Oscilloscope frequency upgrade it's a thing? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Airton
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 01:07:02 am
content: I'm considering buying an oscilloscope, seeing the price ranges are quite expensive here in Brazil, although it is among the most expensive here in the entry range I'm thinking of buying a keysight because they offer a warranty here, but I noticed that they offer a software upgrade that takes the oscilloscope from 70Mhz to up to 200Mhz (It's half the price of the oscilloscope).How does it work? Is it just a firmware upgrade?Is this normal among other brands or is it just a way to get more money from buyers?Thanks

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 01:26:08 am
content: It is very common. But as far as I know there are no known hacks or license generators for Keysight scopes.Rigol DS1054Z is infamous for being hacked. To the point where selling the upgrade made no sense and all new scopes come with the upgrade for free.I would not say it is a way to get more money. It is a way to get you a cheaper scope in hopes that you would like it and eventually upgrade to a higher bandwidth if you actually need it.

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 01:19:57 pm
content: The whole Tektronix series of lunchbox scopes have capacitor controlled bandwidth rolloff. Those capacitors can be disabled in software / firmware and determine both the model number and purchase cost. The motherboards are identical.

author: fordem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 01:57:43 pm
content: It IS, at the end of the day, a way to make more money on the product.This is a business model I've seen used in many different product lines over the years ...Back in the 1980's one of the big names in data processing had three different data entry terminals with three different levels of capability and three different prices, internally the difference was two wire jumpers, and you could upgrade from one model to the next by clipping the jumpers.Fast forward to the 1990's, a certain UPS manufacturer offered several UPS in different capacities for example, 8, 10 & 12kVA, all of which were internally identical, upgrade kits contained a set of labels to be stuck on the outside and an "unlock code" based on the serial number of the unit to be upgraded - the proverbial sh*t hit the fan when someone slipped and shipped the upgrade kit directly to the end user.Jump in to the 2000's - one of the big three names offered laptop computers in three grades - there was one particular unit where the differences between the consumer grade and the business grade unit were the keyboard and the plastic housing and those came with an increase in price of almost USD$500, the third grade was an ISV certified professional workstation with NO internal difference between it and the mid grade for another $1000US. As field support techs, we would replace the system board and then flash the appropriate firmware so that when the system booted it would show the correct model number.The manufacturer has a lower markup on the lower spec unit, and a higher markup on the higher spec unit - the cost of production is identical because the product IS internally identical - they could sell the higher spec unit at the lower price and still make a profit, just not as much.

author: JDubU
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 04:02:45 pm
content: Here is another example from the early 1960's:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE-600_series..."In August 1964, IBM considered the GE 600 series to be "severe competition in the medium and large-scale scientific areas". In May 1965 the first GE-625 computer was delivered to the GE Schenectady plant to replace five other computers of various sizes and makes. A number of GE 635's were shipped during 1965 including two to Martin Marietta in November.The 600 line consisted of six models: the 605, 615, 625, 635, 645, and 655. GE offered a box to connect to the 635 called a 9SA that allowed the 635 to run 7094 programs.The 615 was a 635 with Control Unit (CU) and Operations Unit (OU) overlap disabled, and a 36-bit-wide memory path. The 625 was a 635 with Control Unit and Operations Unit overlap disabled and 72-bit-wide memory path. The 635 had a 72-bit-wide memory path and CU/OU overlap enabled. The difference between these models was fewer than 10 wires on the backplane. Field service could convert a 615 to a 635 or 625 or vice versa in a couple of hours if necessary; other than those few wires, the 615, 625 and 635 were identical. "...

author: Airton
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 05:00:02 pm
content: Meh, I ended up buying a Rigol DS1074Z-S Plus for half the price of the Keysight.The cost of a firmware update would be justifiable if it entailed some risk to the hardware, such as overclocking or if they had to recalibrate the equipment to support the new bandwidth.Maybe it's justifiable for a lab or company that needs calibration certification, but for a regular nobody like me it does end up being like paying for a BMW hot seat.Thank you guys for the information and history about this.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2022, 05:14:08 pm
content: FYI, this is one form of what in economics is called “capturing consumer surplus”.