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Computer hardware is SO overpriced !!!

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Computer parts prices are the lowest now than they have ever been(except for ram going up now, but it's still cheap and video cards costing hundreds of $) because of better competition with new companies, better technology making older components cheap to buy, and a larger buying market cause it's not just the kid down the road with the pc now.

I remember my friend buying the PII 266 for like $1300 bucks when it first came out(his whole system cost $4500 bucks and he has this sweet 8Meg Ati card too hehe). I almost bought a 16Meg 72pin simm for like $900 bucks cause the price came down from $1200, but I didn't thank god! I was one of the first people around to have a cdrom though, and I paid through the nose for it.. I think it was $900 for a single spin external Hitachi drive, a steal(back in 91)! I still remember people saying I would never find any use for it cause cdroms would never catch on. I think the drive is sitting in my closet now gathering dust. My point is don't complain cause it could cost alot more and you might get alot less. If you don't want to pay the price, get out of the game cause you can't have the toys if you don't pay. The prices are fantastic now compared to just a year or two ago even and they will only get better as time goes on.
 
All I can say fairly is that VBboy must not had a frame of reference. If you are a young teenager and want to have the best stuff now (didn't we all!), then anything we can't afford seems too expensive. Frankly, many teenagers are spoiled rotten these days compared to 20 years ago. Yuppy parents often buy whatever their kids whine for. Now if VBboy is at least 16 years old, he can go out and get a job at Micky D's or something and save up for a decent computer in a matter of weeks.

Many have pointed out how much prices have dropped over the last 5 - 10 years and how much more that you can get for your dollar and given some concrete examples. A lot more for sure. I'm sure most of us don't want to flame VBboy, but a reality check has definitely been in order here. It seems for quite a long time, from the late 1980s until the mid-1990's, it took about $2000 to buy a good middle of the line computer computer setup and it didn't usually include a printer either. Now a days, you can get a nice system with a printer for half that price, especially if you roll your own.

I've been amazed at the freefall that computer prices were in until last fall. Computers have never been cheaper. So it's time for a reality check. Anyway, from what I've read, an Athlon XP1600+ system with a decent $video card can handle about any new game out there right? And those systems can be built cheaply (CPU <$150, Video card <$170 etc...)
 
Computers are no longer worth the money it costs to build them, highend parts=high prices no matter what nowadays. I hate paying 300-500+ for a little waffer that cost 20 bucks, if even that to produce.
 
To those who asked:

1. I do have a job
2. I make enough money to build your dream PC in two weeks
3. I was around in the 80's
4. My first PC was IBM XT-compatible with 640 KB RAM and a 1.2 MB floppy instead of the HD

OK, moving on.
Why are LAPTOPS so overpriced? 🙂
 

A $350.00 video card? I can sell you a $300.00 watch also, but for day to day needs I think you can probably get by on a $25.00 one!
Likewise, I just bought a GeForce MMX 200 for $29.00 at CompUSA, while not the greatest game player out there it's going to do a great job for my friend who wants a system.
A $300.00 CPU? Whatcha planning on doing, heavy CAD work for your dad's arospace job at NASA? Try $90.00 for a 1.2GB chip, I think your dad can even get by on that one. And save the $50.00 becasue that $90.00 CPU comes with a heat sink.
And RAM, wow, complaining about the price of RAM. I'm running a 1Gig myself for $150.00, but I do heavy photo editing, so I'd think you could get by with a $35.00 stick of 256mb.

Total price, $154.00 for EVERYTHING! Or, you could buy yourself a 13" tv for the bathroom for a few more bucks instead.
 


<< To those who asked:

1. I do have a job
2. I make enough money to build your dream PC in two weeks
3. I was around in the 80's
4. My first PC was IBM XT-compatible with 640 KB RAM and a 1.2 MB floppy instead of the HD

OK, moving on.
Why are LAPTOPS so overpriced? 🙂 >>



1.) Thats good.
2.) Sound's like you make a pretty penny for a teenager, if you are a teenager.
3.) That puts you somewhere roughly between 12 and 22 (lots of kids seem to be living at home well into their 20s and 30s these days) Of course if you are living at home, and you make the bucks you say, then it should be no big deal to go out and buy the nice toys you want to, right?
4.) Ugh! Hard to imagine those dinosaurs, even if your memory is long.

Anyway, I was just incredulous at the comments which started this thread. Total disbelief. Of course you knew you'd provoke lots of comments. 😉
 


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



Just think about it, a few years ago CPU's were in thge $700 range, 128 MB quality RAM were in the low $100's. The price of RAM you listed is either 2 256 MB RAM sticks or maybe a 256 MB RDRAM. I don't have anything for the video card except that it's a top of the line card, get something just as good but cheaper like the GFTi200 for @$180.

Remember to thank AMD for bringing down those CPU prices!
 
Overpriced? Relative to what? Hey even two years ago Intel's 933 Mhz P3 was $900! I can recall paying $100 for 16 kilobytes of memory. Stuff is really cheap now.

Just stop upgrading every 2 months. 🙂
 
Om,

Good point, but I have to correct you:

It's not GeForce MMX 200, it's "MX".
It's not a "1.2GB chip", it's "1.2 Ghz".

And I don't work for NASA anymore, I'm busy cloning humans in my basement 🙂
 


<< Even now you can get away with surfing the Web and doing word-processing at below 1 Ghz. >>

LOL! I know MANY people who are perfectly happy doing that at 166MHz or less. One guy I know is perfectly happy doing that stuff on his 1994 60MHz PPC601 PowerMac, another is happy with their original 60MHz Pentium. Get some perspective, son!

Laptops are also dirt cheap. Consider the engineering that goes into making all that stuff fit into ever-smaller, lighter, and cheaper machines.
 
"Comments, observations?"

Computer hardware is dirt cheap. The average cost of practically every component except video cards has dropped drastically in recent years, plus they perform far far better. It was not uncommon to see systems in the $8000-10,000 range in the 386 days, long before things like 3D acceleration, flat panel monitors and even CDROM drives were around. I don't see how anyone can say computer hardware is too expensive these days unless they are 12 years old, and their income consists of what mom and dad give them every week. If you think it costs too much, don't buy it, no one requires a Geforce 3 or 2.2GHz Pentium 4 to have an enjoyable computer.

Little quote from Bill Gates:

"If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades, you would now be driving a V-32 instead of a V-8, and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour (16,000km/hr), or you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds (14 kilos) and gets a thousand miles to the gallon of gas. In either case the sticker of the new car would be less than $50."

To which GM jokingly repied:

"Yes, but would you really want to drive a car that crashes 4 times a day?"

Anyway, just an example that the computer industry is advancing far faster than most if not all industries. Including the fridge industry.
 
JellyBaby -



<< Just stop upgrading every 2 months >>

- It's very funny you should mention that, because I did in fact build a 1.5 Ghz overclocked Athlon with 512 MB of RAM, only to sell it 3 weeks after building it! I decided that I should wait for Athlon XP, KT266A, and faster RAM.
 
Heh this is funny. You're complaining about prices of computer hardware. Think of the markup on Software.

Lets assume MS completely blows goats and only sells 5 million copies of WinXP home edition.

That's like 5,000,000 x $249 (CDN) = $1,245,000,000 (CDN)
$1,245,000,000 / 1.605 = $775,700,934.58 (USD)

Now assume there's hmmm like 500 ppl @ MS working on XP for a whole year at a salary of ~$65k (USD). That's a total of $32,500,000 (USD) in salaries. Even if there's 3 times that going into XPs development (ie: 1500 ppl @ ~$65k), that'd be approx. $100,000,000 (USD) in expenses.

They still made $675 MILLION.

Now take in to account the cost of other Server etc licenses and the fact that they'll sell way more then 5 million copies.

Stop complaining about HW prices and think about where you are actually getting ripped off.

As for your hardware prices, perhaps:

1) You're quoting top of the line stuff.
2) You're quoting from a store that is way behind the times.
3) You have NFC what you're talking about, and pulled all of those number out of thin air. (I can beat those prices even in Canada).
4) Where can you buy a full sized fridge for $100 ?

Thorin
 


<< Frankly, many teenagers are spoiled rotten these days compared to 20 years ago. Yuppy parents often buy whatever their kids whine for.. >>



Amen to that truth, brother.. I find teens/young adults VERY spoilt these days as compared to previous generations.. Yes, it's not NECESSARILY the teen/young adult that is to blame, either.. However, what DOES bother me is when these same teens/young adults STILL MANAGE to whine about the stuff that is available to them today.. I =WISH= I had 10% of it when I was that age, yes, 10% would have made me as happy as a pig in sh*t.. I guess today revolves around the "me me me I I I what about me, what did you get for me, don't forget me" concept, unfortunetaly.. Blame society for that as well..

The internet, online gaming (free servers, free demos), hardware that simply kicks butt, games that are just awesome to play, all sorts of nifty little gadgets, awesome consoles, etc, etc, etc.. STOP THE INSANITY!
 
> 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!!"

Actually, computer hardware prices have fallen dramatically since the early 90's and the trend is continuing. Around 92 I remeber buying an overclocked custom DX266 running at 72. The full system was about 5k. It was rather hard to build a top end system without being north of 5k. Today I'd say it's hard to build a comparible system for north of 2.5k. Memory, storage, and CPU prices continue to drop (and have sped up somewhat over the last 3 years).

Bill
 


<<

<< Frankly, many teenagers are spoiled rotten these days compared to 20 years ago. Yuppy parents often buy whatever their kids whine for.. >>



Amen to that truth, brother.. I find teens/young adults VERY spoilt these days as compared to previous generations.. Yes, it's not NECESSARILY the teen/young adult that is to blame, either.. However, what DOES bother me is when these same teens/young adults STILL MANAGE to whine about the stuff that is available to them today.. I =WISH= I had 10% of it when I was that age, yes, 10% would have made me as happy as a pig in sh*t.. I guess today revolves around the "me me me I I I what about me, what did you get for me, don't forget me" concept, unfortunetaly.. Blame society for that as well..
 >>



I can say Amen brother too. Personally I think this thread is evidence of that, no offense mean't to the originator. Yes, parents and society are responsible for raising spoiled kids who never seem happy with the toys which they have to play with in overabundance. When people think hardware is expensive in this day and age, there is something out of whack. I have a daughter, age 6, who is growing up with much the same mentality and I have to be more diligent to help her to appreciate the many blessings she has.
 
When buying cars, there are Ferraris, McLarens, and Lamborghinis, etc.
And then there are the more affordable Fords, Fiats, WVs, etc.

When buying computers you have the cutting edge systems from Falcon Northwest, Alienware, Compaq workstations, etc.
And then there are the EMachines, Compaq presarios, etc.

And then of course there are SunFires and Cray's, I guess those would be more comparable to a hangar or spaceship or something.
Not to mention the homebuilt and highly overclocked boxes, I guess those are Skylines tuned to 750+ HP 😉

But anyways, comparing the most expensive computers to the cheapest home appliances isn't exactly a valid comparison.
 
I just built a full computer for a friend for $900

ATI Radeon 7000 32 DDR $51 newegg.com
KDS 15" LCD $347.65 buy.com
128 DDR RAM $37 newegg.com
AMD 1.33 Athlon w/FAN $106 newegg.com
Cyber Acoustics Speakers $13 newegg.com
Maxtor 20GB Hard Drive $77 newegg.com
Floppy $13 newegg.com
Lite On 16x10x40 CDRW $77 newegg.com
Future Power Case $35.95 allstarshop.com
Logitech Keyboard $14.95 allstarshop.com
Logitech Wheel Mouse $24.95 allstarshop.com
ECS Motherboard $62.00 allstarshop.com
Shipping on allstarshop.com $27.43


I'd hardly call that a bad system or bad price! It even comes with a flat panel too.
 


<<

<<

<< Frankly, many teenagers are spoiled rotten these days compared to 20 years ago. Yuppy parents often buy whatever their kids whine for.. >>



Amen to that truth, brother.. I find teens/young adults VERY spoilt these days as compared to previous generations.. Yes, it's not NECESSARILY the teen/young adult that is to blame, either.. However, what DOES bother me is when these same teens/young adults STILL MANAGE to whine about the stuff that is available to them today.. I =WISH= I had 10% of it when I was that age, yes, 10% would have made me as happy as a pig in sh*t.. I guess today revolves around the "me me me I I I what about me, what did you get for me, don't forget me" concept, unfortunetaly.. Blame society for that as well..
 >>



I can say Amen brother too. Personally I think this thread is evidence of that, no offense mean't to the originator. Yes, parents and society are responsible for raising spoiled kids who never seem happy with the toys which they have to play with in overabundance. When people think hardware is expensive in this day and age, there is something out of whack. I have a daughter, age 6, who is growing up with much the same mentality and I have to be more diligent to help her to appreciate the many blessings she has. >>



Yah, it's really up to the parent to teach their children to "appreciate" what they have, be it anything and to never take even the obvious (food, shelter, education) for granted..
 
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