I'm aware of people talking about AI huge buying leading to increased prices. I just didn't know or wasn't sure how much is opportunistic price raising that doesn't reflect reality. Like how fast food used "covid" to justify sit down restaurant prices for what is supposed to be 5 dollar meals. I never believed the economic justification from fast food.
I don't follow closely enough or are aware of all the ins and outs to know if the AI was the reason to hike prices or the excuse to hike prices, or if it's a mix of both.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's a non-zero amount of "oh hey this is a good opportunity to jack up the price and blame it on data centers", but the disrupted market is real. It's a large part of why Trump make a big government investment in Intel in my estimation. The inability to supply our own chips domestically represented a national security threat that got revealed by the AI demand spike.
Yeah, I fed this conversation into AI and it's indeed bleak. I wanted to get a new mega HDD like 20 Tb to store full libraries of games, including PS3 before the internet archive gets inevitably shut down in our draconian times. 22 TB 1 year ago was like 200 something dollars.
Now it's 550 dollars. I have the pressure of wanting to wait until the price is lower, but also concerned if I wait too long, the ability to download huge libraries like PS3 will become shut down. We're so close to being like North Korea with internet. Very little is standing in the way of that, so I wanted an archive of roms before the inevitable happens.
That one. I have the 16 TB version for Plex and it's served me well. I think I paid 150 or so for it back a few years ago
22 TB there is 550, but was like 200 something within this year.
I have a 6 TB I currently was using for rom backups, but trying to do a complete PS2 and Gamecube set has made me realize if I want to have Wii, Wii U, plenty of switch, and plenty of PS3 and 360, I'm gonna need a lot more space. 6 Tb is just enough for all the old consoles and almost all PS2 and Gamecube. But Wii, Wii U, 360, Switch, PS3...forget about it.
Then there's all the other stuff you'd want to archive like Teknoparrot and all the other obscure hyper specific arcade type games
Price hikes and drops are generally the best economic signals that exist because they are completely public and they depend on people's real buying decisions. Regardless of the motives involved, if companies charge more and people continue to pay it, the market will be flooded with supply until a new equilibrium is reached, because there's money to be made. Gas prices shoot up in disaster areas, then return to normalcy as supply increases.
I'm aware that this assumes a free market, which we don't have in several respects, but it does hold generally true. For example, publishers initially tried to hold the line at high prices for ebooks, but the market has kept things relatively reasonable.
Flash makers are limited by water supply, and most modern memory and logic products are operating as zero sum markets, right now. Growth exists, but it can be sped up to meet demand, not by a long shot. Micron also went all in on AI product production, and Hynix is heavily leaning into it.
The big HDD makers all seem to have some institutional history and wisdom. Tbey are selling like crazy, but not changing any major plans. WD and Seagate are very much acting like this is a bubble (it is), and will pass. They are selling out into the future, but not doing anything that would put them in higher risk if it were to crash next week. Good for their profits and company health, but ad for our wallets.
I'm aware of people talking about AI huge buying leading to increased prices. I just didn't know or wasn't sure how much is opportunistic price raising that doesn't reflect reality. Like how fast food used "covid" to justify sit down restaurant prices for what is supposed to be 5 dollar meals. I never believed the economic justification from fast food.
I don't follow closely enough or are aware of all the ins and outs to know if the AI was the reason to hike prices or the excuse to hike prices, or if it's a mix of both.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's a non-zero amount of "oh hey this is a good opportunity to jack up the price and blame it on data centers", but the disrupted market is real. It's a large part of why Trump make a big government investment in Intel in my estimation. The inability to supply our own chips domestically represented a national security threat that got revealed by the AI demand spike.
Yeah, I fed this conversation into AI and it's indeed bleak. I wanted to get a new mega HDD like 20 Tb to store full libraries of games, including PS3 before the internet archive gets inevitably shut down in our draconian times. 22 TB 1 year ago was like 200 something dollars.
Now it's 550 dollars. I have the pressure of wanting to wait until the price is lower, but also concerned if I wait too long, the ability to download huge libraries like PS3 will become shut down. We're so close to being like North Korea with internet. Very little is standing in the way of that, so I wanted an archive of roms before the inevitable happens.
What kind of drives are you using to make it to 22TB of storage for only $550?
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-22TB-External-Drive/dp/B0DW8ZW47C?crid=P2J1VJQXG8RC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.s5q2AMO4sAiq4l7tHjITJX7-RWpoa7adk_KzSGDDtqR70UaetumCC4FGqQw0cxIcxWP4Fd816ohwkLHvfsfOxnSDWs3K_BJAa2C6ks9Ramq7VZgtJLipVW3C66DmuIdMHNqQO8vgEk05hNZDgMUJmudPlz3mNoPnzBxJZv6EXH8k_AAR7Z_BEe87xdm1c2hH2XDXcc1nqK5WABgKSuSxLVQkJHV1dVANcvk58OFiyV0.j-0sVt_k26_XMUGag6uqbMSRSW_EwdtgsKtTPMhAM1w&dib_tag=se&keywords=20%2Btb%2Bhard%2Bdrive&qid=1781811400&sprefix=20%2Btb%2Bhard%2Bdriv%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.cc5c4494-202e-46df-a2c7-ed21162b3114&th=1
That one. I have the 16 TB version for Plex and it's served me well. I think I paid 150 or so for it back a few years ago
22 TB there is 550, but was like 200 something within this year.
I have a 6 TB I currently was using for rom backups, but trying to do a complete PS2 and Gamecube set has made me realize if I want to have Wii, Wii U, plenty of switch, and plenty of PS3 and 360, I'm gonna need a lot more space. 6 Tb is just enough for all the old consoles and almost all PS2 and Gamecube. But Wii, Wii U, 360, Switch, PS3...forget about it.
Then there's all the other stuff you'd want to archive like Teknoparrot and all the other obscure hyper specific arcade type games
Price hikes and drops are generally the best economic signals that exist because they are completely public and they depend on people's real buying decisions. Regardless of the motives involved, if companies charge more and people continue to pay it, the market will be flooded with supply until a new equilibrium is reached, because there's money to be made. Gas prices shoot up in disaster areas, then return to normalcy as supply increases.
I'm aware that this assumes a free market, which we don't have in several respects, but it does hold generally true. For example, publishers initially tried to hold the line at high prices for ebooks, but the market has kept things relatively reasonable.
Flash makers are limited by water supply, and most modern memory and logic products are operating as zero sum markets, right now. Growth exists, but it can be sped up to meet demand, not by a long shot. Micron also went all in on AI product production, and Hynix is heavily leaning into it.
The big HDD makers all seem to have some institutional history and wisdom. Tbey are selling like crazy, but not changing any major plans. WD and Seagate are very much acting like this is a bubble (it is), and will pass. They are selling out into the future, but not doing anything that would put them in higher risk if it were to crash next week. Good for their profits and company health, but ad for our wallets.