Intel SSDs getting more expensive, not less?

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4244/intel-ssd-320-review

Just reading that article again, and it has a price listing (release prices?) shown at the bottom of the chart.

Intel 320 80GB. $159
Intel 320 120GB $209

Well, I was just looking at those two drives, and at BestBuy, they are priced thusly:
Intel 320 80GB $190
Intel 320 120GB $260

Newegg is slightly cheaper:
Intel 320 80GB $179
Intel 320 120GB $222

But my question is, aren't flash prices going DOWN? (I just bought a 32GB USB flash drive for $40 retail).

These drives use the CHEAPER 25nm NAND wafers, they should be CHEAPER than older SSDs. Why do they still cost so much?

 

[Veliko]

You have a strange obsession with SSDs.

 

[nanaki333]

You have a strange obsession with SSDs.

you say that like it's a bad thing!


anyway, i see what you're saying VL. every other ssd maker has dropped their prices considerably, especially the 250GB/256GB ones. intel's 320, even 510 series, all seem to be about the same price they were when originally luanched.

 

[onethreehill]

Launch prices
Intel 320 300GB $529
Intel 510 250GB $584

Newegg's prices
Intel 320 300GB $559
Intel 510 250GB $569

 

[Gigantopithecus]

SF-2xxx controllers are unreliable. They still can't release firmware that fixes the wake from hibernate issue, AFAIK. When your primary competition is a flat-out inferior product, you raise your own prices. Thank goodness for Crucial's good SSDs or Intel's prices would be even higher.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

SF-2xxx controllers are unreliable. They still can't release firmware that fixes the wake from hibernate issue, AFAIK. When your primary competition is a flat-out inferior product, you raise your own prices. Thank goodness for Crucial's good SSDs or Intel's prices would be even higher.

Ditto. And the Kingston V100+, which has also gotten more expensive over time. 64 GB M4's are $99 at Amazon, gogogogogogogogo.

 

[greenhawk]

SF-2xxx controllers are unreliable. They still can't release firmware that fixes the wake from hibernate issue, AFAIK. When your primary competition is a flat-out inferior product, you raise your own prices. Thank goodness for Crucial's good SSDs or Intel's prices would be even higher.

+1

plain old marketing. If no competition worth competing against, you do what ever you want.

Not like intel was cheap to begin with, even against the SF-1xxx range intel's G1 and G2 were more expencive for the size (and even had lower performance numbers on top of that).

Intel is swining on being reliable. And they charge for it.

 

[nanaki333]

+1

plain old marketing. If no competition worth competing against, you do what ever you want.

Not like intel was cheap to begin with, even against the SF-1xxx range intel's G1 and G2 were more expencive for the size (and even had lower performance numbers on top of that).

Intel is swining on being reliable. And they charge for it.

intel still has the intel 320 that doesn't come close to the new SF drives, but costs quite a bit more. people are buying them up at that price, so why bother dropping it? i've got 2x intel 320 160GB in raid0 as my OS drive at home, and a 256GB M4 for steam.

 

[aceO07]

Launch prices
Intel 320 300GB $529
Intel 510 250GB $584

Newegg's prices
Intel 320 300GB $559
Intel 510 250GB $569

Newegg's price for the 300GB in April was $549, so it has gone up. I had a 10% coupon at the time, so I got it for $500.

 

[taltamir]

But my question is, aren't flash prices going DOWN? (I just bought a 32GB USB flash drive for $40 retail).

These drives use the CHEAPER 25nm NAND wafers, they should be CHEAPER than older SSDs. Why do they still cost so much?

Welcome to economics 101.

In todays scenario your boss has asked you to price "Widgets". Your cost to produce widgets has gone down by 50% over the last year, but demand has gone up 500% while supply only increased 50%.

Hint: If you lower price you will automatically fail the question, and in the real world you would be fired for making such a fundamental yet costly mistake.

PS. Widgets is code for "Commodity NAND chips" not for SSDs. Not only has demand for SSDs sky rocketed, but so has demand for general consumer electronics (children toys, USB sticks, music players, video cameras, photo cameras, etc etc etc). The actual margins for companies that buy NAND, a controller chip, and then assemble it into an SSD and sell it are relatively small. The companies that are making tons of money are those selling NAND chips. Intel might sell both, but they have to consider that every chip they use to assemble an SSD is a chip they aren't selling by itself for someone else to use.