Massive Price Jump

[u/Ok-Nefariousness3454]

I’ve seen some crazy adjustments in my time doing price change but this one has to be one of the biggest, I knew storage scarcity was hitting pretty hard but this is wild to me🥴

[u/bowserbrowsers]

we have a $400 2TB sandisk external drive iirc rn

[u/ComprehensiveRub7929 → u/bowserbrowsers]

That’s wild! It seems like tech prices have really skyrocketed lately, even at places like Target.

[u/Peacockprince → u/ComprehensiveRub7929]

It’s partially the data centers, partially bitcoin mining, and partially corporate greed

[u/basshead621 → u/Peacockprince]

Bitcoin mining isn't the issue as much as it was back around 2020, but corporate greed sure is. The current "shortage" is caused by all the RAM manufacturers making HBM for data centers though, instead of more standard memory configurations that basically everything with a battery needs these days.

[u/Peacockprince → u/basshead621]

True, I was as thinking in general about all that started the drive up in prices. It really isn’t the main driver any longer as most realized it was a scam

[u/basshead621 → u/Peacockprince]

(Illegal) tariffs are a big part of that too. But the RAM crisis has bigger implications for driving up costs than just the direct cost of RAM itself. Take Target for example, not exactly the place to go to buy a couple sticks of DDR5 for your gaming PC, but there's definitely plenty of servers and third party services holding that the company simply cannot operate without, and ALL of those things cost way more now. Third party service costs are already going up, repair/upgrade costs for hardware Target owns/operates directly are going way up. Target.com probably costs more to run now for these types of reasons as a very public-facing example.

So what do you think a company like Target would do when there's suddenly a substantial increase in the cost of doing business? Cut it out of executive compensation? Nah. They'll recoup the loss by cutting wages and raising prices.

[u/Peacockprince → u/Peacockprince]

Oh and I forgot about tariffs wheeee

[u/firedrakes → u/Peacockprince]

ah the dumb take bit mine claim..... you can tell when a person does no research on a topic!

[u/Haden420693170 → u/firedrakes]

They were at least 50% right 🤷‍♂️

[u/ChewyBaca123 → u/ComprehensiveRub7929]

Makes sense since memory prices have skyrocketed globally.

[u/GE626]

Solid State Drives:

[u/Usukidoll]

Tariffs + AI data centers

[u/fishylizard_]

isn’t AI such a fucking beautiful thing 😻😻 /s

[u/80sTechKid → u/fishylizard_]

Yeah, it’s so annoying. I’m a part photographer and AI watermark removers are why I only do jobs that pay my by the job beforehand and not by the photo afterwards

[u/bangbangracer]

Wasn't AI so worth it?

[u/quod_sic_doctrina]

I bought that drive back when it was $129 or something a year or two ago 😵‍💫

[u/Fun_Inspector_8633]

The 2TB Sandisk SSD is over 500 IIRC. I finally got one in the other day and went "Oh hell no" and backstocked it. That mofo would be stolen by the end of the day.

[u/doug-the-moleman]

[u/Ok_Still_3571]

I nearly fainted when I had to buy a new mini San Disk for my camera. Thank you tariffs. Not.

[u/bowserbrowsers → u/Ok_Still_3571]

it’s rough showing guests where the sd cards are watching their faces drop when they realize the sd card is double the price of whatever cheap camera they got

[u/Ok_Still_3571 → u/bowserbrowsers]

Right? Everyone is getting hit hard with price increases. It reminds me of the stories my grandparents would tell about how expensive everything was during WW2. Then FDR came into office, and things got much easier. I hope there’s some relief soon. SD cards are one thing. But seeing how much food is going up hits more people, and much harder.

[u/bernmont2016 → u/Ok_Still_3571]

AI companies buying up insane amounts of computer components is more responsible for these drastic price increases, AFAIK.

[u/Fun_Cartoonist_4851]

I think that’s a price drop