Thinking of building a new PC this Christmas?
Crispy
Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Consider waiting if you're on a budget</div>Just a heads up for anyone thinking of buying PC components and on a small budget, it's probably better to wait a few months or to make a smaller set of upgrades until the HDD section of the manufacturing industry has recovered.
The problem being that floods in Thailand have wiped out 30% of the world's hard drive production line. This shortage has pushed HDD prices up for the first time, and by as much as 20-25%. It has also caused a ripple effect that has lead to buyers ordering less parts from other component manufacturers because they won't be able to sell complete systems without an HDD, and/or increasing the cost of the parts they sell to the consumer.
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/30/hard-drive-shortage-pc-prices" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/...rtage-pc-prices</a>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/dec/12/intel-cuts-revenue-forecast-thailand" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/...recast-thailand</a>
The upside to this may be that SSD prices come down slightly to offer a more competitive alternative, stay tuned if you're after an SSD.
The problem being that floods in Thailand have wiped out 30% of the world's hard drive production line. This shortage has pushed HDD prices up for the first time, and by as much as 20-25%. It has also caused a ripple effect that has lead to buyers ordering less parts from other component manufacturers because they won't be able to sell complete systems without an HDD, and/or increasing the cost of the parts they sell to the consumer.
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/30/hard-drive-shortage-pc-prices" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/...rtage-pc-prices</a>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/dec/12/intel-cuts-revenue-forecast-thailand" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/...recast-thailand</a>
The upside to this may be that SSD prices come down slightly to offer a more competitive alternative, stay tuned if you're after an SSD.
Comments
Another reason to wait, the Nvidia 600 series cards should be coming out Q1 2012.
but yeah, harddisk prices have been going up for a while now ;/
Hardware needs to make x amount of money to justify and pay the bills on the research to get it there.
Especially compared to clothing which costs pennies to make in a slave trade country and can sell for a little or often as much as you want with a logo stamped on it.
You've got the theory round the wrong way svenpa ;)
Clothing goes on sale not because it's less useful, but because 'we' decide it's no longer desirable.
PC hardware goes on sale because it is actually becoming dated compared to newer, better things that can do more for the same price.
Clothing goes on sale not because it's less useful, but because 'we' decide it's no longer desirable.
PC hardware goes on sale because it is actually becoming dated compared to newer, better things that can do more for the same price.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So, how is hardware prices particularly affected by after Christmas sales then? Or perhaps you are getting at it isn't? Assuming the time remains constant during the holidays.
These parts are about 4½ years old:
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-520HXEU (520W)
MOBO: GigaByte GA-P35-DS3R
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
RAM: 4GB
Recently upgraded:
GFX: Radeon 5850 1GB
disks: SSD+2x HDD
Can still play all games but I think I'm noticing hiccups in particularly CPU heavy games, I think BF3 and NS2?
If it means they can get more of that money, competitors will try to undercut eachother, and this brings everyone down to selling stuff cheaper.
This is unless it's a cutting edge or new product, which tend to get brought out in time for Christmas because they know people are willing to spend more money around that time for something special.
If it means they can get more of that money, competitors will try to undercut eachother, and this brings everyone down to selling stuff cheaper.
This is unless it's a cutting edge or new product, which tend to get brought out in time for Christmas because they know people are willing to spend more money around that time for something special.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
To add to that,
You go as low to cost price as possible. Cost price being what you need to recoup any value you've pumped in the the product if it is brand new tech. If it's older or starting to age you may well want to go under the price in order to boost sales you may not have otherwise have gotten.
It can be complicated Svenpa. Although Christmas won't see the price of hard drives lower due to the crisis in Thailand.
There's more to commerce than just "sell; sell; sell"
EDIT:
To give you a simple example from a retail pov on the hard drive crisis.,
You know your hard drives will go from costing you $20 to costing you $50 to buy from your supplier. You know you have a backstock of $20. You will look at competitors to price your backstock and shift them, and maybe bump them up slightly because you know once you buy at $50 and add your mark up, less people will buy the hard drives. So you have to gauge how many you can sell at certain prices to ascertain most profit before it starts becoming an expense to you, while making profit. It's equally as dangerous to sell your backstock at the same price as you may lose out to competitors who sell just as much at a higher price, and you could struggle long term with the larger pricing band you have to enforce just to cover yourself because of the crisis.