Thomo's Hole

I went to Dick Smith’s the other day, just looking around at lunchtime mind. Seeing as I am back in Sydney finally, I wander around one block each lunch hour to reacquaint myself with what is there and it happened to be the block with Dick Smith in it.

I remember Dick Smith’s. One of the things I remember most about Dick Smith was that there you could get good quality at a reasonable price and that electronics were made available to all. So, what happened?

I was looking around the store and my eyes strayed across some HDMI cables. Having recently purchased a TV and having a laptop that is less than 12 months old, my interest was peaked. An HDMI cable, now there was a way I could connect the laptop to the TV and watch DVDs and stuff on the big screen. I wandered closer and then gasped. $169.95 for the cable – and that was the cheap one. HDMI cables were listed in price ranging from $169.95 to $329.95. Now, I am not really known for being stingy but even I baulked at that cost. No sir, no HDMI cable for me.

Time passed (well, a couple of days later) and I was walking around Bunnings and I saw some HDMI cables again. I will admit, these were not as pretty as the ones from Dick Smith’s … but they only cost $26.95 – still, for that saving, ugly works.

However, I resisted the temptation and then, on Saturday, whilst strolling through K-Mart in Bateman’s Bay, I saw HDMI cables for around $20 each. I thought “do I really need one and anyway, I’ll get it from K-Mart at Ashfield.”

Checked K-Mart at Ashfield and they had ugly HDMI cables but at $24.95 as did Coles. I still haven’t bought one yet as we have another means of playing a DVD now and do not need to use the PC. I have questions though – like:

1. What happened to Dick Smith of old, making electronics available to all?
2. As the HDMI cable can handle 5 Gbps, why the price differential
3. It’s a data signal so there is not likely to be any signal loss as there was with analogue signals – so, apart from the difference between 5 and 10 Gbps, why the huge price differential?

We learned – look closely and think hard before spending on even simple things like a cable. We also learned – Dick Smith’s seems to be stocking high-end bits and bobs now.