. So figures robot factory is building the brand new robot that they're putting in these factories. I uh there's actually one somewhere in the southeast. I'll have to look it up real quick. Uh, they're building a robot every 90 minutes in this factory built. You know, they're building robots.
SPEAKER_01I feel like I heard they're in South Carolina, right?
SPEAKER_02They are in South Carolina, actually. It's a BMW car plant in South Carolina where the Figure 3 robots are already working commercially.
SPEAKER_01At least they'll know how to make a good shrimp and grits. But we'll uh we'll continue more of these conversations on robots and AI as they continue. But robots can't fix your laptop yet, so we'll talk a little bit about where you can find that at Refresh Computers. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here at WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome back to Tech Talk on WDBO 1073FM and AM580 Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have any other comments during the show, we'd love to hear them. Use that open mic feature inside the WDBO app. And now back to David and Adam.
SPEAKER_02All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. If you missed the last segment, you missed one of the most interesting segments I think we've ever had on the radio show. It's a fun one. It's where to buy your robot. And what can you expect about your humanoid robot? And you know, there are choices out there right now where you can buy your own humanoid robot. They're on Amazon, and there's another company that we talked about that you can go to their website and put down a $200 deposit. They will be shipping their five foot six inch humanoid robots towards the end of 2026. So if you missed any of that, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link. You can hear this show in its entirety. It was a lot of fun. And we didn't mention, we didn't even mention in that segment the Tesla Optimus, yeah. Elon Musk's robot. So it's being tested in Tesla's own factories right now.
SPEAKER_00They're using it for a lot of uh manufacturing and assembly.
SPEAKER_02Yep, they are. And it's not available for sale to the general public yet, maybe 2027. Yeah. Like the other two robots that we talked about in the last segment, but it's going to be coming out. It's probably about a $20,000 price tag as well.
Robots Cannot Fix Your Laptop
SPEAKER_00But you know what those robots are not capable of? They can't fix your laptop yet. Exactly. They just they don't have the fine motor skills to be able to do it. But you know who can do it? We can at Refresh.
SPEAKER_02That's right. So Refresh Computer Superstore there in Longwood, we have not been replaced by robots yet. Yeah. You know, and I I promise you, when we hire people at Refresh Computers to help you with your, we try to hire people who are also not acting like robots. Yeah. So which we you know, our our our technicians are you know human. Yeah. And and they listen to you and they talk with you, you know, on your level, whatever your level of expertise is. That's the way we'll be talking with you so you can understand exactly what's going on. Yeah. And you know, we've had this free tech support hotline that will never be replaced by a robot because you get a live person when you call it during business hours, you get a live person. And that free tech support hotline is 407-478-8200. And, you know, we get questions sometimes. It's well, what can I call the free tech support hotline for? Yeah. Well, what kind of technical question do you have, basically? Exactly. You know, if we can help you with it, we will.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it's not, you know, you call and you have to press one for this and then press three for this. And if you press the wrong thing, it sends you all the way back. No, it's you you get you call and get a little excerpt from Dave if we're open or if we're not open, and then it goes right to our store. And any of our technicians, myself, and any of the guys at the store, any of us, we pick up that phone and you're connected to a real human, right?
SPEAKER_02You don't you don't get a humanoid robot. No. You get a human. So in-house, what do we do at Refresh Computers? All kinds of computer and laptop repair, just about anything with a computer or laptop.
SPEAKER_00Hardware and you know, a lot of software diagnostic. We've really been we've been doing it's you know, we can do laptop repair, desktop repair. We we work on Macs, virus and malware removal. There's there's so much that we're able to do that I don't even think I could list everything off.
SPEAKER_02Well, and business clients, don't forget, we have our manage IT where we go to your site and we can do remote support. We have systems in place that monitor all your your whole network, right? Your business. And we will let you know before you even know. A lot most of the time, when there's an issue going on with your network and something that needs to be fixed, we can fix it. You know, things like maybe even like slow, slow hard drives on one of your important computers. Maybe it's a point of cell computer, or maybe it's a computer that holds patient records and stuff like that. You know, it's we're constantly connected to these things, and we get notifications right away when there's something going on that we can address it before it causes an issue. That's what managed IT is all about. We have that at Refresh Computers.
SPEAKER_01If you're a small business owner and want to learn more about that program, go ahead and give that tech support hotline a call. 407-478-8200. You've been listening to Tech Talk right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073 FM and AM580, Orlando's News and Talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. Or if you have a comment during the show, go and leave leave an open mic inside the WDBO app. You can also check out the website at Refresh Computers.net or stop it at the Refresh Computer Superstore in Longwood at 820 East State Road 434, just three and a half miles east of I-4 in Longwood. Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And now David Levitt and Adam Littlefield.
SPEAKER_02All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. I'm David Levitt, the owner and founder of Refresh Computers, 26-year-plus old company, right here in Central Florida, located three and a half miles east of I-4 on State Road 434 in Longwood. We talked about our free tech support hotline, which is 407-478-8200, and why you might just want to write that number down because if you don't need it now, man, chances are you'll need it in the future. And we are your local tech guy. We're basically the person that you can call for anything techie that you have going on at your home or your business. So we talked a lot about that. And
Right To Repair And Why It Matters
SPEAKER_02this segment, we want to talk about right to repair. It's a big thing. It's a big thing. And actually, you just mentioned off off air, Adam, it's probably one of your favorite topics.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm I'm really, really passionate with right to repair because. Because I believe in the the idea that if you buy a device, if you buy you know a piece of machinery, you buy almost anything, you should be allowed to repair it. Well, just full stop right there. Yeah. You should be allowed to. Easily. Easily, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I agree with that. As a matter of fact, you know, there's several states that pass right to repair laws, and we'll get into more what that means in a minute. But a cali or Colorado lawmaker, I think, put it perfectly, and I think you'll appreciate this. And he said, if you can't repair something that's yours, do you really own it?
SPEAKER_00That that puts it exactly exactly how I feel about it, right?
SPEAKER_02And I think that's the whole movement, right? And in one sentence, you know, this right to repair, which is you know sweeping across the country right now. More states are joining this year with making laws, a big one, Texas, right? In September, they have a new law coming out. The core idea is simple, but very powerful. If you bought it, like you said, Adam, you should be able to fix it. Or take it to a local shop like refresh computers instead of being forced back to the manufacturer.
SPEAKER_00Right. And this is this is a movement that is, you know, it's a revolution, actually, that the whole world is slowly starting to see. And it it all it began the there was a person I follow, Lewis Rossman. He started a huge push for right to repair, especially against Apple. Oh, because Apple break you fix guy or somebody else. He's I think he's another one, but he he runs his own repair stuff. I think over in like New York or something. But he was a big you know movement push for it because Apple really tried to lock down what you can and can't repair their devices. The worst one. Yeah. One of one of the worst.
SPEAKER_02They they are. And there's three big reasons, I think, why you know the right to repair is very important, why everybody should be concerned about it. One is money. Yeah. Right? I mean, to being able to repair something or have a shop repair something that you don't have to send back to the manufacturer like Apple. Yeah. Being able to do that is you know probably a big driver in the right to repair laws and choice. You know, you get to decide who fixes your stuff, right? You don't have to send it back to the factory every time. A local shop or yourself should be able to fix products. And the third big thing, I think, is the planet, right? Every device repaired, instead of being tossed, it's one less item in a landfill. So e-waste is still a massive growing problem and one that can, you know, be helped along by having this right to repair thing going on where it makes it just so much easier for you to repair your own device. Right.
SPEAKER_00And and a good comparison I always use for this whenever I've talked to somebody about, you know, right to repair, about, you know, you should be able to repair your own electronics, your own laptops, just your own devices. Imagine if you had to get your brakes replaced on your car. Maybe you need the rotors replaced as well. And you you are required to take it to a dealership rather than the uh the third-party place down the road that can do it for you. So now you've got to take an hour-long trip to a to the the dealership to get charged four or five times what you would pay at a local shop. Who would want to do that? Exactly.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's that's a good analogy. I mean, why should you be forced to do that?
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02So so there's you know some sneaky things that that go on with these manufacturers that these laws target. And so, for example, some companies use you know software, so device only works with their official parts. Right. That's terrible.
SPEAKER_00It is, and and I know again, Apple is a is a major one on that because there are certain parts that if they're put into a into an iPhone, say uh the camera or maybe the depth sensor on the phone, if those parts are not genuine Apple, the phone may not even allow them to be enabled. You can't even use them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so even a genuine part from another source sometimes gets blocked or flagged. You know, I can tell you that at Refresh Computers, we replace a lot of MacBook screens. Yeah, a lot. Because, you know, laptop screens are common thing to break. Stuff happens, it just does. So in a MacBook, you know, they're not the easiest thing in the world to replace, but fortunately, we have like the best Mac Repair Tech around. Yeah, I don't know of one probably in an entire country, really, the Norwell. Yeah. Our Mac Repair Tech. He's been with me for many, many, many years. And he and he just does this great, great job. But he'll get a MacBook, say it's you know a year old, maybe it's it's still under warranty, and it has a screen that's cracked on it. And
Apple Warranties And Backup Reality
SPEAKER_02the first thing he'll do is make sure the customer knows what the warranty period is. Because guess what? I mean, we can replace that screen, we can make it work a hundred percent, no problem whatsoever. But when we do, it voids the rest of the warranty. That's terrible. Yeah, that's awful. That's an awful way to do it. And and so you're forced to take it to the Mac store where they ship it off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's gone for a month or more before you even get it back with your screen replaced, because that's the only way you can maintain the warranty that's still on your MacBook.
SPEAKER_00And the problem I've seen actually with a lot of Apple warranties is, and I had this happen with a MacBook Pro I had probably back in 2017, 2018, is I sent it off to Apple for just a simple keyboard fix. So they had to replace the Palm Rest assembly. Right. Sounds easy, right? Well, they sent me back my MacBook and it was entirely wiped. And they they they there's a little clause that says that your device may be wiped.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's you know, you bring up a good point. This is kind of a side note for uh to this whole right to repair thing, but no matter where you bring your computer or your laptop, make sure you have a backup somewhere on the cloud, preferably. So that in case that shop, I don't think it's ever happened at refresh computers, but I'm not gonna promise that it that it couldn't happen. Right. You know, because human, we're human, we're all humans. And so, you know, wherever you bring your computer or your laptop to, you know, make sure you have a backup. Right. Make sure you have a backup of the data. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Electronics, they're they're unpredictable. They have a mind of their own. They really do now, especially with AI implemented into all of them. But again, just failures happen. Things happen. And it's like I said, with the you know, MacBook screen replacements, is stuff just happens. So, you know, and that's that's a big thing with right to repair is if you drop your laptop, most warranties do not cover damages by drops, right? Right.
SPEAKER_02They don't, they don't, they just don't.
SPEAKER_00So you as a consumer should have the the ability to buy your own replacement part and replace what might got damaged, not have to send it off somewhere and get it repaired.
SPEAKER_02My point, yeah, with the broken laptop or MacBook screen is the that, okay, say it's still under warranty, and you and so of course the broken screen is not covered under warranty because you dropped it. But the rest of the your laptop is still under warranty. Yeah, and the only way that you're going to retain that warranty is if Apple replaces your screen.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02But there's just no other way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so, you know, even though there are shops like us, Refresh Computers, now we've still replaced tons of MacBook screens at Refresh Computers because we do a really good job of it. And but we we but we're always very conscious of your warranty. So if you're out of warranty already, well, yes, we are the place to bring it to for sure, because you're already you're not gonna avoid a warranty that you don't have anymore.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I'll tell you right now, if you bring that laptop to the Apple store, and I've had customers come in and tell me that they had this exact experience, you take it in there, the first thing they're gonna say is, Wow, this model's a couple years old. Have you ever considered just replacing it instead? Yeah. And that's where they always try to push you, is that that sales what's the word for it? I can't think of it.
SPEAKER_02It's a push. And yeah, and the thing is, and I don't know who these people are, I have no idea, but we still get people at refresh computers referred to us from the Apple store. Yeah. Because it's just too costly, too exp, too expensive. And in some cases, they just flat out refuse to do the repair. Right. You know, they'll they'll send them over to us because and because customers tell us, hey, somebody at the Apple store told me, oh, I should come here. Yeah. So, and so we we do get a lot of those kinds of people. So, you know, so let's look at the the manufacturer side.
SPEAKER_00Yeah,
Why Companies Block Repairs
SPEAKER_00why would we gotta we gotta play devil's advocate, right? Playing devil's advocate.
SPEAKER_02Why would a manufacturer not want you to repair your own stuff? And let's just say being being the devil's advocate, right? Some of them are claiming that opening up the repair could create a safety risk. Yeah. Or security issues. And you know if you do it wrong.
SPEAKER_00And I I can say and I can vouch for it, yeah, there may be safety risks because if you open up like a laptop or maybe your cell phone, you've got a battery in there. And and if you slip your your screwdriver unscrewing something, then you puncture that battery.
SPEAKER_02It could be a fire handle.
SPEAKER_00It could be a fire.
SPEAKER_02It could be a fire handle.
SPEAKER_00So there are, you know, I would say there are valid concerns, but I don't think they outweighs it. But they should be your concerns. Exactly. You should be you should be dispatchers' concerns. You should be allowed to decide if you want to take that risk or not.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And so, and then so this gets into so they're saying also that, oh, well, people can injure themselves, right? Right. On the batteries or or botching a repair. But again, that should be my decision if I want to take that risk. Not the not the not the factory. So I I think these are all kind of invalid points, but it's the things that a lot of some of the manufacturers are saying. Yeah. You know, and that's why they're saying that's exactly why the that's why we're saying, you know, that's exactly why the trained independent shops matter, like refresh computers.
SPEAKER_01And it goes beyond just like the computer repair as well. It goes, it goes to all other of these other devices. You've been around for 26 years now. 26 plus years. So you've seen repair shops come and go, not just computer repair shops.
SPEAKER_02Right down the street, we've seen them come and go.
SPEAKER_01Appliance repair. I'm talking television, television repair shops. There used to be just specifically television repair shops all over the place. Used to be to take care of these very expensive items that you own, but because of the way that all these companies have gone, make it cheaper, make it disposable, and make it impossible to repair.
SPEAKER_00And something I can mention too that I've seen actually is a change that's happening is Nintendo. They uh actually were just recently required to make a changed hardware of the Switch 2 that they make, the gaming console, to have a user-replaceable battery. It was mandated by the EU saying if you're gonna sell this here, that's right, it has to be user replaceable. Full stop. That's it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we had a segment about that not too long ago.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, if you if you're looking at companies like that, you know, having to make these changes, then you know, it it should be user user capable of being done. And again, I go back to the automobile angle of it because that's that's the most relatable thing any of us doing. There, you know, again, there are safety risks. Maybe you go replace your brake brake pads and you don't do them right, and when your pads fall off, now you've got a wheel that can't stop, right? Well, but again, that's on you, on you doing it. If you're if you feel capable enough to do it, then you can then you have the right to do it. And electronics, it's just there's this hard wall that uh some companies have put up that I just don't think is fair as a consumer.
SPEAKER_02It's it's not. Well, and let's just let's just face it. You know, so refresh computers has championed repair and reuse way before it became a law. Right. You know, and you know, way before it was cool, right? Right. We we've been doing this for many, many years. We fix a lot of things that other places just simply throw away or give up, give up on. Computers, laptops, Macs, gaming consoles. You mix, you know, we we repair gaming consoles as well. And again, you know, we have the best gaming repair gaming console repair tech there is, I think, around. And refresh computers, we sell, we certify all these machines ourselves, right? Yeah, we keep good tech out of the landfills. And guess what? Puts money in your pocket. The people that end up owning these refurbished computers from refresh computers, I tell you, they they last just as long as a brand new one out of the box. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00You gotta go longer. You go to the big box store, you've got, you know, spend fifteen hundred dollars, now you got a box you're throwing away and a computer that'll last you six to eight years.
SPEAKER_02And if it is something that is not useful anymore, guess what? We have our own electronics recycling center right there at Refresh Computers. We don't charge anything for that either. We don't charge for that. We take laptops, desktops, tablets, phones, these kinds of things, and we can safely recycle them right there at Refresh Computers.
SPEAKER_01And again, if you have questions about the recycling program or want to check out any of these available, go ahead and give that tech support hotline a call. 407-478-80200. Coming up, we're going to talk a little bit of how you should probably be setting up your Wi-Fi router. We'll learn more about it coming up next on Tech Talk, right here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580. Hey there, and welcome back to Tech Talk here on WDBO 1073FM and AM580, Orlando's news and talk. I'm Greg Rhodes here with David Levitt, president and founder of Refresh Computer Superstore, and technician Adam Littlefield. You can contact the Refresh Computer Superstore by calling their free tech support hotline at 407-478-8200. And don't forget to check out the website at refreshcomputers.net. And now back to David and Adam.
SPEAKER_02All right. Thanks, Greg, and thanks everybody for listening to Tech Talk with Refresh Computers. Had a really, really good segment so far today, or a good show today. If you missed any of it, go to refreshcomputers.net, click on that podcast link in the upper right hand corner. You can hear the show in its entirety. Better yet, scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email address down there, click submit. That's all we ask for is your email address, and you will get notification via email whenever this show and future shows are ready to be listened to. And then in that email, in the body of the email, will be bullet points about what we're talking about with a link that you can click on where you can hear the whole show.
Guest Network For Home Wi-Fi
SPEAKER_02In this segment, we want to talk about your Wi-Fi router secret weapon, and that is the guest network. Right. So it's for much more than just allowing guests onto your network. And we're gonna get into why. But before I do that, I want to make sure that you know, as far as Wi-Fi security is concerned in your home and you have your own Wi-Fi router, most people do these days. Change the default password. Yes. They all come with a default password. So if you don't change it, then you're you've opened yourself up to hackers big, big, big time. Because everybody has that default. Everybody has that default. And and they all show up with the same password. Yep. Every single one of them. It could be admin username, one, two, three, four, password, something like that. Tell them my password, Dave. Or it could be admin password. Right. It could be whatever they they do. It's something simple. It's something all the hackers know, and they can get into your Wi-Fi system. If you need refresher computers to come out to your house, you can call us for a dispatch. We can come out and make sure your Wi-Fi is set up correctly. We do this a lot. Right. Just call us at 407-478-8200, and we will reset that default password on your Wi-Fi, show you what how what it is and where to store it, and we'll also help you set up your guest network correctly. So, what should be cur connected to your guest network other than visitors coming to visit you?
SPEAKER_00Well, the one thing I can think of is smart home gadgets. You know, your programmable thermostat, your smart TVs, your doorbells, your plugs, cameras, you know, all these different things, they they they the guest network is a really good option to put them onto because those are kind of your your endpoints. Those are intrusion points that if somebody wants to get in, most of the time they can they can probe those devices and and fiddle around.
SPEAKER_02So well, yeah. And it's a and and the reason is that you want to put all these things on there is because your guest network is a clean, separate, it's completely separated from your main network, right? So the one that that you sign in that you have your super secret password to get into your to your main family uh Wi-Fi, yeah, right. So the point is that you know, with the guest network being completely separated, it's like two different Wi-Fi systems, basically. So if something is able to get in through one of these endpoints, like your thermostats, your cameras, your doorbell, these kinds of things, it's isolated. It's isolated to just that. Yeah, it's not going to get into your computer because guess what? Your computer and your laptop is connected to your Wi-Fi, right? Not the guest Wi-Fi.
SPEAKER_00And most guests keep these things separate. And you know, a main thing with guest networks too is when you set up your main network, all of the devices on that network are kind of able to see one another.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Whereas a guest network automatically makes it where those devices can't see each other. Yeah, that's it. So if if one of your endpoints are are compromised, all of your other endpoints are still relatively safe.
SPEAKER_02It's a hard border. It is. You know, you can't get through it. You can one cannot get into the other, and that's why it's important to set up this guest network. It's also important why you put all your gadgets on your guest network, not your main network.
Final Takeaways And Contact Info
SPEAKER_02So, look, folks, that's about all we have time for today. And boy, if I had fun today, and I hope you had fun listening to the show. We talked about all kinds of really cool stuff. We'll be back again next week. Don't forget that free tech support hotline, 407 478 8200. This is David Levitt with Refresh Computers. We'll be talking to you again next week.
