In the case of a MAX232A with 0.1uF capacitors, it's likely that Maxim has designed the chip to work well with 1uF capacitors just to make sure that it can directly replace a MAX232

Not obvious, if that was the case Maxim would have discontinued the 232. The 'A' is not 'next generation' it is a new chip.

But how to test? Test for full supply range? Test for full temperature range? Test for time from power-on until stable voltages? Test for fault percentage after one billion power cycles? Test for temperature increase from short-circuiting outputs? Test that Vcc never gets higher than the max value from the datasheet during startup?

you make my case just do what the datasheet specifies and the manufacturer has done the testing for you.



Erik