#green pc

my unfinished pc setup :)

In my line of work this is an often asked question.  The answer is no, not now, not until we as consumers force manufacturers to remove the human cost from their supply chains.

I don't think any PC is "ethical" in the purest sense, BUT it's possible to decide which PC might be considered least harmful.  Ethical Consumer Magazine came up with a scoring system and named the VeryPC BroadLeaf (pictured) it's "Best Buy" over Apple and Samsung offerings.

However, it's the provenance of the components required to build today's latest PCs, such as HDD, RAM, CPU, MoBo in the supply chain that are somewhat out of the control of the PC builders that blurs the Ethical line.  VeryPC, based in Sheffield, UK, a relative minnow in IT have proven that you can build a PC with as little impact on the environment in manufacture, use and disposal as possible and been rightly rewarded for it;  but they have zero sway on how Intel et al produce their piece of the PC puzzle.

And that's the problem.  Everything seems to be outsourced to Foxconn, Quanta, Compal, Wistron, Pegatron, Inventec and so on who appear for the majority to treat human beings as slaves on behalf of Apple, Intel etc which they would claim is on your behalf as they need to produce products to a price you'll pay.

               Imagine a triangle.  At the top of the triangle is profit, on the left corner is people and, on the right corner is planet.  Companies are aiming to position themselves somewhere within this triangle to please the consumer, the environment and their shareholders; so something's got to give.  Deciding from whom they buy components from that increases profit will undoubtedly be at the expense of people and the planet.

A New York Times article quoted a former Apple executive saying; "Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn't have another choice."  Apple has $100 Billion IN THE BANK.  Let me repeat that; Apple has $100 Billion IN THE BANK.  In a market driven by razor thin margins, Apple are successfully taking everyone's share of the profit in the supply chain and could easily give some of that profit back as margin to a company who would make their components with Ethical thinking in mind, and reward staff with decent working hours, decent pay and benefits, etc.

If you want a truly Ethical PC, they're not available I'm afraid.  Not until you, the customer exercises your right to choice, digs deep to pay for those PCs that do have sound ethical principles and forces change in the supply chain.