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Hey Ars, there is a global chip shortage right now. I doubt Samsung is doing this to screw over their customers, rather its either this or nothing. I know Ars

by _red 5y ago

Hey Ars, there is a global chip shortage right now. I doubt Samsung is doing this to screw over their customers, rather its either this or nothing. I know Ars knows this because they allude to in bottom of article. Click-baity.

jmartinpetersen 5y ago
No, that's a false dichotomy. They could've just made up a new name for it.
- _red 5y ago
  I work in hardware design. Almost all ICs are very very limited supply. In our own case we had to move from 512K MCU to 256K simply because lead times are now until Dec 2022 on the 512K version. I'm really surprised this hasn't bubbled-up to normies yet. I suspect this Christmas is going to be a shocker.
  - tux3 5y ago
    That is both unnecessarily rude, and missing the point the parent post is making. Companies want to use whatever they can get that's vaguely compatible with the current design. Because it's that or selling nothing for 12 more months. Sure. But that is not an excuse for misleading the customer. Couldn't find any components wich perform equally well? Then it's a different SKU. Slap a suffix on the name, adjust the price as needed, and don't mix inventory.
- vosper 5y ago
  With is what WD are doing, having just been caught changing parts in a way that impacts performance > A Western Digital spokesperson confirmed to Ars that the company had replaced the NAND flash and updated the firmware in the WD Blue SN550 beginning in June 2021 and updated the drive's data sheet to reflect the changes. "For greater transparency going forward, if we make a change to an existing internal SSD, we commit to introducing a new model number whenever any related published specifications are impacted" https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/silent-changes-to-western-digitals-budget-ssd-may-lower-speeds-by-up-to-50/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/silent-changes-to-we...
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    NB: WD is doing this after being caught not doing this when they trashed the reputation of the WD Red line of drives.
qwertox 5y ago
"Dear customers: Due to the current chip shortage we see ourselves in the position to have to swap the controller with one of lesser value which has degraded write speeds, they are 22% slower. Please consider this when modifying your raid setup and treat them as different products. Our pricing has been reduced to reflect this change." vs Let's change the controller and hope nobody notices.
- freemint 5y ago
  The controller isn't slower in general though. I see it more as a problem of review sites not tracking revision numbers. It still reaches the advertised claims on the box. If you want to make decisions on information the manufacturer doesn't provide to you it is your responsibility to check that you are comparing the right revisions.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  That's basically what is being done by auto manufacturers. If you buy certain car models right now, you will get a manually adjustable steering column and a promise to install the motors later. That second part is what's important. Downgrading the feature without notifying the customer and arranging to correct the shortfall later is pretty terrible.
hippari 5y ago
So why are they not dropping the price ? Putting out notice ? Rebranding ?
- sundvor 5y ago
  The 970 Evo Minus sounds a lot more to the point. I have 2tb version bought last year, works great - but will opt for 980 Pro instead should I need more now. (Have a 1tb version of that too, when it first came out. Works well but honestly there's no difference between the two even with pcie4).

by _red 5y ago

jmartinpetersen 5y ago

No, that's a false dichotomy. They could've just made up a new name for it.

_red 5y ago
I work in hardware design. Almost all ICs are very very limited supply. In our own case we had to move from 512K MCU to 256K simply because lead times are now until Dec 2022 on the 512K version. I'm really surprised this hasn't bubbled-up to normies yet. I suspect this Christmas is going to be a shocker.
- tux3 5y ago
  That is both unnecessarily rude, and missing the point the parent post is making. Companies want to use whatever they can get that's vaguely compatible with the current design. Because it's that or selling nothing for 12 more months. Sure. But that is not an excuse for misleading the customer. Couldn't find any components wich perform equally well? Then it's a different SKU. Slap a suffix on the name, adjust the price as needed, and don't mix inventory.
vosper 5y ago
With is what WD are doing, having just been caught changing parts in a way that impacts performance > A Western Digital spokesperson confirmed to Ars that the company had replaced the NAND flash and updated the firmware in the WD Blue SN550 beginning in June 2021 and updated the drive's data sheet to reflect the changes. "For greater transparency going forward, if we make a change to an existing internal SSD, we commit to introducing a new model number whenever any related published specifications are impacted" https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/silent-changes-to-western-digitals-budget-ssd-may-lower-speeds-by-up-to-50/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/silent-changes-to-we...
- sokoloff 5y ago
  NB: WD is doing this after being caught not doing this when they trashed the reputation of the WD Red line of drives.

qwertox 5y ago

"Dear customers: Due to the current chip shortage we see ourselves in the position to have to swap the controller with one of lesser value which has degraded write speeds, they are 22% slower. Please consider this when modifying your raid setup and treat them as different products. Our pricing has been reduced to reflect this change." vs Let's change the controller and hope nobody notices.

freemint 5y ago
The controller isn't slower in general though. I see it more as a problem of review sites not tracking revision numbers. It still reaches the advertised claims on the box. If you want to make decisions on information the manufacturer doesn't provide to you it is your responsibility to check that you are comparing the right revisions.
CamperBob2 5y ago
That's basically what is being done by auto manufacturers. If you buy certain car models right now, you will get a manually adjustable steering column and a promise to install the motors later. That second part is what's important. Downgrading the feature without notifying the customer and arranging to correct the shortfall later is pretty terrible.

hippari 5y ago

So why are they not dropping the price ? Putting out notice ? Rebranding ?

sundvor 5y ago
The 970 Evo Minus sounds a lot more to the point. I have 2tb version bought last year, works great - but will opt for 980 Pro instead should I need more now. (Have a 1tb version of that too, when it first came out. Works well but honestly there's no difference between the two even with pcie4).