Ask HN: Will hardware ever be cheap again?

30 pointsbjourne12d ago8 comments

Up until about 2015 it felt like hardware was always getting cheaper. Then something happened and hardware stopped getting cheaper every year. Adjusted for inflation a mid-range laptop or desktop costs me much more today than it did back then. Yes, it has better specs but it needs it to make up for the extra bloat of all applications.

Given DRAM, CPU, GPU, and SSD shortages it does not seem hardware will become cheaper in the short term. Do you think it will ever go back to how it was ten years ago or is this the new normal?

8 comments

kofd10d ago

I expect the answer is yes with caveats, but the combination of lead times, currently limited manufacturing ability, and uncertainty about how demand will develop, mean it might take a while. My guess is the middle and low end will ultimately come down in price again, but the top end might not. At the same time, the middle is pretty capable now.

adrianwaj10d ago

Cheaply de-bloating FOSS for SBCs is the future.

AriasLcr12d ago

I remember when during covid, hardware prices went up like crazy.

jharohit11d ago

Xteink and such companies are proving it can be. And surprisingly Apple of all people are pulling prices down!

Trustwaretech11d ago

sure! After the the items begin to get dust in the warehouses they sit in. With the way tech is going i don't feel like it will. that's just me though.

Spooky2312d ago

Yes. This bubble will pop and we’ll have 3-4 rough years.

RiverCrochet12d ago

New normal. Hardware is going to progress but increasingly be out of reach of the average person. Why:

A) The relationships and assumed truths that supported the pre-2016 supply chains which enabled cheap hardware are disintegrating.

B) Tech is not seen as a positive thing any more by the masses.

An AI bubble pop may provide temporary relief, but it won't change A or B.

bediger400012d ago

You left out "C) Tech giants emphatically encouraging everyone to use only and solely their smartphones". We all know the reasons for this (collect and sell personal data, and keep people watching ads by offering click and rage bait), but the tech giants increasingly have incentives to keep people from writing code, or performing actions not in the tech giants' best interests. We, as a society, are not going to be producing anything en mass except smart phones. Very large mass markets are the only reason computer hardware was cheap.

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