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PC Prices to Rise?
guinan writes "The Economist is running a story about how now that PC makers think the worst is over, it's high time to raise prices. In particular, the focus is on the steady price of flat-panels and a possible end to the decline we've seen in the price of memory. Granted, most of the /. crowd build their own boxes, but if you want to buy a computer from a major brand better go for one soon while you can still get all the perks."
Memory prices have doubled in six months. What decline?
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
So because one or two companies show slight gains from last quarter, the entire tech economy is rebounding? Bah... I wonder when media sources would like to give some proof as to recovery, rather than jumping on the optimistic bandwagon in their articles.
Even so, raising prices at the beginning of a rebound might serve to shove us back in the gutter again. People are tighter with money now, especially tech workers, who are the #1 customers for these technologies. I don't think they're willing to give up the money so easily now.
"Granted, most of the /. crowd build their own boxes..."
I highly doubt the accuracy of this statement.
I agree that a lot of people grossly overpay, however you mentioned that he plays flight sims: These are among the most hardware intensive games available (i.e. A machine that can kick ass in Quake 3 might slog and churn playing Flight Sim 2002). Sure you can turn down the features, but he if he spends lots of time playing then he might be exactly the sort of person to appreciate having every slider near the max, with extensive ground traffic, clouds, weather, etc.
Indeed. Cashing in on propaganda. Short term profits perhaps but at the cost of credibility. I still vividly remember all the hew and cry in the press about the shortage of tech workers. Will be a long time before I regain much faith in the press. No longer an information source but a crowbar made of lies.
What your "clueless" neighbor wanted to you to "bless" was his decision to spend a huge amount of money on a computer merely to demonstrate his commitment to being on the cutting edge. In other words, he wanted you to let him know how L33T he is.
;#)
Normally, I wouldn't be so condescending about a newbie, but the fact that he asked you about it, specifically telling you the price, indicates that he was just showing off. It would be kind of like him showing you his brand new Porsche, as he rubs his chin thoughtfully saying, "hmm, do you think I paid too much??"
Meanwhile, I don't think you need to worry too much about the cost of low-end systems being affected, since we l33t coders "know" that building it yourself will always be cheaper, especially since you don't have to pay the Microsoft Tax...
Well I know from personal experience, that I have a hard time latly making any money building systems for people. With complete systems available from gateway for 600 its really hard to compete, I've got to be able to sell the same system for maybe 450 to be able to sell as I can't provide the same level of warrenty, putting together a complete system with monitor and a legal copy of windows at that price leaves me with no profit.
Only the losers buy systems at DELL, Compaq, IBM, HP or whatever the brands are.
And BIG companies. Like.. umh.. Those that matter. And consumers, those who really pay manuf.'s bill.
Those who can build their own system are not a big market, they're more like marginal. Maybe a PR market, but really, really small.
fucktard is a tenderhearted description
What this means is that first of all I save time on not having to assemble the thing and test individual components, plus if something breaks, I can get it replaced more easily. But I still get to choose the exact configuration, and don't have to pay the Microsoft tax if I choose not to (if I choose to, however, I can still get OEM pricing for Windows).
I may end up paying that 100 - 200 bucks for their work; but usually it's not even that much, since they still get volume discount for components. That is, if I bought components from them, the price would be about equal to what they charge for the whole system.
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Not to mention people who want support. Or rack mount servers.
By the time you buy a rack chassis and the compatable parts, you might as well have purchased it from Dell.
Or, if computers is your business, i.e. webhosting, you want something with a warranty, because if it breaks, as far as the clients are concerned, it's *your* problem to fix.
Plus you have to look at: If you can get a system from dell for $500 with a celeron 1.1 Ghz, 256 MB ram, and a 20 gigabyte hard drive, you have to think, by the time you get all that from pricewatch, you're going to spend about $400 by the time you include shipping, they send the parts class R mail, and they're not quality pieces anyway, then you have to pay your employees $10/hr to put it together and test it? Not only do you lose time, but you lose money cause the time could have been spent doing something else.
Even walmart sells computers with no windows. Honestly, its hard to save money building your own low end system anymore.
sig?
... the economy is still not really growing - only able to level even.
Rising is never as fast as falling. And the mergers are not going to reduce the over-capacities. OK the memory was really too cheap, I think. But the rest? Flatscreens are not _that_ cheap.
So all comes down to wishfull thinking for my opinion. We have ample time to compare prices and bargain. I don't need a Dell or HP - on the inside they are pretty much the same anyway.
hmm I didn't realize till now that Dell was resorting to advertising in posts on /.
And to think an AD got a +5
http://Lenny.com
I am a software guy. I spend my nerd thots on trying to figure out things like why some people like fricken OOP, and not on hardware.
I never really had that much interest in the hardware beyond a basic understanding. My hands are too clumsy and large, and I cracked the &@#$ motherboard the last time I put in extra memory because the doggone things wouldn't lock into place. Fortunately, it still worked miraculously. If I paid somebody, then I could demand a replacement if it cracked on them.
I might add a new drive and try to add memory, but I decided not to try to learn hardware by trial and error because I don't wanna deal with flakey hardware problems. It if does not work the first time and 40 minutes with the manual does not uncover it, to the shop i go.
Table-ized A.I.