Budget laptop buyers are getting squeezed as memory prices keep climbing toward 2027

[BinaryMonk95]

Consumers shopping for a new laptop are increasingly finding a gap between what they want to spend and what's actually on shelves, as the ongoing memory chip shortage keeps pushing prices upward across nearly every price tier. The core driver is the same one hitting phones, consoles and tablets, DRAM and NAND flash memory, the components used for working memory and storage in virtually every modern device, are in extremely tight supply because AI data centers are consuming an outsized share of global production

The squeeze is hitting entry level machines hardest. Industry analyst firm Omdia found consumer PC sales fell 9.5 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2026 and expects the segment to drop over 11 percent for the full year, with Omdia's Scott Braverman noting many consumers are simply delaying purchases rather than paying the higher prices. Business PC sales fell too, though less sharply, as some organizations pulled orders forward specifically to beat further price increases tied to Windows 10 replacement cycles

TrendForce's latest pricing survey projects conventional DRAM contract prices to keep climbing another 13 to 18 percent quarter over quarter into Q3 2026, with NAND flash rising 10 to 15 percent, a real slowdown from the roughly 60 percent jumps seen earlier in the year, but a slowdown driven by manufacturers and consumers hitting an affordability ceiling rather than any actual improvement in supply

None of this is expected to ease quickly. New memory fabrication plants take two to three years to build from groundbreaking to full output, and most currently announced expansion projects, including Micron's more than 150 billion dollar multi-site buildout across Idaho, New York and Virginia, aren't expected to meaningfully add supply until 2027 at the earliest, with several manufacturers saying they don't yet have visibility into when supply will actually catch up with AI driven demand

Americans Only Want to Pay $800 for a New Laptop. Too Bad Many Cost $1,600uk.pcmag.com

[Dave]

The affordability ceiling framing is the key detail here, prices are still rising but slower specifically because people are refusing to pay more, not because supply actually improved

[ElectricPilgrim]

9.5 percent drop in consumer PC sales in one quarter alone shows this isn't just anecdotal frustration, people are genuinely delaying purchases in response to the pricing

[TheGame_Fan]

Two to three years to build a new memory fab means there's basically no fast fix available here regardless of how much money gets thrown at expanding capacity right now

[Sofia_61]

Business buyers pulling orders forward to beat price increases is a smart hedge if you can manage the cash flow, but that's not really an option available to most individual consumers

[WarningPoint49]

The gap between what people are willing to spend and what's actually available at that price point is going to keep pushing budget shoppers toward either older refurbished stock or just holding onto their current laptop longer

[LegendaryRob93]

This is a good example of an AI infrastructure boom having very direct, unglamorous consequences for completely unrelated everyday purchases like a family laptop

[HeartbreakKidCurtis18]

Budget laptops with 8GB RAM are starting to feel like a trap. Fine for light use today, but throw in a few browser tabs and background apps and it struggles fast.

With prices rising, it's getting harder to justify stepping up to 16GB, which is where things feel comfortable now.

[IronFist38]

The frustrating part is that RAM used to be the easiest upgrade. Now so many budget laptops have soldered memory, so you're stuck with whatever you buy.

That makes these price increases hit even harder

[IndexerHydra]

Manufacturers are probably loving this. Higher memory costs give them cover to push people into more expensive tiers.

"Only 100 more for double the RAM" adds up quickly when you're on a tight budget

[HitmanBrad98]

Students are going to feel this the most. A cheap laptop used to be enough for coursework, but modern apps and browsers are way heavier than they used to be.

8GB isn't aging gracefully.

[Casillas]

One workaround is going refurbished business laptops. Older ThinkPads or Latitudes with upgradeable RAM can be a much better deal than new budget models.

Not flashy, but super practical

[Evelyn]

There's also Chromebooks, but that depends on your needs. For web-based work they're fine, but once you need full desktop apps, limitations show up quickly

[IronSpectre88]

Feels like we're going backwards a bit. Hardware used to get cheaper and more capable over time, now key components are getting more expensive again

[Runner]

Another angle is software bloat. If apps were more efficient, 8GB would stretch further. Instead everything assumes you've got loads of memory to burn.

Not a great combo with rising RAM prices.

[Pat85]

Some brands are quietly shipping single-channel RAM configs too, which hurts performance even more. So you're paying more and getting less effective performance. Great deal... not

[Forge37]

External solutions like using cloud apps or remote desktops might become more common. Offload the heavy lifting elsewhere and keep the local machine lightweight.

Not ideal, but it's an option.

[QubitZero13]

Timing purchases is getting tricky. Wait too long and prices rise, buy now and you might overpay if things stabilize later.

Feels like trying to time the market

[Mick79]

Entry-level gaming laptops are getting squeezed too. 8GB used to be acceptable there, now it's borderline unusable for newer titles.

Upgrading pushes you into a much higher price bracket.

[James90]

At this point, the safest move is buying the most RAM you can reasonably afford and treating it as future-proofing.

Cutting corners there tends to hurt pretty quickly these days

[BankHolidayBlues87]

Retailers might start bundling deals to soften the blow. Things like including upgrades or discounts on higher RAM configs could become more common.

[Emma29]

Another sneaky issue is integrated graphics using system RAM. So that 8GB isn't really 8GB available, which makes the squeeze even worse

[DarkLantern]

Leasing or financing options might become more appealing if upfront costs keep climbing. Not ideal, but it spreads the hit over time.

[Rabbit]

Some people suggest waiting until 2027, but that's a gamble. If demand from AI and data centers keeps rising, prices might not drop anytime soon.

[Aaron]

It's wild how much difference RAM makes to perceived speed. A CPU upgrade might give you 10-20%, but doubling RAM can completely change how a system feels.

[Gunther29]

Budget buyers might need to rethink priorities. Instead of chasing CPU specs, focusing on RAM and storage could give a better real-world experience.

[Hare51]

One positive: this might push people to hold onto devices longer and maintain them better.

Less e-waste isn't a bad side effect of all this

[MessiGOAT48]

There's a growing gap between "entry-level" and "usable." Specs that look fine on paper don't always translate to smooth everyday performance anymore.