New Intel SSD drives are in!!!

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: capeconsultant
What is it that determines price gouging as compared to simple supply and demand??? I just bought a hard drive at the egg (spinner) and did not give it a second thought. Is that becasue I was not truly in the market for an Intel? Heck, at least not until the price settles down and maybe I see the next round of competition

gouging is selling required items (food) at exuberant prices (10x and more) during an emergency (no food to buy)

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: capeconsultant
What is it that determines price gouging as compared to simple supply and demand??? I just bought a hard drive at the egg (spinner) and did not give it a second thought. Is that becasue I was not truly in the market for an Intel? Heck, at least not until the price settles down and maybe I see the next round of competition

gouging is selling required items (food) at exuberant prices (10x and more) during an emergency (no food to buy)

Price gouging - pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available.

Profiteering - Business owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency (especially a war).

You are mixing-up profiteering and price-gougine. Newegg not only raised the G2 price almost 2x the MSRP, but they also raised the price of the existing G1 as well.

A respectible retailer does not do this (or at least to this degree). Getting rid of sale prices, rebates, or raising to MSRP is one thing, doubling the price is (although legal) is very shady.

Edit: An good example of this is when the Xbox360/PS3 came out. Wal-mart, Target, etc. did not raise any prices, despite the high demand. Online etailers, without scruples, sold bundles of 15 games with the console for $1200.00.

Which company do you trust more? Which company do you think would be more likely to have good customer service and help out with a possible issue with the product?

(Sorry - getting off topic)

Once the prices come down, I am stuck between the 80GB and the 160GB. Still not sure which one to get...

 

[taltamir]

over 90% of the ones sold at retail at "normal" price were later resold online, at even MORE exuberant prices.
By raising the price themselves, retailers protect REAL customers from profiteers who would buy only to resell at a higher price.

and price gouging is the legal name for the following felony:

Price gouging may be charged when a supplier of essential goods or services sharply raises the prices asked in anticipation of or during a civil emergency, or when it cancels or dishonors contracts in order to take advantage of an increase in prices related to such an emergency.

 

[BansheeX]

Yeah, SSDs aren't essential goods. And I don't even agree with the concept of "gouging". A price is just an auction result, it's the function of demand outbidding other demand. In a situation where there aren't anywhere near enough goods to go around, the people with the most immediate need are going to outbid the ones with the lesser need. That is the desirable result. If you fix prices, it's going to create a shortage for the people who most need the product.

 

[taltamir]

basically anyone who is calling it gouging is saying "well, yes, that OTHER person was willing to pay 400$ for it, but for some reason I DESERVE to be the one to get it, not that other person. And I deserve to pay only 230$ for it too when someone is willing to pay 400$! How DARE they sell it to the guy who offered more money!"

 

[spufaru]

Originally posted by: taltamir
over 90% of the ones sold at retail at "normal" price were later resold online

Out of curiosity can anyone check what the top tick for a completed Ebay sale was on either the 80gb or 160gb G2?

 

[taltamir]

I am seeing $379.99 using the search term: intel x25-m G2. Sold on sep3

on sep 5 $285.00

and after that some people tried, and FAILED to sell for around 350-400$. and the only reason is that prices were raised in retail.

It would be higher had all retailers stuck to the 230$ price... I myself would have bought any I Could to resell for a profit. As would a ton of other people. Simple supply and demand.

 

[runestone]

Well, I just put an order in for a G2 80 gig model- hope they really are in stock this time.
Question for those of you who have already installed:
Are the power supply and data cords the same as a regular SATA drive, or does one need to use a "notebook" type adapter?

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: runestone
Well, I just put an order in for a G2 80 gig model- hope they really are in stock this time.
Question for those of you who have already installed:
Are the power supply and data cords the same as a regular SATA drive, or does one need to use a "notebook" type adapter?

they are normal sized for the x25

 

[ilkhan]

1.8" drives have a mini-SATA connector, but the 2.5" notebook SATA is the same as the desktop SATA connections.

 

[chrisf6969]

I got my man jewelry in today. (ie: expensive stuff in a small box that makes me smile)

Got it from Amazon for $250, a full Benjamin lower than newegg was charging at the time!

I can't wait to get home & install it.

 

[spufaru]

BLT has over 100 of the G2 80's (retail box) in stock for $255 free ship if anyone still needs them

 

[chrisf6969]

So when I get home I'm going to be installing my new 80Gb G2. Currently using WinXP SP3.

I know AHCI should be enabled (which I already have enabled on existing drives)

I had a 74Gb Raptor, which I had cloned to my WD 640Gb Black on a 74Gb partition to match, then had the balance (approx 570Gb) on a 2nd partition as a data drive.

I know a fresh install is better, but can I just clone the 74Gb partition to the 80Gb SSD
using clonezilla then realign it ?

My plan is to use 80Gb as OS/app drive.
Then use the 640Gb WD Black for data.
And actually order a 2nd matching 640Gb to put in Raid 1 for data security.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: chrisf6969I know a fresh install is better, but can I just clone the 74Gb partition to the 80Gb SSD
using clonezilla then realign it ?

AFAIK, No.

 

[mhouck]

Sorry. What site is BLT?

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: mhouck
Sorry. What site is BLT?

I assume its referring to this: link

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: chrisf6969
I got my man jewelry in today. (ie: expensive stuff in a small box that makes me smile)

Got it from Amazon for $250, a full Benjamin lower than newegg was charging at the time!

I can't wait to get home & install it.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: taltamir
basically anyone who is calling it gouging is saying "well, yes, that OTHER person was willing to pay 400$ for it, but for some reason I DESERVE to be the one to get it, not that other person. And I deserve to pay only 230$ for it too when someone is willing to pay 400$! How DARE they sell it to the guy who offered more money!"

No. It's price gouging, plain and simple.

I never said I deserved the product at all, just that these retailers are unscrupulous. etailers are much worse than B&M stores because they don't give a crap about the customer (usually). They don't have to explain to someone, in person, why the product is $150 higher than MSRP (printed on the box possibly) just because of supply and demand. It's easier to raise the price on a website location than actually stare someone in the eye and charge them the rediculous price.

I am sorry you just bend over for these retailers, I don't support it though.

And yes, anyone who buys this for >$300 is a fool.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
No. It's price gouging, plain and simple.

I never said I deserved the product at all, just that these retailers are unscrupulous. etailers are much worse than B&M stores because they don't give a crap about the customer (usually). They don't have to explain to someone, in person, why the product is $150 higher than MSRP (printed on the box possibly) just because of supply and demand. It's easier to raise the price on a website location than actually stare someone in the eye and charge them the rediculous price.

I am sorry you just bend over for these retailers, I don't support it though.

And yes, anyone who buys this for >$300 is a fool.

That's a rather self-centered egotistical POV you got going for yourself there.

Why so derogatory and condescending to anyone who might have different purchasing priorities in life than you do?

 

[imported_spike99]

I don't know why so many ppl are complaining about newegg... If you are not happy with newegg prices... GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I did.. and got my 160GB G2

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: spike99
I don't know why so many ppl are complaining about newegg... If you are not happy with newegg prices... GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I did.. and got my 160GB G2

Exactly.

I'm not particularly pissed at newegg, but I think it's a bad longterm move on their part to gouge prices. If given a choice between two equal companies would you rather go to the one you know will milk you for all your worth if they can get away with it or the one that sticks to fair prices and doesn't take advantage of people?

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: spike99
I don't know why so many ppl are complaining about newegg... If you are not happy with newegg prices... GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I did.. and got my 160GB G2

righteous indignation gives people something to do

 

[CurseTheSky]

--------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
--------------------------------------------------

Sequential Read : 247.539 MB/s
Sequential Write : 100.744 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 185.156 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 100.425 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 22.343 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 56.675 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB
Date : 2009/09/17 22:47:58


Oh... damn. And this is on a motherboard that doesn't support AHCI.

AS SSD X-25M 160GB G2

CrystalDiskMark X-25M 160GB G2
CrystalDiskMark Raptor-X 150GB

HDTune X-25M 160GB G2
HDTune Raptor-X 150GB
HDTune WD 640GB AAKS

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
HDTune X-25M 160GB G2

What's going on there in the first 10MB of the bench that is causing the bandwidth results to get all wonky on you like that?

Is it repeatable if you rerun the bench over and over again, or just a one-time fluke?

 

[nbuubu]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu

Originally posted by: spike99
I don't know why so many ppl are complaining about newegg... If you are not happy with newegg prices... GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I did.. and got my 160GB G2

Exactly.

I'm not particularly pissed at newegg, but I think it's a bad longterm move on their part to gouge prices. If given a choice between two equal companies would you rather go to the one you know will milk you for all your worth if they can get away with it or the one that sticks to fair prices and doesn't take advantage of people?

/agree

I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed in the online computer parts store I've used for years and given tens of thousands of dollars.

They're free to charge as much as they want, and I'm free to never shop at Newegg again. I expect to see this kind of way-over-MSRP on ebay. Not from a legit shop that cares about keeping its customers happy.

There's a very good reason companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony do their best to punish retailers who jack rare launch console prices way over the MSRP (though stores are able to get around it with absurd bundles, the base price of the console itself is never over MSRP at an "official" retailer). It causes a lot of customer anger.

To see a company with such a great reputation as Newegg do it, and to see the immature and arrogant responses their reps gave on their forums with high-school economics lessons which missed a large part of the point, makes me kind of sad.

And how many of these drives have they sold for a $200 premium? A few hundred? Can't be many more than that, a lot of people bought them from Newegg for MSRP back in August.

So are say, generously, 10-20k short term profits worth losing the small segment of their customers who really care about gouging? Who knows. I've deleted my Newegg browser bookmark. And I've spent far more than that at Newegg over the years.

Maybe they think the few people like me have a really short memory.