At the time of Oscar's interview he would typically look for components from Pentium 4 Dual Core computers manufactured no earlier than 2006. However, that means that Oscar can work with equipment that is as much as eight years old for the domestic resale market. In the literature on e-waste, product obsolescence is typically assumed to be reached within 3-5 years. Yet, Oscar's description of minimum system requirements shows such assumptions, while treated as technically induced universals, are actually more variable in practice. Location matters substantively to the question of obsolescence.
