[chucker]

Originally Posted by Frank777 Yeah, I guess we've got a year or 18 months before the pandemic stops being a factor in supply chains. Tech is in a bit of a state right now. Apple Silicon's a bright spot, but Intel seems to have lost their way.

Yup. AMD seems to be doing OK, though.

(I think Intel is on a slow path to recovery, but we probably won't see that for at least a year or two.)

Originally Posted by Frank777 The new game consoles haven't lit the world on fire. SSDs are just not scaling upward in capacity and lower in price the way HDDs did. TVs will stay at 4K for awhile, seeing as 8K in computer setups are still rare. Looking forward to seeing what the M1X brings to the tech party, hopefully soon.

Seems to me both game consoles and TVs have sort of hit a spot where improvements are marginal. VR just isn't happening yet. 8K will be very hard for most consumer setups to notice.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by PB PM Did you see Intel's new ads that use the "Mac" guy from the old Mac vs PC ads? Intel must be really butt hurt to be pulling this BS.

Oh, no doubt. They're playing a game of desperation, trying to get as many people scared of Apple's new chips as fast as they can, while they can. Because when the M1X lands later this year, the poop is gonna fly, and Intel is going to get it all over their faces.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by chucker Yup. AMD seems to be doing OK, though. (I think Intel is on a slow path to recovery, but we probably won't see that for at least a year or two.) Seems to me both game consoles and TVs have sort of hit a spot where improvements are marginal. VR just isn't happening yet. 8K will be very hard for most consumer setups to notice.

Chucker, is there a reason you can see why SSDs are not scaling up in capacity (or lowering in price, depending on your perspective) as fast as previous storage tech?

Like PB, I'm about to buy a 12GB HDD myself because the cost of SSDs is so outlandish.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Frank777 Like PB, I'm about to buy a 12GB HDD myself because the cost of SSDs is so outlandish.

12GB? No way!

No one will ever need that much space.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by kscherer 12GB? No way! No one will ever need that much space.

I could correct it. But I think I'll let it stand.

[kscherer]

Oh, if you correct it, I'm gonna correct it back. That one has to stand!

[PB PM]

My G4 tower came with a massive 10GB HDD, but that was 20 years ago. I only got 6TB drives to move up from 3TB drives.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Frank777 Chucker, is there a reason you can see why SSDs are not scaling up in capacity (or lowering in price, depending on your perspective) as fast as previous storage tech?

I'm not sure I buy the premise.

SSD pricing has gone from ~69 cents per GiB in 2013 to ~9 cents per GiB in 2020.

(Data source: https://jcmit.net/flashprice.htm)

[Frank777]

Sure, but in larger capacities, even for professionals, they are extremely hard to find.

For example, the LaCie 1 big Dock goes up to 16TB capacity, but the 1 big Dock SSD line maxes out at 4TB.
And of course the 4TB HDD is USD$499, while the 4TB SSD is $3489.

I'm not saying they should be equally priced, I understand an SSD's speed will command a premium.

But in terms of capacity, I'm not seeing much availability in the way of SSDs larger than 5TB.

[PB PM]

I don't buy packaged SSD's (LaCie type things), way over priced. Bare drives are the way to go, and put them in a case of your choice. In the consumer space Samsung is really the only one offering 8TB 2.5" drives, the 870 QVO (QLC nand) is $1099 Cdn, so I'm sure it is cheaper than $3k USD. Micron and Western Digital don't. There are a number of NVMe options, the price is $1600 Cdn, so a $600 price jump. Either way a 8TB SSD is a lot more than sub $200 8TB HDD.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I think the chip crunch is hitting SSDs too. The 1TB external SSD I bought for my PS5 in January was only $40 cheaper than the 2TB external SSD I bought for my iMac last September. Both were from the same manufacturer and bought at the same store, the only difference is size.

[PB PM]

Odd, SSD prices have been very stable for the better part of the last four months, basically the same price as last summer looking back. There have been discounts on Samsung SSDs lately, as they have been rolling out new models over the past 3-4 weeks. I don’t watch prices of external SSDs though, which are usually $30-40 more than a bare drive.

[kscherer]

And on that note:

These people need to find something better to do with their time!

The complexity of the machines that make the machines is just …

[PB PM]

An it all runs on 0s and 1s, just like your Mac.

[kscherer]

Yeah, it was funny when he said that.

If I'm not mistaken, it's those tools (or others like them) that TSMC uses to build the latest Apple Silicon.

There's a reason why a chip fab is so blooming expensive to build.

[PB PM]

Yup, Samsung spent over $1 billion to get the ball rolling on a new fab last year.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by PB PM …$1 billion to get the ball rolling…

Yes, and it's rolling uphill. Those plants cost $10billion+ these days.