Quack! PATA Optical Drives *Endangered*?

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PGHammer

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The speculation has been ongoing that PATA (especially for optical drives) is in trouble; now we have an idea just how MUCH trouble PATA is in.

Consider Best Buy; when it comes to computer parts and accessories, it sells strictly into the upgrade market (usually, when a person is looking to build a new system, they don't go to this big-box retailer for parts). So why is it that there is ANY sort of price discrepancy between the PATA and SATA versions of the same retail drive, especially one to a large degree in SATA's favor?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8906419&type=product&id=1213046783171 LG PATA DVD Burner with LightScribe

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9182751&type=product&id=1218048304083 LG SATA version of the same drive
 
^Yikes!
:eek:
That's a huge difference. What's it like at B&M in the States?

Here in India, there isn't any price difference..
 
PGHammer said:
The speculation has been ongoing that PATA (especially for optical drives) is in trouble; now we have an idea just how MUCH trouble PATA is in.

Consider Best Buy; when it comes to computer parts and accessories, it sells strictly into the upgrade market (usually, when a person is looking to build a new system, they don't go to this big-box retailer for parts). So why is it that there is ANY sort of price discrepancy between the PATA and SATA versions of the same retail drive, especially one to a large degree in SATA's favor?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8906419&type=product&id=1213046783171 LG PATA DVD Burner with LightScribe

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9182751&type=product&id=1218048304083 LG SATA version of the same drive
Click to expand...

That's Best Buy for you. The price difference isn't at all significant if you buy from somewhere reasonable, such as Newegg.
 
It's all supply and demand. The demand is for SATA drives nowadays, PATA is slowly fading away. Look at DDR RAM nowadays, same principle. I can get 4GB of DDR2 800 for a laptop, 2 2GB SODIMMs at Fry's for $18.99 - seriously, they had them on sale earlier this week, no rebates, it was 2 x 2GB = 4GB Patriot DDR2 800 SODIMMs for sale, in a kit, for $18.99 out the door.

And at the same time, 2GB (2x1GB) SODIMM sticks of DDR 333 for a laptop? $89.99. DDR 333 for a desktop? 2x1GB for $79.99; 2x1GB DDR2 667 runs roughly $35 on average.

Supply and demand...
 
I agree with the supply and demand state, however Best Buy is a terrible example in this case. IDE and SATA burners are virtually the same price at most reasonable places.
 
Volkum said:
I agree with the supply and demand state, however Best Buy is a terrible example in this case. IDE and SATA burners are virtually the same price at most reasonable places.
Click to expand...

E-tailers can usually afford to have MUCH lower prices than brick-and-mortar (remember, they have no salepeople to pay and other factors that are included in retailer overhead); however, the price difference is also present at other retailers; I chose BB because they usually DON'T have a different price for PATA vs. SATA (and when they have, it's been in favor of PATA; further, unlike Fry's or MicroCenter, they don't have a BYPOC business (or other OEM business) to make up in volume so they can lower their prices; they cater strictly to the single-computer customer pretty much). My point was not the price per se, but the price SPREAD (as a percentage of the retail price) and the direction of the spread. Even NewEgg has a spread (on some of their drives) in favor of SATA; however, it would be retailers concentrating pretty much entirely on the replacement market (such as Best Buy) that would show any trends in this area first. Volume e-tailers (such as NewEgg), by dint of their much wider customer base, would actually LAG Best Buy in terms of trends.
 
Still, I usually avoid Worst Buy at all costs unless they actually have a good deal once every blue moon or there are no other alternatives.
 
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