Comment by ErroneousBosh

> you could simply designing a PCB up front, throw the design over the fence at JLC or PCBWay, insert coin, wait patiently at the mailbox

It blows my mind that I can use free-as-in-beer Free-as-in-Speech software to design a PCB, email it to a dude in China, and get a finished working professional-looking PCB back in my hand within a week, for the price of a couple of coffees. And if I want the components stuck on too, it'll cost a little extra, maybe three coffees it costs now.

If I want it really quickly then for the price of a decent takeaway curry I can have it flown over next day. What the actual hell?

Edit: the slowest part of "next day" is when it hits the UK, and if I could guarantee it just gets delivered to DHL's Edinburgh depot I could drive down there in two hours.