is technology getting cheaper everyday - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 12:44:34 am
content: i have noticed in the last 5 years prices of things have been getting cheaper i remember when i bought my first android phone 5years agoit has a 3.2" inch screen 320 x 4803mp camera records video at 720x480running andriod 2.3cpu 650mhz256mb ram150mb storagebattery life is like 6.5hrs using 3gcharge time 2.5hrs to 3hrsand that phone was bought 5years for $98nzd on special RRP was 149nzdbut now a much better phone for $40nzd4.5 inch screen 480x800 pixels4GB internal storage comes with 2gb sd card alsoAndroid OS, v4.2 can update to 4.3 even 4.4 if i use a custom rom512mb ram5mp camera with auto focus records 480p videocpu Dual-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7battery life upto 11.5hrs talk time 3gcharge time 2hrsalso when i got given a new tv from my sister back in 2010 it was a 21" lcd with built in freeview and usb cost like $450nzd is hd readybut now for the same price i can buy a bigger much nicer 1080p tv for that priceeven my 2gb mp3 player i bought 6 years ago that cost me $70nzdi can now get a 4gb mp3 player for like $8nzdit's great that technology can advance so quickly and become so cheapbecause from what i have seen it is getting a lot cheaper but everybody keeps telling me technology is getting higher and higher in price

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 01:59:27 am
content: Quote from: sony mavica on November 21, 2015, 12:44:34 amOn what planet has technologynotgotten cheaper over time? I think you need to find new people to listen to…

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 02:21:28 am
content: It seems like only computer and electronics technology gets cheaper, while everything else gets more expensive.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 02:24:57 am
content: And for nearly all products, that impression would be wrong once you correct for inflation. The percentage of our incomes that we spend on food, for example, is far smaller than our grandparents spent. Pretty much the only thing that really has gotten more expensive is housing (and in USA, education).What we're also seeing in USA is the incomes of the middle and lower classes drop while inflation marches forward. This of course is a new trend that needs to be stopped ASAP.

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 04:22:12 am
content: Only if your chinese and read the EEVblog , find something your selling glowingly reviewed there and suddenly the price went through the roof

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 09:35:41 am
content: Quote from: tooki on November 21, 2015, 01:59:27 amVintage Australian made valve radios.

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 08:55:02 pm
content: I agree, technology has become cheaper over the years.Relevant:http://www.businessinsider.com.au/historical-price-trends-for-tech-products-2015-10

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 09:30:15 pm
content: Quote from: crispy_tofu on November 21, 2015, 08:55:02 pmInteresting, the TV metrics are almost certainly predominantly due to the shift away from CRT. I remember buying my first LCD monitors, 1024x768 for about £500/$700, maybe 2001 or so, they were expensive compared to CRT equivalents, but wow, what a difference they made in terms of ergonomics and reclaimed desk space. The only other upgrade I ever did on a PC with a similar excellent return was switching from HDD to SSD, again at the time a cringeworthy expense.I am sure that there was some reluctance from manufacturers to switch off their CRT plants: without doubt there were billions in investment in them. For some years, LCD alternatives remained stubbornly expensive, and then about 2005 parity was reached and the flat screens took over.

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 10:23:56 pm
content: The hardware in your standard smart phone could be considered an elite workstation 10 years ago, mini supercomputer two decades ago, three decades a major supercomputer. The comparisons get more absurd the farther you go. Guess the price for each.The point is, that you get more bang per unit of buck all the time. This has been a trend since pretty much forever*.* - Not counting rapid inflation or extreme cases, crises, etc.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 11:45:27 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on November 21, 2015, 09:35:41 amThe issue isn't the price of a given model, but of equivalent technology now. (I.e. the new price of a current model.) If you look at the inflation-adjusted price of radios from the tube era, they cost the equivalent of hundreds or thousands of dollars now — far, far more than we pay today.

author: moya034
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2015, 11:51:09 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on November 21, 2015, 02:21:28 amThis is very true, unless you walk into a Harbor Freight.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2015, 01:33:42 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on November 21, 2015, 02:21:28 amPrice per kilogram stays about the same, nothing has changed.

author: dfmischler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2015, 02:03:10 pm
content: Quote from: moya034 on November 21, 2015, 11:51:09 pmExcept that lots of the stuff in Harbor Freight won't survive a full day's work IME, so it is really more expensive than buying better quality (even if they will give you another tool for free that will also break in 5 minutes).

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2015, 02:06:21 pm
content: Quote from: Galenbo on November 22, 2015, 01:33:42 pmNot true. A 12lb ThinkPad from 1992 cost easily $6000 - and that's 1992 dollars. You can get an 8lb 2015 ThinkPad for $2000. That's far cheaper.

author: moya034
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2015, 02:16:03 pm
content: Quote from: dfmischler on November 22, 2015, 02:03:10 pmAgreed 100%

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2015, 02:21:17 pm
content: Quote from: Galenbo on November 22, 2015, 01:33:42 pmOne example would be transformers, which are certainly a part of electronic devices at some level. The raw material cost of Iron core transformers is based on commodity market prices and have not decreased like semiconductor real costs. To get around it there was SMPS designed running at higher and higher switch frequencies so that lower cost and size transformer material could pass the same wattage at lower costs then iron.

author: Augustus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2015, 03:59:14 pm
content: Quote from: sony mavica on November 21, 2015, 12:44:34 amWell... My parents first color tv set, a Metz CRT, served them well for over 23 years if I remember that well. Yes, it was pretty expensive at the time of purchase and it was repaired several times but repair was cheap and there were several places (in town!) who actually did this for a living. Modern tv's are more or less throw away products, you are lucky if they survive the warranty period before the build in electrolytic countdown timer kicks in and renders them useless. Affordable local repair shops are long gone, anyway. TV doesn't turn on? Throw away, buy new. Even if the timer fails, there's a new model every year with countless new "must have" features and marketing hires the best psychologists to convince you to buy it and toss your now "totally outdated" old gear. So, yes, everyday consumer gadgets tend to get "cheaper", but at the same time the frequency of purchase seems to get higher and higher... Just an additional thought...

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2015, 10:27:24 am
content: Quote from: tooki on November 22, 2015, 02:06:21 pmYou did not isolate the factor "Technology" in your comparison.The thinkpad was much more innovative and "Technologic" when it first appeared, than version number 18.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2015, 10:35:45 am
content: I'm sorry, you guys are all veering into ridiculous discussions of semantics. The fact remains that today, we get far, far, far more technology for our money than you did 10, 20, never mind 50 or 200 years ago.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2015, 11:11:45 am
content: I think for low income people the perception may genuinely be of rising prices for technology. For example, 15 years ago it has cheaper here to contact people when outside the home than 5 years ago. That's because 15 years ago less people had GSM phones, and there were free to use courtesy phones all over this city. 5 years ago the courtesy phones had all gone, because everyone on a reasonable income had a GSM phone, making a GSM phone a near necessity. 5 years ago I could get a GSM phone locally for less than I can get one now. That's because 5 years ago I could get a basic voice phone in the local market, and now I can't find one. The entry level for contacting people has become a low end smart phone. So, in 15 years the minimum cost of keeping in contact with someone while moving around this city has risen from zero to an entry level Android phone and a monthly service fee.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2015, 09:49:51 am
content: In a wealthy country like HK it might feel that way. But cheap GSM phones are widely available in developing nations, at prices far lower than any other kind of telecom services available before. (It's much cheaper to build a GSM network than a land line network.)I'm still waiting for anyone here to provide a single credible example of technology gettingmoreexpensive.

author: bookaboo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2015, 10:50:43 am
content: As I read this I have in front of me my PCB with a PIC24FJ64GA which has every peripheral you could ever want (well almost), buckets of i/o, enough processing power to do even a moderately complex project 10 times over, in a package smaller than a postage stamp. Cost = £1.35Beside it is a lump of plastic and pins thrown together to make an 16 way PCB connector. Cost = £2.68.Something doesn't add up

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2015, 09:08:31 am
content: Quote from: bookaboo on November 25, 2015, 10:50:43 amCompare their price in euro/kg?It's even done by insurance companies in multimillion projects that do transporting "technology"