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| Thread ID: 79067 | 2007-05-07 03:41:00 | Computer RAM, why is it so expensive? | rogerp (6864) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 547950 | 2007-05-07 06:02:00 | When I purchased my old P3 1GHZ computer back in 2001, I got 1GB of RAM for it, which cost about $300. I thought that RAM and computer speeds were supposed to double every 18 - 36 months. For example, I could purchase 2GB RAM for $300 in 2004, and 4GB of RAM for $300 in 2007. However this doesn't appear to be the case, as I would be lucky to get 4GB of RAM for les than $600 in 2007. What makes it even more confusing, is that memory for compact flash cards and USB Flash drives, have come down a lot in price, but regular computer memory pricing seems to have remained relatively static over the last few years. You can get a 1GB compact flash card for about $40. In 2002, a 128MB compact flash card cost almost $200. I am wondering why this that case, is it a supply and demand thing? You can get 4GB of Ram for less than $300 right now, quite easily. Have a look on PriceSpy. |
george12 (7) | ||
| 547951 | 2007-05-07 06:05:00 | Compaq ram is pretty expensive as I priced ram for mine the other day, and it was $175 for 512. I had mine in a shop awhile ago to go from 256 to 512 and had no end of hassles with ram conflicts. | supergran (108) | ||
| 547952 | 2007-05-07 06:06:00 | Unfortunate isnt it! - But thats the way it is in computer/parts retail. Depending on your buying power ( large chain-stores etc ) there is on average 5-15% profit in new pc's for small businesses, depending on whether its a budget, medium or high end config. Agreed, I rarely make more than 15% on an entire medium spec computer if I have to compete in price with others. From what I gather, pricespy fuelled stores make 10% or less on most of their imported products. |
george12 (7) | ||
| 547953 | 2007-05-07 06:41:00 | Agreed, I rarely make more than 15% on an entire medium spec computer if I have to compete in price with others. That is why companies that can design their own hardware can get better prices than standard run of the mill companies. |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 547954 | 2007-05-07 07:24:00 | In 1982 I paid $320 for 16kB of RAM for my Dick Smiths VZ20. I recently paid a third of that for 1 Gb. That's something like a 1000% per year decrease - I can live with that :-) | andy (473) | ||
| 547955 | 2007-05-07 11:06:00 | are you trying to buy the same speed ram? cause older ram gets exspensive as supply dries up, and 4GB of ram clocked at 900MHz is not only alot faster, but ALOT more expensive than what you bought in '01 and that theory about computer speeds was pertaining to the number of transistors in cpus, that trend you described is based on observation of a somewhat dynamic market, and is only that, a trend which may not carry onto the future, and as Andy said above, if you look back far enough prices/speeds are doing much more than halving/doubling |
motorbyclist (188) | ||
| 547956 | 2007-05-07 11:12:00 | Considering how much 4Gbit RAM units Samsung (the world's biggest manufacturer of RAM) has been ordered to build for 2007, I would say that prices are going to be coming down for a while as capacities go up. | winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 547957 | 2007-05-07 14:18:00 | Compaq ram is pretty expensive um........compaq dont make ram they just use some other brand.....possibly rebadge it........anyway a compaq computer should certainly take many other types of ram and all it takes is a bit of experimenting to see what it'll handle.....you got ripped off... |
drcspy (146) | ||
| 547958 | 2007-05-07 14:23:00 | Because they're a 'name brand' puter the makers tend to charge a lot if you need some parts and go to their supplier.......I dont reccomend this, had an experience with a compaq about three years ago that needed a new powersupply unit......well I rang the supplier and they quoted me $198 + gst.....i almost choked on my cuppa........the problem was that this was a desktop (not tower) case and I couldn't fit a standard powersupply unit in to it although the standard psu would run the puter perfectly happily......anyway I did it in the end with judicious use of a hacksaw.......saved the client about $150 or more on parts cost just for a psu........they do try to rip you off if you dont realise that you dont need their proprietary parts....... | drcspy (146) | ||
| 547959 | 2007-05-07 19:49:00 | Its not. Brand new types as they come out are expensive, then the price starts cming down a lot. Then once it becomes obsolete and its not being made, and there is only old stock left it goes back up. Roughly. Its hard to compare exactly like that, for instance: 32M FPM $56.40 64M EDO $87.46 64M SDR 66 $48.66 64M SDR 100 $67.71 64M SDR 133 $41.00 128M DDR 266 $43.00 The older stuff is in smaller sizes generally. The newer stuff, not only is it size but speed too. So its not an exact comparison. |
pctek (84) | ||
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