What discount? And why would Bitmain charge less for blades use in an S1 upgrade vs an S3 purchase?
Maybe the cost of frame, controller, and shipping weight/volume is not negligable?
As mentioned previously in this thread (although not quoted), those compose of perhaps 10% of the price, or approximately $40. Why wait around or hang your hopes on getting an upgrade kit to save $40? Not to mention an old S1 is worth about $150 or so on the open market, and you lose the ability to sell it if you upgrade.
Yea, but since my S1s are all paid off and still making money, why be in a hurry to sell? It's like keeping a car for 20 years until you drive it to the junk yard - sometimes it's more cost effective than trading them in every few years. Plus, all the S1 guys can wait for you S3 pioneers to work out all the bugs.
S1 uses 2-2.5 times more energy than S3 for the same hash plus pricing was good a few weeks back. I am limited to <3kw extra during summer, so it was a no-brainer.
I loved the little fellas, but they just had to go.