The Death of Affordable Computing | Tariffs Impact & Investigation

The death of affordable computing in America.
- The death of affordable computing in the US of A.

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.

I hope Canada can get some better prices out of this.
- 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.
  
  If only someone made an example out of them corpos
- Narrator:
  We won't.....

Sounds like an American problem tbh. But this is what they wanted, they voted for this.
- And many of the ones who didn't want this didn't vote against it because they couldn't be bothered.
  
  PS5 digital edition prices have increased across Europe too. Not even restricted to the Americans.
- except when the american prices become the baseline because capitalism doesn't like to lose money

My takeaway is start planning trips to Taiwan so you can go buy comp hardware bit by bit at a reasonable price
- You still have to declare things in customs. If you don't and get caught, you could end up far worse than high prices.
  
  "No officer, this fully assembled PC with no boxes or receipts was definitely brought from America, the country I am now returning to."
  
  You can take a phone and laptop through customs without paying import tax.
  50 high end RTX cards might not be so easy.

I don't know if kid saving lunch money to build a computer is a viable route anymore
Console while cheaper entry, they fuck you on the game price. Plus fucking annual sub cost.
They are acting like this because median gamer is now a middle aged cuck with a higher income, why shoildnt they be fleecing us as that is what the market can bare. Nowever, they priced out kids and young folks. Nvidia lost its fucking mind with that pricing
Tariffs are just an icing on the cake, they will try to justify even more price gouging
- 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.
  
  Ohh I deff agree, I am riding my shit until it no longer works.
  Fuck these parasites, I can do this long time if it keeps working.
  That's easiest way people can fight back right now... Use what you have!
  
  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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.🤔

I just ordered a cheap mini PC from AliExpress for 82€
What would that cost in the US? Double? More?

Let's be honest. There never has been affordable computing. That's why I was a console exclusive gamer for so long. because I never had the money to get into console gaming. Even a baseline computer capable of running good games was 3 times the price of a console.
- Yeah, with the exception that is some (a lot) of the laptops, and many pre-builts too. But they are a lot better than consoles nonetheless, no matter which other (Desktop, Laptop, even Tablets if you're looking for a challenge) you use. I'm still rocking on my Intel Celeron N3060!
- 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.
  
  I mainly blame all the morons who kept buying VGAs even though ridiculously overpriced, letting manufacturers know that they could go on like that.
- 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.
  
  Nah, maybe in large cities. My pc was 2500, and it was good enough. I could have brought it down to 1500 if I wanted to start replacing parts within a year and play on the lowest graphics setting. Even at 2500 4 years ago, I've replaced and upgraded my graphics since then. And need to start upgrading other parts probably next year. I can do that now, but I was quite broke before and console was the cheapest way for me to game. Still console game quite a bit because I just like it better for some games.
- 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.
  
  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.