Ridiculously overpriced hardware - Mac Edition

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Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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I have no Mac, and I have no clue about prices, but I stumbled upon this today and really wondered whether they are sane...

And why some 63 people actually paid that price...

I mean yes, its 3 nvme drives in a box that seem to only have taken SATA or whatever before, but come on...


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Wasmachineman_NL

Wittgenstein the Supercomputer FTW!
Aug 7, 2019
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Mac users usually have too much money and too little sense and that's where sellers/products in the OP come in.

Still though, €750 for a NVMe adapter for the 2013 trash can Mac Pro, lmao
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Hoped for something like "thats actually quite cheap, I paid €2000 for 4GB Memory" ... or so.

Kidding aside, just wondered if there is a rationale behind it i can't see as non Jobist
 

Markess

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May 19, 2018
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Northern California
Well, when you consider that the price of the BOTTOM OF THE LINE 4 Core model with an E5-1620 v2 CPU was €3000 (€7000 for the top end) almost 10 years ago......

Obviously the people who buy these, and the accessories for them, have a completely different standard of value.
 

alex_stief

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May 31, 2016
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Not trying to defend anything here, but: is there any alternative product that does the same thing? That would at least explain why the seller can charge this much.
 
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Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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From what I have seen most of the others only allow a single card, so there are real benefits.
And probably if you use this for work and can speed up your process or extend the lifetime of the box it might actually be worth it to you.

Its just the audacity to charge that much for a $20 part that really shocks me;)

Edit: It seems to be a normal price...
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Evan

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Jan 6, 2016
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It’s as mentioned a unique item for expensive devices and it’s made at least with quality components.
 

WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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I have no Mac, and I have no clue about prices, but I stumbled upon this today and really wondered whether they are sane...

And why some 63 people actually paid that price...

I mean yes, its 3 nvme drives in a box that seem to only have taken SATA or whatever before, but come on...


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Well, Amfeltec doesn't quote prices directly, but one retailer in the UK recently listed them above 650 Euros (which is a claimed 34% off listed price…oh wait, same as the one up top), so you kinda have an idea what the original pricing might look like. Those Trashcan Macs only have PCIe 2.0, so whatever performance you think you are getting...well, get ready to be underwhelmed. Why is it so expensive? Mostly because it's a niche use for a niche product, and also because it's a Canadian company. You are paying for the ability to scream at someone on the phone during their business hours and they'll politely overnight you a replacement if you need it (assuming that you are in North America) - or if it's European, there's a reputable retailer who stands behind the product. With the notable exception of some established brands, you rarely have that benefit buying clones/knockoffs from .cn. It depends on where you stand on the risk/reward scale.

The trashcan (AKA the Can't Innovate My Ass) Mac Pro has always been a bit of an expensive joke amongst Mac folks like me - a modern G4 cube, if you will. Apple made it to prove a point and then sent it down the river where it didn't receive any tech updates (can innovate, can't seem to keep it fresh, and it’s not like the successor cheese grater Pro are better value, either) - but still, if your shop bought it to edit 4k60 HEVC videos using DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere back in 2014 or so and you kept it running for the past few years, the idea of buying one of those in with 3 2TB SSDs is still cheaper and yield better results than, say, using a Thunderbolt 2 attached storage device (which are even more stupidly overpriced for what it offered). A modern M1 Mini will match or better it on the task, but if it's a pro shop you are expected to keep gear running for 10+ years once the allocation is out and amortization is running down, it's somewhat justified. Granted, it's a classic case of good money chasing after bad. Not saying that I would buy it, but there are plenty of places where this made some sense to some people.
 
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