360 outsells Wii for XMas

[Murgos]

So, what your saying is that you don't like my source for a hard drive price?  It's a price, yes?  For a hard drive, right?  A source than can be checked by other people?

Sony might or might not not be shopping there but it serves to show a price range that is not what was quoted in that article and as far as it's worth the price of a hard drive on ebay is 1,000,000x more valid a number than the entirely unattributed one the article pulled out of it's butt.  I never claimed to be showing what Sony IS paying all I was showing is that they probably aren't paying $43.00 a unit for 20GB HDD's.

[Stephen Zepp]

So, what your saying is that you don't like my source for a hard drive price?  It's a price, yes?  For a hard drive, right?  A source than can be checked by other people?

Sony might or might not not be shopping there but it serves to show a price range that is not what was quoted in that article and as far as it's worth the price of a hard drive on ebay is 1,000,000x more valid a number than the entirely unattributed one the article pulled out of it's butt.  I never claimed to be showing what Sony IS paying all I was showing is that they probably aren't paying $43.00 a unit for 20GB HDD's.

No, sorry, but the price of a single hard drive on ebay is exactly as valid to the discussion as the entirely unattributed one the article pulled out of it's butt--they both have absolutely zero validity to a manufacturer/distributor.

[stray]

BTW, though I admit that you make a good point Murgos, $5 is a bit cheap. They're not old ass hard drives like that. They're 2.5" SATA. Apparently, the PS3 60GB version is using a Seagate Momentus. Not exactly dirt cheap.

Not saying that Sony pays big money, but I highly doubt they're paying $5 either. Trying to compare those hard drives with some random 20GB IDE on eBay isn't being helpful.

[EDIT]

Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST96812A 60GB 5400 RPM ATA-6 Notebook Hard Drive

I believe this may be the PS3 hard drive in question ($63.99 on NewEgg).

For comparison, you can get regular 3.5 Seagates, at larger sizes and higher RPM, for a lower price.

For example: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3802110A 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM ($43.99)

[Velorath]

Of course if Sony was constructing PS3's using only parts they found on Ebay, that would explain their initial problems with manufacturing enough for launch.

[stray]

On a sidenote, one could install a bigger Seagate (biggest is 160GB) without a hitch. Apparently.

Damn thing is $160 bucks though (Look at that, a gig for a dollar. More than twice the price of a regular 3.5 desktop drive).


Also, I just finally got some use out of the memory stick slot (I might be the only one).

[Murgos]

No, sorry, but the price of a single hard drive on ebay is exactly as valid to the discussion as the entirely unattributed one the article pulled out of it's butt--they both have absolutely zero validity to a manufacturer/distributor.

Look, the strawman that you are positing, the one that goes, "Murgos said that Sony purchases $5 hard drives from ebay to equip their PS-3s."  Is nothing I ever said anywhere anytime or in anyway.  I'm tired of this pointless troll that is not only tangential to the point but has no merit even on it's own grounds, let me know when you want to discuss something that I actually said or that is relevant to the article at hand.

[Roac]

Look, the strawman that you are positing, the one that goes, "Murgos said that Sony purchases $5 hard drives from ebay to equip their PS-3s."  Is nothing I ever said anywhere anytime or in anyway.  I'm tired of this pointless troll that is not only tangential to the point but has no merit even on it's own grounds, let me know when you want to discuss something that I actually said or that is relevant to the article at hand.

No, what you said is that you can buy a drive for $5 off ebay, so Sony shouldn't be spending $43 for one.  Stephen pointed out that buying one drive off ebay is not at all similar to buying 500,000 drives from a manufacturer which must also include using those drives in a produciton line, warehousing both the drive and end product, shipping of drive and end product, etc etc.  He pointed out that your comparison was a joke.  Guess what:  it was a joke.  Nevermind he was just trying to have a conversation that didn't warrant your flaming his ass over it. 

[Strazos]

I still think that $43 figure is a bit high. I mean, don't prices usually go down when you buy in such bulk?

[Roac]

For some things.  The problem with buying massive amounts of a product is that there are only so many suppliers you can go to, which heavily limits supply (this is unlike what "buy in bulk" means to an individual consumer).  Further, few of them are willing to sacrifice regular revenue streams for a limited offer; if you're shipping product through regular means now, why would you disrupt those relationships for a short-mid term deal?  Doing so could be hurtful in the long run.

[Trippy]

For some things.  The problem with buying massive amounts of a product is that there are only so many suppliers you can go to, which heavily limits supply (this is unlike what "buy in bulk" means to an individual consumer).  Further, few of them are willing to sacrifice regular revenue streams for a limited offer; if you're shipping product through regular means now, why would you disrupt those relationships for a short-mid term deal?  Doing so could be hurtful in the long run.

There's no shortage of manufacturers of 2.5" laptop drives. The fact that Sony went with Seagate rather than Toshiba, their partner of many components in the Playstation line, implies that Sony had the luxury of shopping around. The disk drive market is also very competitive. As long as you are making some profit selling drives to Sony for the PS3 I don't see why you wouldn't jump at that chance. The PS2 has sold over 100 million units but let's say the PS3 only sells 40 million units over say 4 years. If Seagate or whoever is making even only $1 net profit per drive sold that's $10 million straight to the bottom line each year for 4 years which in the case of Seagate is ~%2 of their net income.

[Murgos]

Look, the strawman that you are positing, the one that goes, "Murgos said that Sony purchases $5 hard drives from ebay to equip their PS-3s."  Is nothing I ever said anywhere anytime or in anyway.  I'm tired of this pointless troll that is not only tangential to the point but has no merit even on it's own grounds, let me know when you want to discuss something that I actually said or that is relevant to the article at hand.

No, what you said is that you can buy a drive for $5 off ebay, so Sony shouldn't be spending $43 for one.  Stephen pointed out that buying one drive off ebay is not at all similar to buying 500,000 drives from a manufacturer which must also include using those drives in a produciton line, warehousing both the drive and end product, shipping of drive and end product, etc etc.  He pointed out that your comparison was a joke.  Guess what:  it was a joke.  Nevermind he was just trying to have a conversation that didn't warrant your flaming his ass over it. 

Last time.  If drives are available for $5 dollars then no one is buying them for 9x the price.  Don't stress yourself trying to add inferences I did not make, he was trolling then which is why I flamed him and you are trolling now.

[Roac]

Last time.  If drives are available for $5 dollars then no one is buying them for 9x the price.  Don't stress yourself trying to add inferences I did not make, he was trolling then which is why I flamed him and you are trolling now.

Soon as you locate a million or more identical drives on ebay for ~$5 apiece, then you would be closer to being right.  At the moment however, there is one with similar specs at around $13 opened/used (it doesn't detail the condition), and half a dozen at over $65 (buy it now only).  The meaning here is that you CAN'T buy new drives at this price, sans one or two anecdotal listings on ebay.  Which does jack and shit for a company needing many, many times that amount.

[Murgos]

At the moment however, there is one with similar specs at around $13 opened/used (it doesn't detail the condition), and half a dozen at over $65 (buy it now only).  The meaning here is that you CAN'T buy new drives at this price, sans one or two anecdotal listings on ebay.

Sony probably bought them all.