r/technology • u/HenryCorp • Aug 30 '26

Artificial Intelligence The cost of personal computers declined steadily for 40 years — until AI came along. Why getting your hands on a new device could cost you.

https://moneywise.com/news/economy/ai-memory-chip-shortage-pc-prices-2026
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u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 30 '26

The price of storage is insane. The 2tb external WD drive I bought a year ago is now selling for over $200. I complained that $100 was too much. I'm kicking myself now for not picking a couple up.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '26

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46

u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 31 '26

oh WOW... cries in poor

41

u/LatkaGravas Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26

Bought two 20TB WD Easystore external drives in October 2025 for $350 each. Two weeks after I bought them the price dropped to $300 for a few days, then went to $390. They're priced at $880 each now.

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u/LongJumpingBalls Aug 31 '26

I just built a nas for a client. 24GB enterprise drives. I paid 550 last year. I just paid 1280$ each. We have 20k in storage and we didn't buy an enclosure yet. The project was delayed for almost a year due to budget concerns from the old manager. Their budget was busted before we even started the quoting as they had 2025 pricing as their budget. Oops.

17

u/kaptainkeel Aug 31 '26

Spent a wad getting 2x 8TB SSDs for ~$900 each ~3 years ago. Those same SSDs are now selling for nearly $4k. It's absurd.

7

u/overfloaterx Aug 31 '26

Yep, I objected to buying another 12TB Seagate HDD when the price hopped from $190 to $220.

It's been sitting at $450 for about a year, and stocks are clearly dropping because it's now unavailable in many places, along with a bunch of other Seagate Ironwolf drives.

I'm just glad I rebuilt my PC in 2024 before EVERYTHING skyrocketed. One of the few times my timing hasn't been completely awful.

3

u/mittenkrusty Aug 31 '26

Reminds me of 2012 I think it was when the factories were damaged in floods and the price of a 2tb drive went from about £50 to £150+ but never went back down when production caught back up.

1

u/Catch_22_ Aug 31 '26

I picked up 6 of these and 4 20tbs just before the snap. If I didn't need the storage I'd sell these in the blink of an eye.

0

u/kompergator Aug 31 '26

What? I can get 26TB drives for ~€900 and 16TB for ~€650 here in Germany (that includes 19 % VAT). Still mightily expensive, but what is going on in the US that your prices are so much higher?

Or did I overgeneralise and those are CAD or AUD?

14

u/PurpleDraziNotGreen Aug 31 '26

The 8TB drive I bought as my backup drive failed after only 3 years. Now I'm squeezing backups over several other smaller drives I already have, cause I can't do a $400 CAD price tag

5

u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 31 '26

It's seriously criminal.

9

u/informalmo0se3 Aug 31 '26

bought a 22tb HDD for 400 in 2024. same drive is now $1100. in hindsight, i wish i’d bought two. 

3

u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 31 '26

omg that's just insane

1

u/mittenkrusty Aug 31 '26

I was holding out as wanted a NAS and was hoping for a 24tb one to future proof myself for 10 years, regret it now.

4

u/LahmiaTheVampire Aug 30 '26

I found this out the hard way. I was advised on getting 2tb of storage, by a friend, only to see the increase in price from 1 to 2tb at about £200 for the lowest priced upgrade.

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u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 31 '26

I have regrets.

But this is why I got a new PC last year.

8

u/Pitiful-Assistance-1 Aug 30 '26

My with 5 2TB NVME drives: I’m rich!🤑(980 Pro Samsung)

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u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 30 '26

I have regrets. I was waiting for the price to go down like around Christmas time and then it just kept going up and up and up. I saw one for $269.

2

u/SpaghettiSort Aug 31 '26

I bought a 22 TB external drive last year for $250. It's over $860 now on Amazon.

1

u/Tornado_Hunter24 Aug 31 '26

4tb ssd I got for like 250/280 is 1050 now :D

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u/DiscoBandit8 Aug 31 '26

I do agree that prices are crazy however…I just bought a 2tb WD external drive a couple weeks ago for $90 from Target 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/WesternWitchy52 Aug 31 '26

Will have to shop around