[LiveBrianD]

So, we all know that the Thailand flooding has sent HD prices up by about 2 to 3 times. (and they say it should actually be around a mere 20% more) Do you guys think this will help the SSD market? As some other guys were mentioning here in the comments (http://www.tomshardw...ml#BOM_comments), the SSD prices are going down as there is price gouging with HDDs. I wonder if this'll mean more SSD demand, which means the prices will go down even further most likely, and really hurt the HDD companies. Who knows...

For now though, I think the SSD prices are a bit high to bother upgrading. But then again, the HD prices are almost worse in some cases (sure, the SSD has a much lower capacity/GB, but the unit is still cheaper).

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 20 November 2011 - 01:15 PM, said:

I wonder if this'll mean more SSD demand, which means the prices will go down even further most likely, and really hurt the HDD companies. Who knows...

In a supply and demand economy like ours demand often RAISES prices (it has to do with scarcity --- more buyers competing for the same amount of products). That's why a shortage of HDDs from Thailand has raised prices.

Sometimes when manufacturers see potential sales --- as with tablets ---- they start cranking out their own versions until there are too many products on the market (a glut), and THEN prices start to drop. So the deciding factor with SSDs will be scarcity vs. glut: are there enough on the market to satisfy demand? (stable pricing), too few? (raised prices), or too many? (lower prices).

A caution with this theory: it assumes all things remain equal, and the presence of competition. For example, there was a recent price drop in SATA II SSDs, but that was because newer technology had been released. On the other hand, the Core 2 duo proc in my wife's PC has maintained its price because Intel is the only manufacturer and there is still a demand for it.

[LiveBrianD]

Well, when lots of people buy SSDs, they can produce them more in bulk, which probably ends up being cheaper per unit. With HDs, a bunch of factories producing critical parts are flooded and non-functional, so it'll take a while to get that back into shape.

[coastie65]

Yeah, I have seen some comments on the fact that there may be some price gouging involved with the SSD's. At the moment, I am not putting too much into it as new technology tends to come at a price for some time after introduction.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 23 November 2011 - 09:15 AM

[LiveBrianD]

coastie65, on 23 November 2011 - 09:13 AM, said:

Yeah, I have seen some comments on the fact that there may be some price gouging involved with the SSD's. At the moment, I am not putting too much into it as new technology tends to come at a price for some time after introduction.

On the other hand, HDD prices are up about 20% for OEMs, but more like 200% on newegg. That's crazy! I mean, even if SSD prices are going up, they're still not bad in comparison.