Luke Dodge | DevSec Engineer & Full-Stack Developer

Exploring Why Some Technology Becomes Cheaper While Others Skyrocket - From Graphics Cards to Cloud Computing.

The Mystery of Tech Prices

Have you ever wondered why a top-end gaming PC costs the same today as it did five years ago, but a GPU that was impossible to find in 2021 now sits on shelves? Tech pricing is fascinating, confusing, and tells us a lot about how innovation works.

Moores Law and Its Limits

Gordon Moore predicted in 1965 that the number of transistors on a chip would double every two years. For decades, this held true. Processors got faster, smaller, and cheaper.

But physics has limits. We are approaching the size of atoms. Transistors cannot get much smaller. This is why recent CPU improvements come from more cores, better architecture, rather than raw speed.

Why GPUs Went Crazy

During the pandemic, GPU prices skyrocketed. Demand exploded from miners, gamers, and AI researchers. Supply could not keep up. The same chip that cost R800 in 2020 sold for R1500 in 2021.

Now prices are normalizing. Demand from crypto has crashed. AI chips are now the bottleneck. The lesson: tech prices do not move in one direction. They follow supply, demand, and competition.

What Got Cheaper

Some things became dramatically cheaper. Webcams that cost R100 in 2020 now sell for R30. Memory prices cycle. Storage costs drop every year. A terabyte SSD that cost R200 in 2018 now costs R80.

This is Moores Law working - more capacity for less money. The same processing power that filled a room in 1960 fits in your pocket today.

What Got More Expensive

Cloud computing flipped the model. Instead of buying servers, we rent compute time. At scale, this often works out cheaper. But the monthly bills add up. Companies now spend millions on AWS fees that would have bought their own infrastructure outright.

The Hidden Costs

Sometimes cheap hardware becomes expensive software. That 30 dollar webcam needs subscriptions for cloud recording. Free apps become paid services. The product is cheap; the ecosystem extracts value over time.

What This Means for You

Understanding tech pricing helps you make better buying decisions. Wait for cycles. Buy last-gen hardware at clearance prices. Consider total cost of ownership.

The best time to buy tech is usually just before a new generation launches. The best time to sell is during a shortage. Supply and demand never sleep.

Have questions about tech pricing? Reach out: haynesluke96@gmail.com