I was just thinking in the back of my head about how cheap LEDs have made types of lighting that would've cost way too much (both to install, and in electricity usage) no longer stupidly expensive.
For example, I noticed on Amazon some cheap furniture that has LEDs/power outlets sort of integrated right into them. Looks pretty cyberpunk-ish to my eyes. And I know years ago that sort of thing would've been marked up to high heavens.
Fancy lighting in general has changed drastically in price/design.
So...what are some things, due to changes in demand or changes in tech or changes in anything...that would've been really expensive back in the day, but which no longer seem to be, making them more frugal than they used to be?
It's often things made with exactly the same machines and materials as all the others on the market, that's what a solved problem is.
You can spend $80 for something in a nice box where the distributor is run by people who own yachts or an identical thing straight from the factory.
Often it is, and often it isn't. Sometimes the same manufacturing facility will have different quality standards for different buyers, and the distributors run by people who own yachts will not accept the same level of defects as the others. Name brands have to stand by their products and provide warranties, because their name is supposed to mean something. Random shell companies that exist only to sell knock-off products don't care if your charger stops working in 6 months.
I'm not suggesting you have to buy name brand shit, because in practice those companies have demonstrated that they aren't as committed to quality as one would hope. But if you're buying an $80 Samsung product for $25 from Symsnug Ltd, you have a much higher chance of throwing it away.
True to an extent and for certain products but if you're buying an 80$ Samsung USB hub instead of a 5 dollar straight from the factory generic then you just spent 75 bucks on adverts, ceo bonuses, and graphic design.
SD cards I only buy from big names for the reason you mention but the machines can trace and solder at far higher precision than is needed for most electronics.
It depends on what you're doing with the usb hub, but yeah. With that price differential, you can buy two so that when one breaks, you have a spare. At $5, they are disposable. That was my point in the first place. There are a lot of things that can fail on a usb hub, from the board being poorly printed, the solder points being weak, the fuses or caps failing at a higher rate, or the power supply giving inconsistent voltage. And if it's built into your Generic Lay-Z-Bro gaming recliner, it will likely be a bitch to replace.
It's worth noting that for items where quality can vary factories will typically bin the output products. Better quality into the bin going to this expensive brand, worst quality goes straight to Temu, lowest quality that meets Walmart's standards goes in this bin, etc.
For anything where the silicon quality really matters you want to bear this in mind. TVs, and LEDs are the biggest ones where the silicon part makes light for you to look at and the quality can make a big difference
Edit to add: cheap no name chargers are a great way to spend several hundred dollars replacing your phone because you wanted to save $5 on a charger/cable. Personally I don't gamble with phone chargers, and you can get a good, high speed USB-PD charger for $20 now so it's really not worth the risk. Heck I got my 3 port name brand GaN USB-PD charger for $35 so the bottom is really not worth racing for now