• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Computer hardware is SO overpriced !!!

V

VBboy

Diamond Member
Yeah, ok, $150 for a stick of RAM? $300 for a CPU? $200 for an HD. $350 for a videocard. Pphhfff.

Hardware companies should look around:
You can buy a VCR for $60, a nice-sized TV for $150, and a fridge for $100 🙂

Why does computer hardware have to be so expensive?! I feel like I get ripped off every time I buy a little something for my PC. LOL, a heatsink for $50? Yeah, a little piece of metal with a spinning thingy on top of it, $50.

Comments, observations?
 
Well, you can get a decent speed computer for 400 bucks....

You can get a HDTV for a couple grand...

The analogies must go both ways. A nice sized TV to you may be a puny little thing to a movie buff. Same goes for computers.
 
If you're paying $350 for a vid card and $300 for a CPU, you're going top-of-the-line (as it is, a budget card can be had for $80 and a Duron 1 GHz for $50). There's a price to pay for being trendy - consult the fashion industry.
 
$150 worth of ram will buy you more ram than you could probably currently use.
That $300 CPU would have supercomputing trade restrictions on it a few years ago.
The $350 videocard is bleeding edge technology.


Your $60 vcr is outdated technology. Your $150 tv is hardly a bleeding edge HDTV widescreen which would be over a grand for a "nice sized" one. A fridge for $100 seems like a good deal, gotta store those leftovers and beer!!
 
what you compared it to (tv's vcr's ect...) are all very old technology, you are buying cutting edge stuff that does not have a large market base. Everyone will buy a tv, not everyone will buy a G3 Ti500. If you look at HDTV's then that price gap closes, HDTV is a newer technology. And for heatsinks, they are made out of relativly expensive materials, like aluminum and copper. Heatsinks myst be machined very precisly from much larger ammounts of aluminum than you recieve. For all of this technology, what you are paying for is the R&D that will go into future products that will improve upon what you just bought, in most cases the materials are fairly cheap. 😉
 
There is no reason to flame me, btw. Don't tell me you guys never wondered why computer hardware is really expensive. When I was trying to talk my parents into upgrading their PC, they said "but we can buy so much stuff for the house for the same amount of money!!"
 

When you buy a cpu, you are actually buying millions of manufactured components. If you've ever bought discrete transistors at radio shack, you'd know that consumer CPUs are an absolutely incredible bargain. 😉
 
You can buy a geforce 3 ti200 for $150 and a duron 1ghz for $85. Of course there will be really expensive stuff. Look at how much DVD players cost 5-6 years ago. They cost a lot. Now they cost $100. VCR's have been around forever. A mini fridge might cost you $100, and you can't get much of a decent tv for $150. The latest and greatest stuff always costs a ton. HDTV's are really expensive, just like the newest video card costs a lot. If you are complaining about prices now, remember that you couldn't even get a decent computer for under $2000 less than 7-8 years ago.
 
I don't think anyone is flaming here - they're mostly concurring that most people do not need a GF3 card and the latest offerings from AMD and Intel. I would think your parents fall into that category.
 
Loricariidae -


<< they're mostly concurring that most people do not need a GF3 card and the latest offerings from AMD and Intel. I would think your parents fall into that category >>


Yeah, right. My Dad was like, "Son, if I you don't get me that GeForce3-Ti 500, yer sleeping on the street tonight. And that Athlon XP 2000+ better overclock pretty damn well!!" 🙂
 
The traditional consumer electronics you mention are for the most part 1950's technology, only when you get into hdtv that they start to compare equally with computers.
 
The economy's slow now...memory prices were really low a few months back, I believe a 512 stick on mushkin pc2100 was 55, now it's doubled.
 
I have a theory, that at least for the home computer, that eventually it will become just an appliance like anything else... One day in the not to distant future... they will make the video card that can show all the 3D in picture perfect resolution, with all the reality you want, and it will start at $400, and work its way down to $50, and we're not going to need anymore...

Like anything else... You can buy a $200 TV or a $5000 TV, depending on what your looking for... We here at this board are enthusists, and spend more on computers than the average Joe Blow.... but we expect allot more out of it than just surfing the internet too...

So, Go, you can buy a computer for $200, it won't be the latest and greatest... but you can probably surf the internet with it...
 


<< >>, $150 for a stick of RAM? $300 for a CPU? $200 for an HD. $350 for a videocard<< >>



I'm not flaming you but, these prices were common place a couple of years ago for just a basic box, but now you can build a helluva rig for chicken-scratch comparitively speaking. These ARE the good ol' days, enjoy it while it lasts.😀
 


<< And for heatsinks, they are made out of relativly expensive materials, like aluminum and copper. >>

Beer cans are made of aluminum and pennies are made of copper. That's an indication of how expensive that stuff is. 😀

The machining adds a bit to the price, however heat sinks are hugely overpriced no matter how you look at it. The other stuff is a bargain.

Look at it this way - in 1992 RAM cost about $50 per megabyte. Now $50 gets you 256 megabytes. So prices have dropped by a factor of 250. A 250 megabyte hard drive cost $250. Now $250 gets you 100 gigabytes (or 100,000 megabytes), a drop by a factor of 400!!.

So it seems that your $150 TV is grossly overpriced, since in 1992 that same TV would have cost maybe $250, and the vcr that costs $60 now would have cost $100 then.
 
I too hope that some day very fast computers will be on every kid's desk. Even now you can get away with surfing the Web and doing word-processing at below 1 Ghz. Videocards probably won't need to get mich better than GeForce3 just because there isn't much more you can do - you already have very realistic- multi-polygon human and monster models in games, what more do you need?..

So would you guys say that in a few years you will NOT need to buy the fastest CPU or the best videocard to run advanced (Cad, Imaging) software or to play the latest games? =)
 
Well, if you're the type who always has to go out and buy the newer video cards and cpus the second they hit the shelves, then yeah, it can get expensive pdq.

You can buy a $1000 computer and upgrade it in a year or so, or spend $2000 on a computer and upgrade it in 18-24 months.

If you were to compare top of the line computer component prices to top of the line hdtv prices, you'd see that computer prices are actually cheaper and continue to drop in price. Back in 1996/97 when the first 3dfx card came out, did you think back then you could get the power of today's machines for the price?

This industry has made people buy the line that once a newer piece of hardware comes out, all existing hardware out there becomes crap.

If you think it's so overpriced, don't buy it! Wait until prices come down to a point where it becomes cost-effective for you. I know you were just throwing this topic out there, and I'm not flaming, but it sounds more like a rant than anything else. By the way, why do you NEED to spend $50 on a stupid fan anyway?
 
VBOY: Yeah, ok, $150 for a stick of RAM?

$150 would buy a stick of 512MB DDR

I remember not too long ago paying $200 for a stick of 4MB (EDO) ram, now doing a little math:

512MB/4MB=128
128*$200=$25,600

Gee it seems like $150 is a bargain to me 🙂
 


<<

<< Well, you can get a decent speed computer for 400 bucks.... >>


If you hate 3D graphics, yes. >>



sure, but for well under $1000 total, you can build a very good gaming system:
ecs k7s5a
duron 1gig
256mb ram
gf2gts/pro, maybe a radeon 8500 if you want
20-40gig drive depending on your wants

My tbird 700 + gf2gts (bought it "ages" ago 😉) is still a good 3d performer. I can play every game I have smoothly. 3dmark2k1 is not a game, it doesn't count.
 


<< There is no reason to flame me, btw. Don't tell me you guys never wondered why computer hardware is really expensive. When I was trying to talk my parents into upgrading their PC, they said "but we can buy so much stuff for the house for the same amount of money!!" >>



3 words...get a job.

300 for a processor?? you know you could pretty easily save 150 on the amd chip and just overclock to the same speed....300 videocard?? you wont prob notice the diff on a gf3ti200 (~$170) and a gf3ti500.

so either you are getting ripped off or need to rethink your 'upgrade path'.

i just sold me old dual p3 933, abit vp6 and gf2 gtsv, 768 mb ram and went to a amd 1600, epox 8k7a+, 256 mb ram, and gf3ti200 and actually profitted 50 bucks...which i will use to buy another 256mb stick...difference is like night and day.

booty
 
You think computers are expensive today..? LOL! 🙂 You should have been around in the 80's, my friend.. I bought my 1st PC that ran at 8Mhz (blazingly fast!), 640k ram (Hey, Bill said we'd never use it all), 2 x 360k floppy drives (mass storage), monochrome monitor (I love auburn!), CGA video card (woo, 4 colors, color me blind!), keyboard, no mouse, no HD, nothing else for about $1000US (at today's exchange rate)..

Ok, I think that should about end all complaints.. 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top