why are cuda's so expensive?

[kasparov]

I have never seen a seagate on sale -- I see WD and Maxtor on sale all the time. I wanna buy a 'cuda V -- but the prices I am looking at are like $1+ per gig while the prices with maxtor and WD are like 0.50-0.70 per gig.

Can someone tell me if this price difference is normal?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Hell, a 40GB Barracuda IV is verging on 2 bucks per gig ($1.75). It gets lower as the size grows of course. Frighteningly, a WD 20GB is 62 dollars, over 3 bucks a gig.

Seagate just doesn't sell as many drives as Western Digital and Maxtor, I'd assume, so they can't cut their prices very low in the first place, and the resellers can't put them on sale easily. The Barracuda is Seagate's ONLY consumer hard drive, as well, so they don't have as much of a product range to have varying prices.

I still don't see any Western Digital drives significantly lower priced. 95 cents per gig is the lowest Newegg has, and that's only one 2MB cache model, all others are over 1 dollar per gig, but not nearly the prices of Seagate's. Their 250GB drive is $1.55 per gig, while Seagate's highest capacity Barracuda V 120GB is only 1.15 per gig. A WD 80GB 2MB cache is only 5 cents per gig cheaper than an 80GB 'cuda IV.

I think it's just that Seagate has such a narrow range of products, combined with the lower sales volume. It's interesting that the very smallest 'cuda drives have such a high per-gig price -- it shows how much they focus on the higher end products, while Western Digital and Maxtor are able to focus on a wider range.

Maxtor's prices are even worse in some cases. Over 2 bucks a gig for a 30GB drive. Buck and a half for a 60GB. But overall they line up well with WD's prices.

 

[RalfHutter]

Seagate's go on sale constantly. I've seen at least one dozen sales (with rebate) on the 80GB cuda IV at Bestbuy alone during the past six months. Final price of the drive ends up aroud $60-80 depending on how good the sale is. Fry's Electronics has also been a goo place to find the 80GB drives on sale. There's been at least 6-8 sales (with rebate) during the last 4-5 months. Final price ends up around $60-90 depending on the sale. Outpost.com also has sales on these fairly often (they're owned by Fry's) so keep your eyes on them as well.

 

[Pauli]

Frighteningly, a WD 20GB is 62 dollars, over 3 bucks a gig.

I have to laugh at your use of the word "frighteningly", Lord Evermore. The first HD I bought was a Seagate 20MB (yes, MEGA-byte) for $300 back in 1984 or 1985. THAT'S $15,000 PER GIGABYTE!!!!!

 

[JetBlack69]

Originally posted by: Pauli

Frighteningly, a WD 20GB is 62 dollars, over 3 bucks a gig.

I have to laugh at your use of the word "frighteningly", Lord Evermore. The first HD I bought was a Seagate 20MB (yes, MEGA-byte) for $300 back in 1984 or 1985. THAT'S $15,000 PER GIGABYTE!!!!!

<Nelson>Ha-ha!</Nelson>

Aren't the Cuda V's the newest model? That could be why they are more expensive.

 

[RichieZ]

Buy it from dell, my 120GB Cuda V was $111 shipped. I could have got it for less but I was impatient.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore


Seagate just doesn't sell as many drives as Western Digital and Maxtor, I'd assume, so they can't cut their prices very low in the first place, and the resellers can't put them on sale easily. The Barracuda is Seagate's ONLY consumer hard drive, as well, so they don't have as much of a product range to have varying prices.

I still don't see any Western Digital drives significantly lower priced. 95 cents per gig is the lowest Newegg has, and that's only one 2MB cache model, all others are over 1 dollar per gig, but not nearly the prices of Seagate's. Their 250GB drive is $1.55 per gig, while Seagate's highest capacity Barracuda V 120GB is only 1.15 per gig. A WD 80GB 2MB cache is only 5 cents per gig cheaper than an 80GB 'cuda IV.

I think it's just that Seagate has such a narrow range of products, combined with the lower sales volume. It's interesting that the very smallest 'cuda drives have such a high per-gig price -- it shows how much they focus on the higher end products, while Western Digital and Maxtor are able to focus on a wider range.

Hahah... you gotta be joking. Seagate low volume??

Quick look at the yahoo! finance specs:
WD
Maxtor
Seagate

Seagate's market value is more than Maxtor and WD combined. Looking at total revenue, Seagate is multiple times that of Maxtor and Western Digital COMBINED. They are the king of storage.

Narrow range of products?
Lets look at Seagate products: IDE: 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm dekstop drives targetted at OEM's. SCSI: Fibre Channel, SCA, 68pin drives from 10k to 15k rpm. They have a broad range of products that serve their customers' needs.

The only reason why people dont make a big deal is because Seagate is like Dell. They cater to the masses that demand quiet durable drives (or high end high performance SCSI drives), instead of that tiny fraction of people that need performance and dont care if they own the next wind tunnel. On the SCSI side, they are the fastest available and are some of the most reliable with proven validations that other companies simply do not have. Seagate may not sell more drives in the retail market, but they beat the living crap out of other companies in the OEM one. And the OEM market is the one that counts (similar to 3dfx Voodoo3 vs nvidia TNT2).

 

[Lord Evermore]

I still maintain that Seagate's active product line is smaller than the others. Seagate ONLY makes a few barracuda drives for the consumer market, and the smaller/older drive prices get jacked up when they're nearing end of life. I'm not talking about OEM stuff or server-intended SCSI drives. Maxtor and Western Digital make several different sizes in several different target lines (performance, value, et cetera) while Maxtor only has one line of quiet drives.

Value of the company is not necessarily directly related to their sales of one particular type of product. Seagate produces tape drives and hard drives, Maxtor and WD only produce hard drives.

Buying hard drives retail REQUIRES that you find one on sale in order to get a good buy. While most online orders are for the OEM drive only, the retail packaging and kit is certainly not worth an extra 50 dollars (Best Buy's current price is 139.99, Newegg is 89). I assumed that the original post referred to online orders, because it's pretty much a given that you're going to get raped on a retail purchase. Seagate has only very recently gotten itself a retail presence, as well.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
I still maintain that Seagate's active product line is smaller than the others. Seagate ONLY makes a few barracuda drives for the consumer market, and the smaller/older drive prices get jacked up when they're nearing end of life. I'm not talking about OEM stuff or server-intended SCSI drives. Maxtor and Western Digital make several different sizes in several different target lines (performance, value, et cetera) while Maxtor only has one line of quiet drives.

Value of the company is not necessarily directly related to their sales of one particular type of product. Seagate produces tape drives and hard drives, Maxtor and WD only produce hard drives.

Buying hard drives retail REQUIRES that you find one on sale in order to get a good buy. While most online orders are for the OEM drive only, the retail packaging and kit is certainly not worth an extra 50 dollars (Best Buy's current price is 139.99, Newegg is 89). I assumed that the original post referred to online orders, because it's pretty much a given that you're going to get raped on a retail purchase. Seagate has only very recently gotten itself a retail presence, as well.

Their market value is several times larger, but I also iterated the fact that their REVENUE is several times larger (which i'm sure that their tape business occupies a HUGE portion of*).

Look inside your new Dell, IBM, HP. They use a variety of drives, but hey... look what pops in more. Seagate! Order some Dell/IBM/HP SANs and what kind of SCSI drives do you get? Seagate! Seagate dominates in OEM. This arguement is not if you buy retail for cheap or not. Its the fact that is imprinted in Yahoo! Finance that clearly states that Seagate moves MORE harddrives than Maxtor and Western Digital combined, even if you cut out their HUGE tape business*. Seagate moves more drives than those 2 companies, it is FACT not opinion.








* note sarcasm

 

[dkozloski]

The reason Seagate drives are more expensive relates to the price of oats. If you want first class oats you pay top dollar. If you are willing to run them through the horse once they are lots cheaper.

 

[Pariah]

Seagate makes better drives. When you pick up a Seagate you can feel how solid it is compared to other drives. That costs money.

Hahah... you gotta be joking. Seagate low volume??

Quick look at the yahoo! finance specs:
WD
Maxtor
Seagate

Seagate's market value is more than Maxtor and WD combined. Looking at total revenue, Seagate is multiple times that of Maxtor and Western Digital COMBINED. They are the king of storage.

They are in the consumer market. They've had zero retail presence until the Barracuda IV. They own the SCSI market which is where the money is. Seagate actually dropped out of the ATA market for about 2 years or so recently.

 

[Dug]

Aren't the Cuda V's the newest model? That could be why they are more expensive.

The 7200.7 is the newest model.

They make 40, 80, 120, 160GB models. Serial, 2MB, 8MB cache.
With a nice increase in sustained transfer rates.

Doesn't sound too much different then any other manufacturers lineup. Except they don't go beyond the 160GB barrier. But they do make quiet drives.