Three Months Into the Thai Floods
TechSpot is running an article on the prices of harddisks from Newegg three months after the Thai Floods. As expected, prices remain high, with certain manufacturers and disk models hit at different degrees.
Gartner says the worst is yet to come: The hard drive shortage had a limited impact on fourth quarter PC shipments and prices -- we checked a few random PCs on Newegg and didn't see any noticeable effects. However, Gartner warns that the major impact will be felt in the first half of this year and potentially continue through the year.
Also interesting, was this comment on Slashdot. It explains the logistics of the disks and delivery contracts with big system integrators (Dell, Lenovo, etc.). Pointing out that the big buyers were buffered from the initial price spike due to fixed price long term delivery contracts, while the spot market (e.g. Newegg) saw the initial shortage. Now that the bulk buyers get new contracts, they will also see increased prices, but there will be capacity planned in for the spot market as well.