Price Guides December 2003: The Year in Component Prices
by Kristopher Kubicki on December 25, 2003 11:02 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Hard drives are typically the most conservative of the major computer component sectors. We did not take an active interest in tracking hard drives prices until three months ago, but that does not mean we don't know what happened with hard drives this year.
SATA has been the continuing delta in the world of magnetic storage. A year ago SATA drives held a $100 - $200 premium over any IDE counterpart. Today, there is less than a 10% premium on these drives; we would not be surprised if the drives become more prolific than IDE by the end of 2004.
SATA continues to become the better choice over IDE. This year we will definitely see an increase on the bus speed. Most motherboards since May of 2003 began shipping with SATA connectors.
Unfortunately, there has also been a darker side of the magnetic storage sector. Continual reductions in warrantees, quality and longevity have angered consumers and retailers alike. One needs only to browse our forums for a taste of such unfortunate conditions.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
5 Comments
View All Comments
SUOrangeman - Monday, December 29, 2003 - link
The new 74Gb Raptor should be much cheaper and widely available from more popular vendors now (i.e., NewEgg).-SUO
Phiro - Monday, December 29, 2003 - link
You need to look a little lower, divide. I saw one for $194 I believe.divide_by_zero - Sunday, December 28, 2003 - link
Perhaps it is a function of live updating in prices but..."There are still some excellent NVIDIA cards. Our particular favorite, the GeForceFX 5900 NON-Ultra has been a spectacular sub-$200 card for several months now."
And on the chart they range from $239.00 to $281.00
eBauer - Saturday, December 27, 2003 - link
$217 is OEM, $240 is retail I believe.Pumpkinierre - Friday, December 26, 2003 - link
You had the A64 3000+ (512k L2) at $217 3 days ago and now you say its $240. I imagine demand would be great on this cpu but is there an error in your reporting?