

Consumers benefit again





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Is the Consumer Really Winning?
By AntiTomZandmasher2 on 8/15/2006 11:37:50 PM , Rating: 2
Sure, hard drive prices will drop, but will they go to ~$20 or so? Prices have been fairly constant; capacity and speed have gone up. Why can't I get a recently manufactured (not resold) 100 GB drive for super cheap? Planned obsolescence and corporate profit margins make me sad. In the end, I'll end up paying around the same if I want to get a new machine.

By mindless1 on 8/16/2006 2:38:21 AM , Rating: 2
You can't get one for super cheap because:

1) You're paying for research, manufacturing, maintenance, shipping, advertising, warranty coverage, etc. The least of the costs is actually a 2nd/3rd platter, another arm and pair of read heads. Single platter drives are by far the best value except when there are other goals like system data density.

2) There's still profit margin, stores have to be mindful of handling and dedicate the space.

3) Price per GB can't drop too much because capacity goes up due to platter density increases. The cost of a single-side one platter drive hasn't fluctuated so much, you're only considering capacity without the platter context and you can't buy a drive with only 1/3rd a platter or 67% of one head in it. There's still the PCB, housing, bearings and motor and all aforementioned overheads still.


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