Spare TV Box Board Sold for MXQ-4Q / MXQPro DIY Repairs

Once somebody asked me if spare TV box boards were available for purchase since his TV box died after a few months, and he wanted to repair it himself without having to purchase another complete TV box. Usually, such boards are not sold, except maybe on Alibaba, where you may or may not have to purchase in quantities. So I basically told him it would be hard to find, and buying a new or second hand TV box would be a better option.

But I was recently made aware that at least one seller was offering spare TV box boards for MXQ-4Q and MXQPro on Aliexpress for $20.61 shipped in order to let people repair their boxes themselves.

If your goal is to repair a TV box, I can only think of two reasons for buying a spare TV box board: saving money and/or reducing electronics waste.

MXQ-4Q and MXQPro TV boxes are already cheap devices based on Rockchip RK3229 processor coupled with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage, and if you buy MXQPro from the same seller you’ll get the TV box, power adapter, HDMI cable, and remote control shipped to you for a total of $24.05, so you’d only save $3.44 by purchasing the board only.

Electronics waste would however be reduced because the TV box PCBA does not ship with case, power supply, HDMI cable, nor remote control. Having said that if latter on, you need to purchase an HDMI cable or/and power adapter separately, the benefits DIY repair and lower electronics waste would just go away. There’s also a small risk of breaking something during the repair, so overall I see very little upside for doing your own repairs that way.

Thanks to theguyuk for the tip.

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