The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
The WD Caviar SE16 640G drive is priced at $A189, so it is attractive for configuring relatively high capacity systems - but is it really a sweet spot?
At first glance you might think that position is still held by 320G drives, which go for street prices around $A90 for WD drives and $A100 for Seagate. Express that in terms of gigabytes per dollar, and it works out at around 3.5G/$.
The equivalent figure for 500G drives is about 4G/$, but then the tide turns against us with 750G units at around 3.1G/$ and 1T around 2.7G/$. The exact numbers vary according to the actual price of the drives, but the relative value remain similar with any particular outlet's range.
The 640G drive is too new to be showing in retailers' price lists yet, but it would need to be discounted to $A160 or less before it can truly be regarded as taking over the sweet spot from 500G models, even if it is a more attractive proposition than a 750G or 1T unit - at least on the basis of bang for the buck.
But if you're inclined towards a 500G drive but concerned about filling it too quickly, it's probably worth paying extra for a 640G unit. That way you get the extra headroom without too great a premium, and by the time you do run out of room those 1T drives should be more affordable.
David Bass
| ComOps, a leading Australian provider of business software products and services, has won a competitive tender to deploy its Salvus safety, r…
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