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Coronavirus could delay your next build or make it more expensive
Koopacabras Apr 7, 2020
I've been watching the hardware prices recently and some of them had mayor increases. Seems this is worldwide??
not just my local pc part picker but places like Amazon and Ebay.

Quotethe initial impact on manufacturing in China may have largely passed, but as the coronavirus sweeps across the globe, supply chains are going to be affected. This means that stocks of new graphics cards, chips, motherboard, etc. are going to be squeezed, which in turn means that you may not be able to get the kit you've been planning on using. That either translates to the specific model not being available, or having to go with a different manufacturer, or having to go with a different component entirely.

https://www.pcgamer.com/coronavirus-could-delay-your-next-build-or-make-it-more-expensive/
Pangaea Apr 7, 2020
I have noticed it too, and it's probably something that will continue for quite a while. Lower production, crashing currency in some places, and eventually high demand vs lower supply than normal, barely a plane flying, and probably less shipping traffic as well.

And of course, with many more people becoming unemployed, it's not the best time to purchase new hardware.

Hopefully this whole thing passes soon, but it's going to take a good while yet. China looks in pretty good shape now (but they are worried it will come back from abroad), but in several continents it's still in the spreading phase (Africa, South America, possibly north America too). Europe is around the peak now I think.

It's going to have long-term ramifications for pretty much the entire society.

We knew this already with the reliance on "just in time" supply chains everywhere, but now economists have realised the vulnerability in the system as well. And as a consequence it's possible that more countries will look more inwards, or trying to protect themselves from such things in the future by building up emergency stores and trying to rely less on imports. We'll see how everything shapes up, but I think much can change still, also when the virus is finally defeated (for now, another strain will pop up at some point in the future).

Last edited by Pangaea on 7 April 2020 at 7:16 pm UTC
Koopacabras Apr 8, 2020
QuoteHopefully this whole thing passes soon

let's hope so.

On the positive side, this will probably mean that devs will have to be more careful with hardware limitations, they will have to think twice before telling users to: ..."just go and buy better hardware"... instead of fixing bugs.

Last edited by Koopacabras on 8 April 2020 at 8:00 am UTC
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