this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025

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160

The Death of Affordable Computing | Tariffs Impact & Investigation (i.ytimg.com)

submitted 8 months ago by recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/42750767

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[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 77 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The death of affordable computing in America.

[–] Gobbel2000@programming.dev 48 points 8 months ago

The death of affordable computing in the US of A.

[–] recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca 33 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Not sure if this fits here as while the tariffs situation are primarily causing chaos and price inflations in the US, the redirection of goods might also cause companies to increase costs globally in order to cover the cash flow burdens and payments caused by real time tariff fluctations.

[–] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 19 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I hope Canada can get some better prices out of this.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 30 points 8 months ago (1 children)

PlayStation punished the world by increasing their console prices to match the adjusted tariff price in the US. I forsee all manufacturers doing the same thing, just like COVID.

The entire world can soon blame every American for their crazy price increases.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 7 points 8 months ago

If only someone made an example out of them corpos

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 16 points 8 months ago

Narrator:

We won't.....

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Sounds like an American problem tbh. But this is what they wanted, they voted for this.

[–] glorkon@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

And many of the ones who didn't want this didn't vote against it because they couldn't be bothered.

[–] rippersnapper@lemm.ee 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

PS5 digital edition prices have increased across Europe too. Not even restricted to the Americans.

[–] glorkon@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

We're talking about affordable computing tho, not gaming.

[–] rippersnapper@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

Fair point

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 8 months ago

except when the american prices become the baseline because capitalism doesn't like to lose money

[–] Hello_there@fedia.io 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

My takeaway is start planning trips to Taiwan so you can go buy comp hardware bit by bit at a reasonable price

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

You still have to declare things in customs. If you don't and get caught, you could end up far worse than high prices.

[–] Valencia@sh.itjust.works 15 points 8 months ago

"No officer, this fully assembled PC with no boxes or receipts was definitely brought from America, the country I am now returning to."

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 7 points 8 months ago

You can take a phone and laptop through customs without paying import tax.

50 high end RTX cards might not be so easy.

[+] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

[deleted]

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I see your point, however I bought a $150 GPU in spring 2020 that is still serving me fine today to play games at 1080P. At least until the tariffs it was still pretty doable if you didn’t go for top of the line brand new equipment.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Like I said in a different comment.
My last build ran me just over $500 Canadian, the gfx card was the most expensive piece, and I reused my case, cooling system, storage and power supply......but last gen gfx, mobo and a gratuitous amount of RAM was to be had for cheap enough to not have to save at all to buy it.

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yep, I’m still reusing a lot of components from my last build. Some people automatically assume building a PC means you need to buy brand new everything, but if you were smart about it you could get it down to the same price as a brand new console.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 3 points 8 months ago

Some people automatically assume building a PC means you need to buy brand new everything, but if you were smart about it you ~~could~~ used to be able to get it down to the same price as a brand new console.

I've not upgraded my desktop since spring 2020, my mobo, gratuitous amount of RAM, everything is still ticking away taking everything I tell it to. Only thing I even want to upgrade is my gfx card. And that's already more than an entry level console. Even the used market is completely tits up. Just a quick look at eBay, 4060/70/80/90, starting average £650ish for a 60 and a used 90 FE is £1700....free shipping though! I've decided to let Intel cook on their gfx cards a bit longer, and I'll probably getting one off them when I eventually upgrade...I can grab a used a770 or b570 for under £250 today.

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 3 points 8 months ago

Pre-Nintendo-price-jump, console games were as cheap as they've ever been... if you ignore all the DLC/micro-transaction stuff. But its still a lot more expensive than PC gaming. If you need a computer for other purposes anyways, upgrading from a decent office computer to a cheap gaming computer is still gonna be cheaper upfront than buying the office computer and new console, plus cheaper long-term.

[–] recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I don't know if kid saving lunch money to build a computer is a viable route anymore

for sure. It's gonna suck ass for a lot of Americans.

For the rest of your comment I'm gonna add that the tariff situation benefits retailers the most while manufactures and OEMs are taking the brunt of the tariff financial damage and ultimately the tariffs are then passed onto the customers unfortunately.

Some companies might implode or move out of the US it looks like.

[–] recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 months ago

oh wait I think I misunderstood when I made my other comment.

Sorry about that! Although I'm having some difficulty in interpreting your points.🤔

[+] Nemean_lion@lemmy.ca -22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Pre-pandemic I was able to build a pc with part 1 generation behind current, including the case and a reasonable cooling system (air) for $500 Canadian. Now you can't even get a modern graphics card for that much. So no, this is definitely a recent thing.
I built my current desktop at the start of the pandemic, the 20xx series was being bought by more people, the most expensive part was the 1060 I bought second hand for $200. It still came to just over $500 with all the parts. Yes I reused my case, cooling system, storage and power supply.

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org 6 points 8 months ago

I mainly blame all the morons who kept buying VGAs even though ridiculously overpriced, letting manufacturers know that they could go on like that.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Let's be honest. You can build a comparable PC for an extra ~$200. Which will very quickly pay for itself when you go to sign up for your annual PlayStation subscription on day 1, not to mention the years following with the massively larger library, lower price of games, and not to mention having a device that can do more than just play games.

Consoles are just DRM e-waste machines.

[+] Nemean_lion@lemmy.ca -3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Nah, maybe in large cities.

Doesn't matter the size of your city. Pretty much everywhere has some sort of delivery service...

My pc was 2500

Wait so you paid $2500 for a PC and then still went out and bought a console, and you have the audacity to complain about pricing?

I could have brought it down to 1500 if I wanted to start replacing parts within a year

Nonsense. Unless you just spend your money really poorly, a $1500 PC will outperform any console for years to come.

Even at 2500 4 years ago, I've replaced and upgraded my graphics since then.

You say that like it was necessary.

[–] filister@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For me the only good thing of consoles are the discs and the ability to buy/sell them. Apart of that, they just offer you some convenience, but nothing more.

Usually games for one console are not playable in 1-2 generations, you can't install mods, you can't upgrade the GPU or the CPU.

PC offers a lot more flexibility, unfortunately after COVID and now the AI craze, the prices of the GPUs went bananas. Not to mention that you can usually play a lot more games on a PC and the STEAM discounts and prices are much better compared to consoles.

[–] Danitos@reddthat.com 4 points 8 months ago

Plus you can always go the pirate way as well. I do for the most expensive games / from companies I dislike / as a trial mode for games I'm interested in buying.