Storage
Hard drive prices drop as PC demand rises
Flash memory evolution is having a positive effect on hard drive prices.
The average price of notebook hard drives tumbled to $53 in the third quarter of 2007, from $86 in the same period during the previous year, according to a survey by a market research firm. Desktop hard drive prices fell to $51 in the third quarter of 2007, compared to $52.75 the previous year.
Overall, about 134 million hard drives shipped in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 114 million the same period a year earlier, a 21% year-on-year increase, iSuppli found.
The most popular notebook hard drives were in the 100GB range, and they carried an average price of $50, Chander said. Low-cost desktop PCs, especially in Asia, shipped with cheap $40 80GB hard drives that brought down the average selling price of desktop hard drives, Chander said. The price of 320GB desktop hard drives averaged $65, Chander said.
Lower-capacity notebook drives showed smaller price drops, while newer high-capacity drives saw massive price drops, Chander said. Notebook drives with 320GB of storage will drop as a result of the addition of new features, while prices will stabilize on lower-capacity notebook storage devices like 80GB hard drives, Chander said.
Solid-state drives (SSD), purported by many to replace hard drives in the future, currently cost $7 to $10 per gigabyte, which makes them much more expensive compared to magnetic desktop disk drives, which cost 20 to 30 cents per gigabyte, Chander said. However, thee are storage- and longevity-related concerns about SSDs, and they should keep the demand for hard drives high for many years to come, Chander said.
