3D Printers Will Cost Less Than A PC by 2016?

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Industry analysts are predicting that 3D printers will be cheaper than a PC in the next few years. Just imagine how cool it would be if 3D printers were actually that affordable.

Widespread adoption of 3D printing technology may not be that far away, according to a Gartner report predicting that enterprise-class 3D printers will be available for less than $2,000 by 2016. With the technology set to become less expensive than some modern-day PCs, Gartner research director Pete Basiliere says the futuristic capabilities of 3D printers could be available far sooner than many had thought.
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And the small plastic refil cartridges will be 30% of the printer price :) You will of course, only be able to use approved plastic.
 
That's because, at it's heart, a 3D printer isn't all that complicated. It's a 2/3-axis CNC with a print nozzle for plastic. It's really not all that useful in the long run, unless you're just printing small plastic objects for quick use.
 
I'm sick of this fetish the online world has with the next biggest (alleged) thing and making claims of becoming common place by year xxxx. Much like Virtual EVERYTHING since it was originally conceived (read.. shoved down our throats when its neither at a useable stage nor of worthy quality anyway). Its all just marketing BS with media outlets trying to push the dribble onto the sheep public and the "inventors" being modern day (i.e. full of bright ideas that are of no actual use to anyone but thrown together by a company that seemingly has more money then they know what to do with so they waste on on paying people way to much to invent nothing of any use just to get in the headlines the internet over).

3D printers will be no more in Joe Public's houses then any of the other similar design centric tools that cost an arm and a leg to buy/setup/run. And the Joe's that do have them for "home" are often no where near the actual Joe Public's anyway.

And to end my rant.. these "Industry analysts" need to DIAF as well. Preferably the same one the marketing departments go out in please thank you!
 
3D printing is cool and all that -- but until there are some crazy strong polymers that can take over the role of some metals (and be affordable) then I think the most we will get are just random trinkets that aren't really that useful.

Oh and if the max I can print is something like a 6" x 6" x 6" object... that severely limits people's creativity.
 
zoulias said:
And the small plastic refil cartridges will be 30% of the printer price :) You will of course, only be able to use approved plastic.
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Don't forget that the plastic will 'expire' at some (rather soon) date and the printer will refuse to use it to print.
 
Eureka! said:
That's because, at it's heart, a 3D printer isn't all that complicated. It's a 2/3-axis CNC with a print nozzle for plastic. It's really not all that useful in the long run, unless you're just printing small plastic objects for quick use.
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Reprap is a dirt cheap 3D printer. You just gotta build it yourself first.

reprap.jpg


But I can think of endless things to do with a 3D printer.

#1 Creating statues or your own art work.
#2 Great reason for teaching children CAD.
#3 Replacement parts that you could make on your own, for cheap.
#4 Make amazing PC case mod designs.
#5 Make your own car. Well, that one is a lie, unless it's a toy car.
 
In the future this will be a great tool to print out plastic bowls / cups and even plasticware, large chargers, mugs, pitchers, etc. I even envision materials that will allow you to cook / bake on them that are printed from these maker-bots.

Of course there will be toys, trinkets and maybe small replacement parts for your home, car or boat you could make.

Lots and lots of possibilities.

And of course you have all the adult toys you can now make. lol
 
I can't wait to have my own. I can't count the times i've been working on my car or house and needed some custom bracket or clip or whatever... being able to just go print one off will be amazing instead of rummaging around a box of random parts or going down to the hardware store to try to find something that'll work.
 
"Gartner predicts 3D printers will cost less than a PC in 2016" and "enterprise-class 3D printers will be available for less than $2,000 by 2016."

This isn't 1990 anymore where nearly every computer was 2 grand. You can buy entire computers for less than $300 now. They should have re-worded it so it says 3D printers will cost as much as an average high end PC.
 
A pc typically costs $400 now. $2k will almost get you one like my main rig, but mine isn't your typical pc outside of the [H].
 
The 3D printer will hit a comfortable market price point, and further design will stem from that position, until eventually the basic technology we see now will resemble something like the replicator from Star Trek.

I wonder which company will be the first to introduce magnetism as a fine tuning instrument.
 
The problem is, unless you're going to do a lot of DIY projects where you'll need odd bits and pieces, it's going to be more cost effective to just buy whatever you need from a store.

The only thing I could think of is getting some weird PC mod brackets that don't need to be structural, but with the cost of a printer to do that, I might as well get a case that already has everything I want.

At work they are talking about getting a 3d printer that will print metal objects, but it costs around $500k and is the size of a truck.
 
They definitely need to get a lot better before they get more mainstream. The Makerbot machines getting a lot of the spotlight lately are poorly designed,inconsistently manufactured, finicky to use pieces of junk. Until things get more plug and play, 3d printers are going to stay strictly in the realm of tinkerers
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
"Gartner predicts 3D printers will cost less than a PC in 2016" and "enterprise-class 3D printers will be available for less than $2,000 by 2016."

This isn't 1990 anymore where nearly every computer was 2 grand. You can buy entire computers for less than $300 now. They should have re-worded it so it says 3D printers will cost as much as an average high end PC.
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Reading comprehension fail. Those are two unique, separate statements, referring to different types of 3d printers.
 
Sellers of and/or manufacturers of miniature wargaming figures might see a hit from relatively cheap 3D printers even if said printers are $2000. OTOH, miniature wargaming might see an uptick in new players as a result of cheaper figurines.
 
Danny Bui said:
Sellers of and/or manufacturers of miniature wargaming figures might see a hit from relatively cheap 3D printers even if said printers are $2000.
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Maybe if the quality improves significantly. Every 3d printer seems to be very..banded? Which is fine for general objects but high detail markets like that are probably safe for a while?
 
DeathPrincess said:
Maybe if the quality improves significantly. Every 3d printer seems to be very..banded? Which is fine for general objects but high detail markets like that are probably safe for a while?
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Maybe. Then again if the price is low enough or the builder/buyer/player has low enough standards, what I said could still happen even if the qualtiy doesn't improve significantly.
 
Zepher said:
A pc typically costs $400 now. $2k will almost get you one like my main rig, but mine isn't your typical pc outside of the [H].
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What world are you living in where your sig PC costs anywhere close to $2,000? Mine cost like $1,200! :rolleyes:
 
JoeUser said:
What world are you living in where your sig PC costs anywhere close to $2,000? Mine cost like $1,200! :rolleyes:
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Beat me to it..When I read his post, I expected to see a hex core, and dual 7970/680s and dual SSD raid and multiple TB HDDs..
 
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