This post is a bit borderline, so I can take it down if you think it’s inappropriate for this community (tag @otter@lemmy.ca for a faster response). These computers are often suggested by various selfhosting tutorials so it might be interesting to see how they’re made.
I’m going to keep manufacture local to the west coast, but yeah, price deltas are almost extreme in comparison.
It was a frustrating experience. On the one hand, I really really really wanted the tool manufactured in the US. However, if I went the US route, I would have never sold one piece because it was just too expensive. It wasn’t an easy decision to go to China. After doing a couple runs, I had recouped my investment plus a little pocket change to put some 'taters on the table. I learned a lot on the way tho. You hear people say, ‘You outta patent that’, but the process is not that easy. At any rate, at least I can say ‘Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. No better or worse for the exercise.’