How environmental issues affect the price of it.... By Nicholas Hollands

What is it? The Nintendo DS is a hand-held games console. The console was released in 2004 by Nintendo who are well known due to their previous successes in the console area.

The Nintendo DS Dual Screens Touch screen Built in Wireless for connection to other DS’s Backwards compatibility

Components The DS has a multi-core PCB which controls and processes all of the information. The PCB only has 4Mb of RAM and only 256kb of storage. The DS features a built in wireless adapter, enabling user’s to connect to other DS’s for multiplayer games

Price of the product The product’s average price is £ I found individual parts online to try and break down the product Top screen - £17.95 Touch screen - £7.95 Upper PCB - £11.99 Lower PCB – £35.99 Case - £10.99 Battery - £4.89 Total – £89.76

The PCB What's inside a PCB? Inside a PCB, there are 4 main materials used: Tin – used on the etching layer Woven glass (fibre glass) – main board Epoxy resin – used to seal the layers of the board Solder – used to connect the components

Environmental issues There are many different environmental problems that affect the price of the product. Below are a few examples: Lead free solder is more expensive but is less harmful to the environment Only use tin in the etching layer instead of lead and tin. More expensive but less harmful and is easier to recycle Disposal of waste and treatment bathes during assembly

End of life As recent legislation makes the companies responsible for the end of life for their product. Companies now have an additional charge which pushes up the price of the product. Companies are now responsible for recycling and disposal of their products and to make this easier they are making their products easier to dismantle and recycle in the design phase. This means that more money has to go on design also pushing up the price.

Conclusion During my research I have found many different items that affect the price of the product, from construction to disposal. I have found that different environmental issues have risen the price. The main price rise was in the assembly section of the product. This is due to more expensive materials being used. I also found that due to disposal of both the baths and the actual PCB’s. The price of the product increases in order to cover the overheads.

Thank you Any Questions?

Bibliography Nintendo DS image = uk.gizmodo.com/nintendo_ds_black.jpg Background information about Nintendo came from = Tin is answer to lead in etching level of pcb, even though more expensive source- disposal of waste and treatment bathes during assembly source - price info source - Parts price source - PCB Source- source -