Equill argues the case (sic) well for ignoring the yellowing of hard plastics in computers. However yellowing may also be associated with degradation of mechanical properties. This is unlikely to be a problem with most computers (unless the mouse and keycaps start to disintegrate) but may be a factor in the long term survival of more vigorously used devices such as consoles and arcade machines.

Degradation of soft plastics, such as those used for rollers in printers and scanners, is already a problem. As old calculator enthusiasts have discovered, new old stock (NOS) provides only a short term fix until NOS starts to decay.