The RAM and SSD have gotten that much more expensive to source. Anyone who sells a product with similar components either raises their price, or takes a loss.
Even laggy crap DDR4 RAM is at almost $6/GB; DDR5 (like the Deck uses) is double that. The absolute cheapest appropriate-sized 512GB M.2 drive is $100, from a no-name brand. The whole market has gone down the tubes thanks to AI companies buying up absolutely everything.
It’s weird that I’m actively rooting for China to do it’s thing and begin to rapidly pump out cheap memory modules in such high volumes that they are able to over-satiate demand and put a downward pressure on pricing.
Before anyone tries to accuse me of copium or some other affliction, I would like to remind you that this is EXACTLY China’s modus operandi for the past 20-something years.
Both Samsung & SK Hynix were just in the news for issuing their DRAM division staff annual bonuses of well over $300K USD from a 10-15% pool of operating profits. The margins are there for China to squeeze once their manufacturing capability catches up - and it’s catching up very quickly.
The RAM and SSD have gotten that much more expensive to source. Anyone who sells a product with similar components either raises their price, or takes a loss.
Even laggy crap DDR4 RAM is at almost $6/GB; DDR5 (like the Deck uses) is double that. The absolute cheapest appropriate-sized 512GB M.2 drive is $100, from a no-name brand. The whole market has gone down the tubes thanks to AI companies buying up absolutely everything.
A year ago I got 2x SATA cheapo SSDs - 1TB at $56 and 2TB at $106. Today the same listings are over double that price.
Even HDDs are expensiver now. 2.5" 1TB is $60. In January I got 12TB WD HDD for $220. Today it is $460.
FUCK AI!
It’s weird that I’m actively rooting for China to do it’s thing and begin to rapidly pump out cheap memory modules in such high volumes that they are able to over-satiate demand and put a downward pressure on pricing.
Before anyone tries to accuse me of copium or some other affliction, I would like to remind you that this is EXACTLY China’s modus operandi for the past 20-something years.
Both Samsung & SK Hynix were just in the news for issuing their DRAM division staff annual bonuses of well over $300K USD from a 10-15% pool of operating profits. The margins are there for China to squeeze once their manufacturing capability catches up - and it’s catching up very quickly.
The other half is that, at these prices, the manufacturing doesn’t have to be competitive.
They can use a less advanced dram fab process, sell it for less than what Micron/SK/Samsung are charging and still make ends meet.
Maybe it’s higher voltage and slower. But again, at this point, people will take it.