I can visualize the econ 101 graphs right now!

And this is almost too obvious to mention, but those computers aren’t exactly the same. They’re generally differentiated in at least some way, even if it’s just aesthetically.

But if we’re talking about precisely equivalent products, yeah economies of scale can get so interesting. My favorite is that Amazon can sell items at cost and still come out ahead.

Because they’re such a big (and reliable) customer to their vendors, they can get great terms on their invoices where they don’t have to pay for like a couple months after receiving their inventory.

So Amazon gets this $1000 TV in inventory but doesn’t have to pay yet. They sell it to me for $1000. They now have $1000 they can invest and earn interest on (or otherwise do whatever they want with) and don’t have to pay it back for a while

I don’t know exactly what scale they’re doing that at these days but it’s still amazing to me