[GSixZero]

Hey all-

I have an early 2011 MBP which has 8GB of memory. I noticed the other day that the 16GB kit for this machine is $160 at crucial. I don't track RAM prices closely but it surprised me how affordable that seemed compared to when I upgraded this machine to 8GB when it was new, about 6 months ago.

How fast have these prices been dropping? Would we expect to see it much cheaper in the next month or two?

Thanks,
jd

[P]

I would expect them to start rising after summer. Supply of RAM is basically fixed, because the big cost is the investment in the plant, so what drives prices is demand. Total PC shipments are down, at least partially because of that Thailand flood that drove HDD prices up. Those prices are coming down slowly, but anyone with a big wallet and willing to sign long term contracts can now get drives at low prices. The time just before summer is always slow, but it picks up in the back to school season. That, combined with Windows 8, might drive some pent-up demand for PCs, which should bring RAM prices back up.

[mduell]

DDR3 prices have been low for about a year now. The 8GB densities have a limited market, so they're still about $20/GB, but 4GB modules are down to $6/GB for name brands.

16GB desktop/server modules are about $20/GB (same density), I love that I can get nearly 400GB RAM in a box for under $8k.

Unless there's a supply disruption I don't think we'll see a rise in price; the rise in demand may stop prices from falling in the fall.