991–1000 of 1001 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The prices are set largely by what consumers will tolerate. If everyone else is raising prices so consumers expect that, why wouldn't you do it, too?
are consumers really tolerating current prices?
Obviously one choice is “just don’t participate” but for anyone that _will_ participate, the choice is pretty much to tolerate it.
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>what's the timeline of the RAM shortage ending? Barring unusual market forces like Taiwan invasion the timeline to ending the acute shortage seems to be mid 2028. The AI still has plenty of money to burn and is the biggest driver, but we’re also shortly before gaming consoles ought to release a new gen (although who knows whether they won’t get delayed for a while). There was even going to be a small upgrade cycle f…
China won’t invade Taiwan. Be realistic
I had just drafted a report to leadership that we should buy what we needed for everyone through August ASAP. My advice didn’t make it a week before the price increases. Look, this is going to suck for several more years. The western memory cartel was never truly dismantled or punished after their price fixing in the early 2000s, and now this is the result. With Chinese DRAM and NAND makers on the entity list, wester…
> With Chinese DRAM and NAND makers on the entity list, western countries don’t really have an alternative American companies, you mean. Thankfully there's Taobao and AliExpress for the rest of us.
I suspect that these prices are going to seriously dent sales. RAM is getting crushed. I bet the next step is going to be dumb terminals and centralisation onto all the hardware that the cloud companies bought up for AI and found wasn't possible to get any ROI out. Bezos was all over that already. We are truly entering the dark ages of personal computing.
At least with the cheaper models, you get deals at Best Buy and Amazon.
I wonder whether this will also inflate the used market. I could have gotten more for my trade-in.
Some unc perspective: I paid ~$6,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars for a computer in 1996. Today, I can get the same power in a $6 single board computer. A powerful modern mini PC starts at ~$600. However painful these price hikes are, and they are painful, it is worth remembering that computing has become incredibly ubiquitous and cheap.
Anyone else here enjoy living in the future? Look at us, we get AI megacorporations ruling the world and bestowing us with the power to use their servers for just $20-200/month. It's practically charity, and all we had to give up for it is all consumer hardware, the quality of the internet and our own jobs. I love it here!
I know this is a bit off topic, but is anyone excited for the future? I'm only 20, but everyone used to talk about how excited they were for the future. I don't know anyone who is excited for the future. It upsets me I never got to live the "glory days" of cars, technology, outdoor activities, music, entertainment, etc. I only see it getting significantly worse too. It's hard not to fall into the trap of doomerism bu…
You can buy self driving car with 0 pollution and near 0 maintenance, insane performance for what, minimum salary more or less? What were the glory days?
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> With Chinese DRAM and NAND makers on the entity list, western countries don’t really have an alternative American companies, you mean. Thankfully there's Taobao and AliExpress for the rest of us.
You mean the 2TB SSDs for $2 that flourish on AliExpress? I actually like AliExpress and trust them more than Amazon, but their failure to police these obvious scams is a blot on their record.
My problem with buying SSDs on AliE is with reasonably priced products that use NAND chips with no consideration for their quality grade. Vendors are not transparent.
NVMe SSDs are usually better in this regard, but SATA SSDs became a nightmare to purchase.
I was literally ordering an M5 MacBook Pro tomorrow. The total is $900 more now. Might have to hold off and just live with my M4 Mini.
Once I move from the mini to the MacBook it looks like I can get $800 for the mini. I got 0% financing too.
Perhaps genuinely. It’s at the very least regularly observable that less educated, less ambitious individuals living closer to traditional lifestyles are happier and more content.