Hacker News Reader

Comment by Macha | Hacker News Reader

An M1 Ultra is $2000 incrementally over a M1 Max, so there is no price gap, even with the inflated prices 3090s actually go for today.

View on HN

To be fair that $2000 also gets you +32GB RAM, +512GB storage, and +10 CPU cores. It's not just the GPU. Although yeah you can definitely fit a 3090-equipped PC into a $4k budget even with ebay pricing if pure GPU performance is all you really want.

> To be fair that $2000 also gets you +32GB RAM, +512GB storage, and +10 CPU cores.

Even though it's not an apples to apples comparison, keep in mind that a 1x32GB DIMM sells for less than 150$, and you can buy 1TB SSDs for less than 100$.

M1 Ultra is 64Gb extra, not 32.

> keep in mind that a 1x32GB DIMM sells for less than 150$

Keep in mind that M1 Pro/Max/Ultra is LPDDR5 6400 (https://www.anandtech.com/show/17024/apple-m1-max-performanc...) connected by a 512 bit memory controller.

Whereas is a kit of 2x 32 GB LPDDR5 4800 (I could not easily locate a quote for 1x 64Gb LPDDR5 4800 DIMM, leave alone 6400) retails for USD 548 (https://www.newegg.com/crucial-64gb-288-pin-ddr5-sdram/p/N82...).

I could not locate a reliable source on the type of the SSD employed in M1 Pro/Max/Ultra, so I will refrain from remarking on the comparison.

I remember a slide mentioning I think “up to 7.4gb/sec SSD read/write speed” or similar, which drastically reduces the pool of comparison SSDs. Intel Optane meets those specs, as do a few other brands I hadn’t heard of previously. In the later case, a 2TB version seemed to be $350-400. Take this for what it’s worth, but SSD is going to be more than $100 extra cost imho.

That's pretty much the speed that Samsung advertises for the 980 Pro: https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-st...

And what WD advertises for the Black SN850: https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-b...

And what Seagate advertises for the FireCuda 530: https://www.seagate.com/products/gaming-drives/pc-gaming/fir...

And what Gigabyte advertises for the Gen4 7000s: https://www.gigabyte.com/Solid-State-Drive/AORUS-Gen4-7000s-...

etc...

They aren't $100 for 1TB, no, but a lot of them are around $150. Which would be a lot less than +$100 to go from 512GB to 1TB, too. It's $40 to go from the 500GB SN850 to the 1TB SN850, for example.

I checked the first two and it’s 7,000 read / 5,000 write. Pretty sure Apple said read AND write, which would be a lot faster than those. I might go back and rewatch the keynote, but I still thinking we are arguing pointlessly as Apple has always overcharged for SSD and RAM upgrades vs the price you’d pay elsewhere. Thanks for the DV though even when what I stated was right! ;)

It achieves this speed by not insisting on flushing to disk when requested: https://nitter.net/marcan42/status/1494213855387734019

When configured to ensure data integrity in the case of power loss (more important in this new M1 Studio machine unless it comes with integrated battery), then it's a lot worse.

I have a 8TB M1 Max. It pretty consistently has a max write speed of ~7.3 GB/s and max read of ~5.4 GB/s. No idea why or how write is faster, but that's not a typo.

Their website just specifies read speeds with no mention of write speeds. It's also "up to" and tested on the 8TB models. Assuming it's like other SSDs smaller capacities are usually slower.

HBM2 is a tad more expensive, but yes.

Apple doesn't use HBM2, so not really relevant

Correct my bad. GDDR6x is still more expensive then GDDR4 you get with Thread ripper.

Apple isn't using GDDR6X, either, nor does threadripper use GDDR4.

Wait, you can get a 3090?

3090 is literally the easiest card to get at RRP, at least here in UK. Set up discord alerts, the FE cards stay in stock for hours, the last one in February was in stock for the entire day so anyone who wanted to buy one at RRP(£1399) could do so without any issue at all.

This.. The FE is in stock every month for RRP. The 3080Ti too, I got mine that way.

its still 2400 EUR in Germany for example.

I'm not sure who sells the FE cards in Germany actually. I know it's LDLC in Netherlands, France and Spain.

edit: just found out - it's NBB:

https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/

There's probably a German discord somewhere to have alert for drops.

Yeah. They've been in stock for months here (though the retailers are charging the inflated prices too), e.g. https://www.computeruniverse.net/en/c/hardware-components/nv...

I mean at that price…yeah it’s “in stock” but it sure as hell ain’t available

All of those listed are WAY above MSRP! MSRP is $1,499 in the U.S. and £1,399 in the U.K.

The question was if they were available, not if they were available at MSRP (thanks downvoters, the comment even called out the price was inflated...). My understanding is that until recently in the US you basically had to buy from scalpers as the stocks had none at any price unless you stalked for restocks.

They're overpriced for sure, and that's the only reason the M1U pricing looks equivalent rather than exorbitant

> The question was if they were available, not if they were available at MSRP (thanks downvoters, the comment even called out the price was inflated...).

I wasn’t a DVer, but they’ve always been available if you were willing to pay a scalper. The only thing that has changed is that more retailers find it appropriate to rip off their customers. It’s kinda like a liquor store I’ve done business with for years now wanting $3,800 for a bottle of 23yr PVW. MSRP is $299.99. Should the owner not be able to make extra profit on it, no, of course they should. But >12x MSRP is just predatory imho.

What does "overpriced" mean, other than "more than you are willing to pay?"

* Higher than historical norms due to very unusual market conditions

* Much higher than MSRP, which was reduced compared to the previous generation because that attempt at raising prices killed market demand for said previous generation.

* No longer affordable by the traditional customer base but sustained by a new market with questionable longevity in its demand

Take your pick.

Sure, in a pure rational economic sense the market price has risen because supply has fallen at the same time a new market of buyers became very interested in the product, but we're talking consumer expectations and historical trends here, not the current price in a vacuum.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com