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RAM question

tubedogg

tubedogg

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I am going to be buying a PowerMac dual-1.8GHz and I'm looking to upgrade to 2GB of RAM (4x512). I used Crucial's wizard to find this module, at $84.79 currently. However, I clicked the PC3200 link on their left nav bar and I found this module at $79.99. From what I can tell the specs are identical, so why in the bloody hell is there a $5 difference in price?!?
 
Just looks like the pricing games that Crucial plays based on comments about their use of cookies possibly for pricing from threads here.
 
They also manage to get you to buy the more expensive stuff since they only guarantee that products found their wizard will work AND they will charge a 20% restocking fee for products purchased without using their wizard. Grr...
 
tubedogg said:
They also manage to get you to buy the more expensive stuff since they only guarantee that products found their wizard will work AND they will charge a 20% restocking fee for products purchased without using their wizard. Grr...
Click to expand...

More the reason to look at OWC....
 
It's kinda like Kingston memory and Kingston ValueRam, no? For example, you could have a 512MB PC3200 memory module branded under the Kingston ValueRam line at $100 and then you could have the exact same module branded under the Kingston main line at $120. What Kingston offers for that extra $20 bucks is that they actually test that piece of memory to work with the recommended hardware. I think you'll always get two schools of thought on which way to go, but I've tried both with Kingston and prefer ValueRam for the price.

I don't know if that's how Crucial runs it... maybe someone can confirm?
 
As far as I know, Crucial has two lines of RAM...their main "crucial" brand and the "Ballistix" line that is "ultra-high performance".

What is OWC?
 
Bah, Crucial is just selling you the same RAM at 2 different prices. Heck, there's probably 4 or 5 different prices for the same stick of RAM. That's why you never buy Crucial RAM from the Crucial website. 😉

They use Dynamic Pricing, where they look at your cookies to determine how to price you. If you're a rich mofo that purchases and looks at lots of nice electronics stuff on the net, they'll charge you heaps. If you're poor, or a cheap person, who skimps on everything and doesn't seem like the type who would spend a penny more than he has to, then they'll still try to make you their customer by listing a cheaper price. Using this method, they have a better chance of getting you to leave with their product if you don't have a lot of money, and yet they overcharge rich folks who don't care if they're paying $10 more than a poorer person. It's not like you'll ever know anyway, right? You only usually see the one price they list for you.

Just clear your cookies, prevent cookies in your browser, go to Crucial.com, and Refresh/reload the page until you're sure that you are getting the lowest price they offer. The price should change each time you refresh.

Or go to OWC and don't get ripped.
 
I checked out OWC but they are actually more expensive than Crucial, no matter if you go through Crucial's wizard or just the sidebar.

Regarding the cookies, Crucial cannot read cookies set by other sites nor can it determine whether a cookie exists, except for those set by crucial.com. Therefore I don't see how they could possibly base pricing on whether you look at expensive electronics on other sites. I don't doubt they play pricing games, I'm just sure they can't do it based on other site's cookies.
 
Holy crap...I just deleted all my crucial.com and www.crucial.com cookies and the price on the wizard-found RAM dropped to $77.59 each (down from $84.79). That's a good way to find yourself in hot water with regulatory agencies if people ever decided to get mean about it.
 
tubedogg said:
I checked out OWC but they are actually more expensive than Crucial, no matter if you go through Crucial's wizard or just the sidebar.

Regarding the cookies, Crucial cannot read cookies set by other sites nor can it determine whether a cookie exists, except for those set by crucial.com. Therefore I don't see how they could possibly base pricing on whether you look at expensive electronics on other sites. I don't doubt they play pricing games, I'm just sure they can't do it based on other site's cookies.
Click to expand...

By .16 cents by my search. You quoted $84.79 at Crucial, and OWC is $84.95.
 
tubedogg said:
Holy crap...I just deleted all my crucial.com and www.crucial.com cookies and the price on the wizard-found RAM dropped to $77.59 each (down from $84.79). That's a good way to find yourself in hot water with regulatory agencies if people ever decided to get mean about it.
Click to expand...

Is a few dollars saved worth the crap they are trying to pull? Or would you rather buy from a straight shooter? That is why I will only buy from OWC from now on.
 
The difference to me is I have heard of Crucial, used them in the past, and despite the pricing games they may be playing, I still trust them more than a place I've never heard of. Maybe OWC is great, maybe not, but it's the same reason I purchase at Amazon over some no-name outfit found on pricegrabber.com even if I pay a buck or two more - I know and trust Amazon. (Amazon has been accused of playing pricing games as well. *shrugs*)

At least I know how to get what appears to be Crucial's lowest price now.
 
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