Jokes and Humor

Yea, for appliance components like compressors, thinner materials has practically no impact on performance (but probably saves a little money on manufacturing, and probably reduces life span).

For the condenser and evaporator, it could make a difference, but those have been largely optimized probably since the 60's - they're not complex things. Even there, a thinner wall on the tubing isn't really going to make a major improvement, since it's fin density that really matters.

It's controls that break 98%+ of the time. A refrigeration circuit is pretty simple, so long as you don't poke a hole in the system, generally it will continue to work.

Of all the systems I've worked on, I've rarely replaced even a compressor (it does happen). Condensers and evaporators practically never wear out - almost all that I've replaced have failed from being hit by something, or being cleaned with an unfriendly chemical (some newer ones are really fragile, and even conventional ones don't like dog urine on them constantly). A family friend has been an HVAC guy since I was little (he taught me), and this squares with his experience.

Controls are #1, seals are second (especially on automotive systems, since they get shaken around constantly and deal with much greater temp swings).

"New" stuff (starting in the 80's) has shit electronic controls - they're manufactured as cheaply as possible (unlike say electronic controls for a car engine or safety systems, which have to meet regulatory requirements). Old school controls are so simple there's little to go wrong.

The "new" DC/inverter compressors are probably the biggest improvement in recent years, since they can run at varying loads instead of just off/on - this should make them noticeably more energy efficient.