Idk about this price I call shenanigans. I just bought an m.2 drive 2tb for $80 and that was a DEAL for me.

So here's some perspective from a poor grad student's life:

After getting the m.2 and an m.2 housing to do the transfer that left me broke for some time considering I only make $10/hr + (shitty commission) and bills/food are insane.

What I really need to upgrade now is my processor, but again doing something like this really is a luxury. Are all my bills paid? Have I spent a good amount on food recently? Like right now I need an oil change and some new tires so that's yet another month AT LEAST of putting off the upgrade.

Before I was putting it off bc I had to move to go back to school and I hadn't found a job yet in the new location.

Before that I was putting it off to save up for the process of moving and buying out of my old lease after a crazy roommate disagreement (I always have roommates bc I can't afford to live by myself).

Before that I had to help a friend get out of an abusive relationship and support them for a while, while they got back on their feet.

Before that my other friend blew up my car's engine and I had to blow every cent of my savings on a new car.

And while it's true that I could've probably tightened my belt a few times or cut out an unnecessary luxury here or there to get the upgrades I wanted the bottom line is: priority.

The REAL bottom line is: buying games is expensive all by itself and frankly I'd rather come home crack open a beer and try to forget that I'm selling every hour of my life to my capitalist overlords than I would have a few extra fps. I'd rather cut myself some slack/some time to study by eating out for a night than be able to hold a bunch of these mega giant ass games on my drive.

I'd MUCH rather gaming companies take care of THEIR workers and give them reasonable time frames to finish games and optimize them than I would have a brand new triple A title come out glitchy as fuck just in time for whatever holiday season they think my poor ass will be able to afford it (spoiler that season is steam summer sale bc I'll be damned if I buy 99% of games full price.)

tl;dr gaming may be one of my getaways from life but I'd rather game companies prioritize giving their workers time to optimize and complete games. I'd rather me prioritize the small day to day luxuries that get me by in life than prioritize having a baller computer to play those glitchy unfinished unoptimized new titles.