Storage & Printer Ink Questions, Answered

As of September 21, 2026, the median in-stock SSD on BuyPerUnit is $0.2295/GB, and anything under $0.1750/GB is in the cheapest quarter of 1,745 listings; the floor is $0.0750/GB. Prices rose 40–60% from mid-2025 on the memory supply shortage. The 2TB tier usually carries the best $/GB for NVMe drives.

As of September 21, 2026, the median in-stock hard drive on BuyPerUnit is $0.0624/GB; under $0.0489/GB is the cheapest quarter of 1,212 listings, and the floor is $0.0250/GB. High-capacity 3.5-inch desktop drives (8TB and up) set the floor; portable 2.5-inch externals run roughly two to three times the per-gigabyte price.

As of September 21, 2026, 18:52 UTC, the cheapest SSD per gigabyte BuyPerUnit tracks is the ORICO 4TB External SSD up to Read Speed up to 560MB/s USB Type-C Portable SSD-B5PLUS Green at $0.0750/GB ($299.99 at Newegg). The median across 1,745 in-stock listings is $0.2295/GB; anything under $0.1750/GB beats three quarters of them. Prices are re-synced twice daily from Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg, so the leader changes often — the live ranking is always current.

NVMe SSDs are 5-7x faster than SATA SSDs for sequential operations but cost slightly more per GB. In 2026, the NVMe premium is small enough that NVMe is the better value for most buyers. SATA SSDs still make sense for older systems that lack M.2 slots.

Almost always. Larger SSDs have a lower price per gigabyte because the fixed manufacturing costs are spread across more capacity. A 2TB NVMe SSD typically costs 20-40% less per GB than a 1TB model from the same product line.

In 2026, 1TB of NVMe SSD storage costs approximately $85-100. A 1TB SATA SSD costs $60-80. A 1TB external hard drive costs $45-55. A 1TB portable SSD costs $65-80. Prices vary daily — BuyPerUnit tracks live prices across all three tiers.

The cheapest 4TB hard drives in 2026 are typically from Toshiba (P300), Seagate (Barracuda), and Western Digital (Blue). Prices start around $60 for desktop internal drives, hitting approximately $0.015/GB. BuyPerUnit tracks all 4TB options ranked by $/GB.

SSD prices are going up in 2026. NVMe SSD prices have increased 40-60% since mid-2025 due to the global memory supply shortage driven by AI data center demand. DRAM contract prices rose over 90% in Q1 2026 alone. Prices are not expected to normalize before late 2027.

In 2026, the best advice is to buy when you need it. Prices are rising due to the memory shortage and are not expected to drop significantly before late 2027. If you spot a listing that dips below the current category average on BuyPerUnit, that is a genuine deal worth grabbing.

Prices vary daily between Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg. No single retailer is consistently cheapest. BuyPerUnit compares all three retailers in real time so shoppers can see which store has the lowest $/GB for any given drive on any given day.

The cheapest way to store 1TB in 2026 depends on your needs. For bulk cold storage, a 1TB external HDD costs approximately $45-55 ($0.045-$0.055/GB). For fast everyday storage, a 1TB NVMe SSD costs approximately $85-100 ($0.085-$0.10/GB). For the absolute lowest $/GB, buying a larger drive (4TB+) and using part of it is often cheaper per GB.

DDR5 and DDR4 prices are converging in 2026, but DDR5 gaming performance gains remain under 5% in most titles. DDR5 is worth it for new builds on platforms that only support DDR5 (like Intel 13th/14th gen and AMD AM5). For existing DDR4 systems, upgrading to DDR5 requires a new motherboard and CPU — rarely cost-effective just for a memory upgrade.

For gaming in 2026, 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 offers the best balance of performance and value on modern platforms. For DDR4 systems, 32GB DDR4-3200 or DDR4-3600 is the sweet spot. BuyPerUnit ranks all RAM kits by $/GB across Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg.

As of September 21, 2026, 18:39 UTC, the cheapest printer ink per page BuyPerUnit tracks is the Faslvink Compatible Ink Refill Bottles Replacement for Epson 502 Ink Black at $0.0006/page ($16.99 at Amazon). The median across 883 in-stock listings is $0.0400/page; anything under $0.0175/page beats three quarters of them. Price per page is the cartridge or bottle price divided by its manufacturer-rated page yield, so high-yield (XL) cartridges and ink-tank bottles dominate the top of the ranking.

As of September 21, 2026, the median in-stock ink or toner product on BuyPerUnit costs $0.0400/page; under $0.0175/page is the cheapest quarter of 883 listings. Standard-yield color cartridges sit well above the median; laser toner and ink-tank bottles sit well below it.

Epson EcoTank has the cheapest ink per page at approximately $0.003/page. Brother laser toner is approximately $0.007/page. Canon inkjet is approximately $0.063/page. HP inkjet is the most expensive at approximately $0.10/page. The brand you choose for your printer locks in your ink costs for years.

Compatible (third-party) ink cartridges typically cost 50-80% less than OEM cartridges for the same page yield. The trade-off is that some compatible cartridges have slightly lower print quality or may not be recognized by the printer. For everyday document printing, compatible cartridges offer excellent value. For photo printing, OEM is generally recommended.

Divide the cartridge retail price by the manufacturer-rated page yield. For example: a $25 XL cartridge rated for 500 pages costs $0.050/page. A $15 standard cartridge rated for 150 pages costs $0.100/page. BuyPerUnit calculates this automatically for every cartridge across Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg.

As of September 21, 2026, the median in-stock 4K OLED on BuyPerUnit is $30.77/inch; under $24.95/inch is the cheapest quarter of 221 listings, and the floor is $14.55/inch. Larger panels are cheaper per inch, so a 65-inch set usually beats a 55-inch on $/inch even at a higher sticker price.

As of September 21, 2026, the median in-stock 4K QLED on BuyPerUnit is $18.46/inch; under $10.80/inch is the cheapest quarter of 450 listings, and the floor is $3.75/inch. QLED sits between LED and OLED on price per inch; the value picks are the largest sizes from TCL and Hisense.

As of September 21, 2026, the median in-stock 4K LED TV on BuyPerUnit is $11.60/inch; under $6.93/inch is the cheapest quarter of 393 listings, and the floor is $3.49/inch. 4K LED is the cheapest panel type per inch; the trade-off is contrast and viewing angle, not resolution.

As of September 21, 2026, the median 4K OLED costs $30.77/inch against $18.46/inch for the median 4K QLED — about 1.7× the price per inch. OLED wins on contrast, black level, and viewing angle; QLED wins on peak brightness and burn-in risk. For a dark room and film or gaming use the premium is usually worth it; for a bright living room QLED delivers most of the picture at a fraction of the $/inch.

BuyPerUnit divides the current retail price by the TV's actual screen diagonal in inches — the 'Class' measurement, not the marketing number. A '65-inch Class' TV has an actual diagonal of 64.5 inches, so a $1,300 model costs $1,300 ÷ 64.5 = $20.16/inch. TVs are then grouped into four tiers (4K OLED, 4K QLED, 4K LED, 8K) and ranked by $/inch within each tier.

As of September 21, 2026, the median 8K TV on BuyPerUnit is $60.00/inch — about 5.2× the $11.60/inch median for 4K LED — across only 17 in-stock models. With almost no native 8K content and 4K upscaling doing the work either way, that premium buys future-proofing, not a visible upgrade today. For most buyers a larger 4K set is the better use of the money.

65 inches is the sweet spot for living room value in 2026. At 65 inches, the per-inch cost drops substantially from 55-inch models, and the screen fills the field of view at a typical 8–10 foot viewing distance. 75-inch models offer even better $/inch economics for rooms where the size fits. BuyPerUnit tracks all sizes ranked by $/inch so you can compare.

TCL and Hisense consistently offer the lowest $/inch on 4K LED TVs — often $5–$8/inch for 65-inch models. Samsung dominates QLED value in the $10–$20/inch range with the best software and build quality. LG wins in OLED value via the C-series. No single brand leads across all tiers — BuyPerUnit tracks all brands daily so you can see exactly who's cheapest right now.

BuyPerUnit pulls current prices daily from Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg. For storage devices, BuyPerUnit divides the retail price by capacity in gigabytes to get $/GB. For printer ink, BuyPerUnit divides by manufacturer-rated page yield to get $/page. Products are then ranked cheapest-per-unit first.

Twice a day: syncs run at 06:00 and 18:00 UTC against the Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg product APIs. The most recent sync completed September 21, 2026, 18:57 UTC, covering 7,806 in-stock listings. Only in-stock, new-condition listings are ranked, and a listing missing from three consecutive syncs is retired.

No. BuyPerUnit ranks every product by objective price per unit — the retail price divided by capacity. The product with the lowest $/GB or $/page always ranks first, regardless of which retailer pays a higher commission rate.

Divide the product's retail price by its storage capacity in gigabytes. For example: a $120 drive with 2TB (2,000 GB) of storage costs $120 / 2,000 = $0.06/GB. BuyPerUnit does this calculation automatically for every product and ranks them cheapest-per-GB first.

BuyPerUnit is a free price-comparison index that ranks 6,546+ products by true cost per unit — $/GB for SSDs, hard drives, USB and SD cards and RAM, $/inch for TVs, and $/page for printer ink and toner — using prices synced twice daily from Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg. It exists to answer one question well: which product gives the most capacity, screen, or pages per dollar right now.

Yes, BuyPerUnit is 100% free to use. There is no signup, no subscription, and no paid tier. BuyPerUnit earns revenue through affiliate commissions when users purchase products through retailer links. This costs the shopper nothing extra.

Three: Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg, via their product APIs. BuyPerUnit currently tracks 7,806 in-stock listings across 6,546 products, re-synced twice daily. No retailer pays for placement; rankings are purely by price per unit.