market segmentation (or, why cheap cpus arn't cheap to make)

[roid]

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ ... ckies.html

Article i've been reading (i'm only halfway through) that starts off by introducing some Economic Theory, then some Market theory, and all kinds of stuff.

why i think it's interesting to put here on the DBB is because we have often talked in the past about why Manufacturers will design a Videocard, then sell it for $500+ dollars. and then get a bunch of those videocards, purposefully clock them lower, then sell them for only $150 as budget models.

people in the know (ie: you and me) will just buy that cheap budget card and clock it higher, saving ourselves hundreds of dollars.

the same thing happens with CPUs. and more recently i noticed it happen with DVD burners (thx stress for pointing this one out, i think) - some companys were selling fully functional dual layered burners as single layer burners. some people figured this out, just installed the dual layer drivers, and had themselves a dual layer drive for peanuts.

the article talks about aspects of why companys do this, and shows graphs and figures, oh and it's funny too boot. i know nothing about economics and i am understanding this. it's a good read.