HardDriveShortage
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Hard drive shipments recover from floods in Thailand, expected to reach record high
Last year's floods in Thailand caused hard drive shortages after wreaking havoc on a number of electronics manufacturers, but new stats from IHS iSuppli indicate that the HDD market for PCs has fully recovered and is poised to hit an all time high. The firm expects 524 million units for internal use in PCs to ship this year, besting the previous record by 4.3 percent. What's giving the recovery an added boost? According to the analytics group, the extra demand comes courtesy of Windows 8 and Ultrabooks. Unfortunately for deal hounds, the company noted in a report earlier this year that prices aren't expected to dip below the pre-flood range until 2014. If IHS iSuppli projections hold true, total annual hard drive shipments could reach 575.1 million by 2016.
Wait times for build-to-order iMacs improves
AppleInsider, who first reported last week that the wait time for build-to-order iMacs with 2 TB hard drives had leaped to 5 to 7 weeks, came back today with another report saying those times have dropped to 2 to 4 weeks. If you're looking to gift someone with a 2 TB iMac, you probably want to place the order today to hit the low end of the 2-week estimate. The recent delay has been placed on flooding in Thailand, which affected both hard drive manufacturers and the companies that supply the parts. The shortage is expected to last until the summer of 2012.
iMac CTO shipping times slip due to shortage of 2 TB hard drives
Hoping for a configure-to-order iMac with a 2 TB hard drive underneath the Christmas tree this year? AppleInsider is reporting that shipping times for iMacs with the 2 TB hard drives have jumped from 1 to 3 days up to a whopping 5 to 7 weeks. While ordering an iMac with a 1 TB drive or an SSD ensures that the computer arrives within a week, clicking the 2 TB option causes the delivery date to push out to well into the new year. Oddly enough, Mac Pro ship times are the same for models containing 1 or 2 TB drives. Of course, the demand for the much more expensive Mac Pro is considerably less than that of the popular iMac. The culprit appears to be the ongoing situation with flooding in Thailand. According to a blog entry on the website of peripheral seller OWC, the floods have not only affected manufacturers like Western Digital, but also the companies that create the components used in the assembly of hard drives. OWC states that despite the statements of industry analysts, many of whom believe the shortage will be alleviated by the summer of 2012, there are signs that hard drives shortages could persist throughout next year. In the meantime, you'd better snap up that 1 TB version of the iMac before the wait times on shipping start to slide.
