what is the deal with memory prices lately?

[machan]

remember the good old days when you could get 512mb for around $50. we all knew it wouldn't last, but now that same 512mb is going for anywhere between $149 and $190!?!?!?! WTF? just a couple months ago it seemed like the highest price i could find was $129 and most places were selling for just $99 or $89. the only real reason i'm peeved about it is because my parents are about to buy an emac and i wanted to get them an extra 512mb to add to the stock 256mb.

anyone know a good source for reliable and properly priced ram?

 

[jxyama]

i think newer memories are still getting cheaper, no? don't remember, though.

just like everything else, the price is governed by supply and demand...

i've bought from crucial and a more generic kingston from circuit city. they both worked fine...

if you want "proper" (dunno exactly what you mean), then go with crucial. if you want the cheapest, go get generics...

 

[Le Big Mac]

Originally posted by jxyama
i

just like everything else, the price is governed by supply and demand...

Yep, and memory prices are particularly volatile because of the economics of supply. The fabs that make the chips are incredibly expensive, so the cos. want to run them all the time. That means if people aren't buying the prices plummet. But since it takes a while to build a new fab, adn because they're already running full out, if demand starts to exceed supply, prices skyrocket. It's like gasoline in that way--it's hard to alter production to meet demand.

Right now, demand for memory has been increasing, as computer sales rebound.

Of course, now I just checked crucial, and the 512mb I got for my imac is $10 less than it was a month ago.

 

[Abstract]

Whoa!! Three months ago, 512MB would have cost you $129 at Crucial for my 12" Powerbook, and now it only costs $95. Three months ago, 256MB would have cost you $85 at Crucial, and now it only costs $46. It seems that as time passes, memory gets cheaper!!

If I want a 512MB stick of RAM (I bought 256MB), I'll just wait for the price of 1GB of RAM to fall drastically, forcing the price of all the other RAM to drop. Try doing the same. Check the price of RAM again only once your parents get their eMac. Hopefully it'll be lower. That's all you can really do.

Crucial is great.

 

[stoid]

yes, I'm waiting to see what the summer brings on the 1 GB RAM chips for my AluBook. Back when I got it in September, a 1 GB chip was at least 500-750 dollars, today prices are much more reasonable (250-300). I'm going to wait because I think that they will continue to drop until they are 150-200ish, and by then I might actually need to upgrade whereas 512 is enough for now.

 

[F/reW/re]

1 and a half year ago 512 MB SD ram for my iBook was at 3500 SEK, now it's at 500 SEK.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Originally posted by stoid
yes, I'm waiting to see what the summer brings on the 1 GB RAM chips for my AluBook. Back when I got it in September, a 1 GB chip was at least 500-750 dollars, today prices are much more reasonable (250-300). I'm going to wait because I think that they will continue to drop until they are 150-200ish, and by then I might actually need to upgrade whereas 512 is enough for now.

Do you think that they will continue to drop like that? I am hopeful myself. Been watching Crucial 1gb prices fo my PB 12";

Nov. about $650
Late Dec. early January about $450

Today $329

I guess the question is are the drop in prices due to a glut of product, and will go back up? Or has the technology reached better yields, so better prices? And are we seeing the bottom end of the pricing?

 

[Makosuke]

512MB sticks for my G5 from Crucial have dropped slightly since when I bought them last year, but price has been pretty level.

I have a feeling prices on 512MB modules are relatively stable right now, but I expect to see a steady decline in prices of 1GB modules, since demand for that much memory is increasing, and the number of computers that can take advantage of them are going up as well. An increase in popularity of 64 bit processors on the x86 side of things will probably help more, once that eventually happens.