Difference between price and cost

Question

The post Why are Thunderbolt 2 adapters so expensive was closed as not well-suited for this site because it is about hardware shopping and focused on price.

It is true that when the primary focus is about price, answers get out of date quickly, and a site like this is not well-suited to answer "what is the best external hard drive for less than $100" – such answers become obsolete almost instantly. This site does not do well answering questions that focus on the market price of things.

Questions about "what makes items in category X generally cost more than items in category Y" seem to be a fundamentally different thing. It's not asking about "Where can I find a cheap Thunderbolt 2 adapter," but asking what issues tend to contribute to higher prices for Thunderbolt 2 peripherals compared to Thunderbolt 3.

While it might be difficult to make this a directly actionable practical question, the answers are likely to lead to a deeper understanding of technologies and help people make long term decisions related to their adoption.

I therefore propose that while questions related to hardware shopping that focus on market price, which fluctuates rapidly, be closed as off-topic, but questions that focus on the factors related to the fundamental costs of an Apple-related technology (to be sure, one of the factors related to price, but far more persistent and likely to produce an answer of enduring quality that may be useful for years to come) be considered on-topic on this site.

Answer 1

I therefore propose that while questions related to hardware shopping that focus on market price, which fluctuates rapidly, be closed as off-topic, but questions that focus on the factors related to the fundamental costs of an Apple-related technology...be considered on-topic on this site.

If there’s a practical question and subsequently practical answer, they are already considered on topic.

What it comes down to is “what is a practical question/answer?”

It’s one that we can reasonably answer and even with some speculation, back up with citations.

• Bad: Why are there no Thunderbolt 2 widgets?

• Good: I have a Mac with a Thunderbolt 2 port and I need to connect a new external device with a Thunderbolt 2 widget. Do they exist?

In the first question, there are many reasons as to why they don’t exist and most have nothing to do with Apple - it’s not a practical question. It comes down to “there was no or not enough market demand” but in the end, we can’t assign intent to a 3rd party as to why they did/din’t do something.

As for the second, there is an identifiable problem - connecting a device to a Mac with a widget - and we can speculate as to why the perceived “solution” doesn’t exist. We can also propose a solution to the problem presented.

The question Why are Thunderbolt 2 adapters so expensive was initially closed but then re—opened because there was, in fact, a bona fide question that could be answered as (not withstanding the title) a comparison between two technologies and what was the reason behind the “expensiveness” of one versus the other.