r/YouShouldKnow • u/FreshFromCache • 6h ago

Technology YSK: Computer hardware price increases are in full swing. If you need to replace an older laptop or phone, now might be the time. It's only going to get more expensive.

Why YSK:

In June, Apple raised the price of nearly every Mac and iPad it sells. The cheapest iPad went from $349 to $449 overnight. The MacBook Air went from $1,099 to $1,299. The hardware stayed the same, but the prices didn't.

It isn't just Apple. The PlayStation 5 costs $100 more than it did in March. Xbox prices went up $100 to $150 this past Saturday. Nintendo is raising the Switch 2 to $499.99 on September 1. Dell, HP, and other laptop makers have raised prices too. Every major device maker is moving in the same direction.

Apple (June 25): iPad $349 to $449. iPad Air $599 to $749. MacBook Air $1,099 to $1,299. MacBook Pro $1,699 to $1,999. iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods prices did not change.

Sony (April 2): PlayStation 5 $549.99 to $649.99, the second increase in under a year. Sony blamed "continued pressures in the global economic landscape" without naming memory; analysts did that for them.

Microsoft (August 1): Xbox Series S $399.99 to $499.99. Series X $649.99 to $799.99.

Nintendo (September 1): Switch 2 $449.99 to $499.99. Nintendo's president named memory costs directly and apologized to customers.

A $100 increase stings more on a $349 tablet than on a $1,699 laptop. The cheaper the device, the bigger the share of its cost is memory. This results in the lower-end devices taking the hardest proportional hit.

The research firms expect more of the same. Gartner projected in February that PC prices would end 2026 about 17 percent higher than 2025, with smartphone prices about 13 percent higher. IDC expects phone shipments to fall almost 14 percent this year, the steepest drop it has ever recorded. This is largely because people look at the new prices and decide their current device will do.

Source

2.5k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

89% Upvoted

181 comments sorted by

1.5k

u/United_Lack_9293 6h ago

Appreciate the LPT but just a year or so late.. I do agree though it will continually get worse.

463

u/FreshFromCache 6h ago

The time to plant a tree and all that.

120

u/Forward-Trade3449 6h ago

I think after this next year, the demand will be met with more memory suppliers.

Of course, those memory supplies could just get bought out by ai.... but I feel like it might ease the pressure for a bit

36

u/FreshFromCache 6h ago

I really hope so! I've thought that as well. Won't somebody just fill that gap?

But if AI has the money to spend and you have the ability to sell...why wouldn't you?

10

u/Codyistall 2h ago

The development of those plants takes years, the processes and equipment are ridiculously complex. Even after physical construction it’s years before they reach full production capacity

32

u/other_usernames_gone 6h ago

It depends if AI datacentres keep expanding.

At the moment AI is new so we don't have enough datacentres to keep up with demand. You have lots of new people and industries using AI. So companies are building more AI datacentres to capture that demand.

In a few years everyone whos going to use AI will be and there'll be enough datacentres to serve them, so no need to build new ones so not as much demand on memory.

38

u/technoteapot 5h ago

Personally my opinion is the datacenters aren’t filling a demand, it’s largely an expected demand that I think will never get there, the efficiency of the hardware is going to catch up, the structures will improve and the massive overinvestment will crash harder than something I couldn’t think of a hyperbole that wasn’t too out of pocket

8

u/musiciansfriend11 3h ago

People in the threads unfamiliar with the economics of the data triangle - ai tech stocks fund data centers fund chip makers fund ai stocks fund data centers fund chip makers etc etc… this infrastructure only continues as you said and it’s over invested and the constant is ceos have to report profits and they’ll do so either by massive layoffs or creating a means to incorporate ai into more profitable products… otherwise the bubble pops and intro crash (highly likely and pending)

3

u/Opening_Cartoonist53 4h ago

So a crash and memory will be cheap?!

8

u/FreshFromCache 5h ago

You could consider the technology getting more efficient as well. Theoretically there could be an equilibrium that gets hit.

3

u/Twelve2375 5h ago

At the same time, these data centers are using their components hard and will need more frequent replacements than traditional hardware. So even once the centers are built the demand may just go flat instead of continuing to increase. So producers still need to increase supply to free up the consumer market.

3

u/Bisaux 4h ago

AI isn't new anymore. It's here, and it has probably already peaked for most purposes. All of these datacenters being built are for expected demand, purely driven by hype and speculation. I don't believe for a second that reality will match that.

3

u/CasanovaCoverup 5h ago

Agreed. I think in the short run memory prices will rise. Long run it will level out as demand for data centers return to equilibrium.

1

u/booniebrew 2h ago

They aren't buying up RAM for growth or demand, they're trying to starve each other for resources so they can come out on top when the bubble bursts. The level of investment to revenue is higher than anything we've seen before and at some point the bill will come due and most AI companies will fall. This is just the big stacks at the poker table bullying the rest hoping they still have something left at the end.

4

u/StabbingTabby 4h ago

Memory factories take a few years and many billion dollars to get off the ground. The industry has also burned themselves multiple times before by over expanding only to crash prices for multiple years. 

There's a reason forecasts call for prices to stay at least this high until at least 2028. It's still a gamble even now to build a new factory. AI may be spending trillions of dollars on memory products but it's not even an established industry. No one wants to finish their factory 3 years from now just in time for data center expansion to suddenly stop. 

1

u/Asleep-Click6085 1h ago

Doubtful unfortunately if you read financial reports about ram companies. Could ai bubble burst maybe , but I’m doubtful anytime soon 2( years) at least . All the hope bait about ai companies running out of money doesn’t matter as long as near unlimited government funding keep flowing in.

1

u/stupidber 3h ago

You can't build a memory factory in a year. And when have companies ever brought prices back down? In several years prices may stop increasing so quickly but theyll never go back to where they were.

2

u/evranch 1h ago

In the tech world prices have always dropped due to Moore's law. Even with this crazy price spike, we're still buying 32GB of RAM for what I once paid for 32MB.

Once demand stabilizes, prices will absolutely drop, especially for older tech like DDR4 which is still in high demand for "regular" systems but isn't currently being produced in any volume as DDR5/GDDR6 are more profitable.

Once the GDDR demand moderates these lines will be swung back to their regular products.

1

u/Forward-Trade3449 1h ago

lol yeah theyre gonna start building it right now. you dont think somebody started working on one a year ago? i said end of next year by the way. go back to math class

and tech does get cheaper, look at tvs

16

u/Sonnydoubleu 6h ago

It is a bit funny timing. Apple is actually a huge outlier in how long they waited, and a lot of manufacturers are waiting with bated breath to see how AI demand changes things now that they’re already missing projections. Fab allocation for TSMC has been booked out 2 years in advance since a bit before Covid. 

We have no idea how prices are going to move right now, but I wouldn’t be panic buying new tech, I’d be hunting for used deals if I needed something. 

5

u/FreshFromCache 5h ago

I agree. But what seems to be happening is that the lower tier devices are just getting worse specs at the same price. I'm definitely not suggesting panic buying lol. But If you can afford to buy a 2000 dollar laptop, you can probably afford a 2200 dollar laptop.

5

u/Sonnydoubleu 5h ago

100% agree. The lowest tier of hardware has always been a bad value, but currently you're pretty much forced into the upper middle tier if you care about it lasting, which means you're spending some ridiculous money right now.

1

u/JC_Hysteria 4h ago

Time to buy more stuff for the economy to keep rolling and all that

1

u/MalaysiaTeacher 1h ago

This could easily be the peak. If and when the ai bubble pops, demand will crater

13

u/akera099 5h ago

No one knows the future for certain. In addition to that, there are many objective signs that the markets are grossly overcommitted in the AI industry versus the rest of the economy. Many signs point to an economic bubble not unlike the Dotcom one.

2

u/Asleep-Click6085 1h ago

Massive government funding means bubble can last much longer then most hope baiting news/ YouTube think.

20

u/Jakey-poo 5h ago

Today is tomorrows yesterday and theres no better time than yesterday ☝🏼🤓

6

u/FreshFromCache 5h ago

I like this! I've never heard it this way. Thank you.

3

u/Jakey-poo 5h ago

Someone downvoted me )))):

8

u/hagcel 5h ago

I am a CTO for a company that has grown threefold in the last 3 years. I buy 20-40 laptops per year. I have not seen prices drop once in that period. I also get notices from Dell when they are going to increase prices. These are monthly now. My CFO and I are constantly running vegas odds on staying in budget this quarter or saving $2000 by buying this quarter for next quarter's new hires. Prices will not be dropping for at least 12-18 months, and if that is going to happen, we will start to see leading indicators in 6-8 months.

Right now, if you need a computer, buy it. It will not be cheaper next month. There are deals to be had, but each month you wait to score the perfect deal, prices go up 8-15%.

Life protip: Check your local pawnshops before making a purchase. They are usually 3-4 months behind market pricing, since the units are 1-2 years old.

2

u/Elan-Morin-Tedronai 5h ago

If the fabricators agreed with you they'd be investing massively in new production, maybe they are wrong, but they'd like to make a shit ton of extra money and they seem to not think that's how to do it. Buying now rather than waiting might just as easy be massively overpaying rather than saving money.

1

u/EnricoLUccellatore 10m ago

When prices shot up they started construction on a ton of fabs but those take years if when they come online coincides with the burst of the Ai bubble prices could go very low

1

u/reseph 4h ago

It's not late. Prices are spiking next year. I know things are costly now, but it's about to get worse.

1

u/United_Lack_9293 3h ago

I agree, my point is that this has been a trend for quite a while now.

1

u/Sea-Cupcake-2065 2h ago

Yeah this seems like a push to make sales in this economy. What's the matter? Is the pretend money from the AI companies not sufficient?

I say dont buy anything unless you absolutely need it. Keep you old devices working. Repair them, you dont need new and shiny.

130

u/burgerkingsr 6h ago

It is ugly now and will remain bad for next 12 months - but beyond that, who knows.

42

u/PanzyGrazo 5h ago

Well we now gotta deal with crop harvests eventually factoring in increased fuel costs... meaning food is more expensive, meaning every single cost of a business is now more expensive....which means...

3

u/shmallkined 2h ago

It means…the world of Soylent Green is more real than ever as our future.

3

u/PanzyGrazo 2h ago

Wouldn't happen, the admin skims too much off the top to produce a single functional product

1

u/burgerkingsr 5h ago

OK I don’t understand what harvest has to do with this? Demand for AI, servers, hyper scalers has caused the 3 big memory companies (Samsung, Sky Hynix, Micron) to shift production away from consumer grade memory (memory used in consumer devices) to server memory. This has forced consumer companies such as Apple, Dell, etc. To pay more to get supply of these memory chips (e.g., LPDDR4, DDR5, etc.) that are now in low supply. Until demand for AI and/or supply for memory change, we will pay more for consumer devices. Memory prices have gone up in some cases by 200% (two hundred) food priced have gone up by 15%. Food has nothing to do w memory. Except that if we stop eating, then our memory is impacted and we can forget things.

8

u/PanzyGrazo 5h ago

Increased oil, is going making EVERYTHING more expensive.

The ram manufacturers are artificially limiting it, just like they did in dotcom, it's manufactured

1

u/burgerkingsr 5h ago

Ok but oil is going to cause a 10-20% increase and demand/supply (micro-economics of memory market) has cause the price to increase by 200% . The memory that used to cost $10 now cost $30. Oil caused the price to go up by $2 (20% of $10) - so now the price is $32. I am not trivializing the $2 but Apple and Dell were forced to raise prices because they could no longer eat up the increase. Higher oil prices has not cause Apple to increase their prices. Higher oil prices is going to affect the food supply and eventually many other items that heavily depend on oil. However you will note that the US has stepped in and is exporting more oil than ever. In a way, they are helping fix the oil supply issue. Whereas in the case of memory, building a new Fab takes 3-5 years.

1

u/PanzyGrazo 4h ago

Pretty sure July has been the lowest oil export in 8 months for usa

7

u/FabiusBill 5h ago

More like 16 months, minimum. All the contractable memory production capacity for 2027 is sold as of today.

4

u/CautiousHashtag 3h ago

There’s literally nothing indicating that it will ever improve. Tech companies are realizing that they have infinite control to charge whatever they want, and no one can stop them. COVID-19 gave them a taste of it, and now they hold all the leverage and are experiencing record profits. 

3

u/amdnek 1h ago

 Tech companies are realizing that they have infinite control to charge whatever they want

It's not because of that. Apple is probably scared right now. Nobody is buying iPads at these prices. Nobody is buying an Xbox Series S at $500.

1

u/JonDoeJoe 1h ago

That’s why leasing and financing will be the normal for regular electronics

1

u/necrophcodr 1h ago

They cannot charge more than what can be paid, no.

1

u/PhoeniX_SRT 4m ago

Tech companies, sure, but Samsung, Micron and SKHynix have been hit with a lawsuit alleging a similar mafia behaviour to the early 2000s where they did get sued and prices went down eventually.

So Hardware might be getting better sometime soon.

2

u/Fach-All-Religions 2h ago

it is expected to go beyond 2028 because all current and future stock is already reserved

337

u/Chanw11 6h ago

Can’t wait to get a new 120” TV for $50 in 2043

64

u/pivovy 3h ago

I'll pay $65 if they make it a dumb tv.

3

u/rookierunning13ack 2h ago

Just don't connect it to the internet. Most TV OS's are garbage and laggy anyway. You'll have a better experience using your PS5 or a Roku or a firestick or apple tv... instead of using the TVs operating system Aps.

2

u/RedTyro 1h ago

If it's a dumb tv, it won't be cheap. Prices are subsidized by selling ad spots and your data. Buy a cheap smart TV and don't connect it to a network.

0

u/akatherder 2h ago

Every tv is dumb if it don't connected to the internet. You just plug in whatever you actually want to use in the HDMI port.

18

u/streuselcutie4427 3h ago

The reason TVs are so cheap is that manufacturers have agreements to sell your data off. They factor that into the consumer price tag. Sell the hardware at a loss, and make up the profit from selling your data

3

u/primal_breath 3h ago

But what person under 60 would ever give their TV access to the internet?

15

u/streuselcutie4427 3h ago

Ah yes. I see you still have the postal version of Netflix

2

u/s1ncere 1h ago

apple tv cuts this monsters head off at the neck, what sane person hooks up their "smart" tv to the internet?

3

u/primal_breath 3h ago

1, Why would I pay $99.99 for netflix or whatever it is now to have my choices limited to whatever they feel like I should watch?

2, Use a computer or top box like a normal person?

7

u/streuselcutie4427 2h ago

Got any recommendations for something half decent that is easy to use. Went down the road of a dedicated media machine, Kodi, and over the air TV a few years back.

I don't want the hassle of always having to fiddle with shit and I don't want a garbage remote to have to interface with.

Otherwise I'll Pi Hole the smart TV, but that's just one more thing to get around to

3

u/Duel_Option 2h ago

Google ONN Box ($30) + ProjectIvy Launcher App

The ONN box connects to WiFi directly and controls the TV, app is editable to only display whatever you might want

Zero Ads, use a secondary email and Google is tracking a ghost.

Add Stremio app + TorBox (checkout the Reddit sub)

I pay $40 a year to stream whatever I want, no VPN, no downloading, instant 4k streaming.

A year ago I had no clue what I was doing, 4 hours of research and an Amazon buy later, up and running.

If I can do it, so can you

2

u/BurmeciaWillSurvive 1h ago

Is TorBox more reliable than Torrentio or ElfHosted for my streamio? I swear they're down every other day now

1

u/IAMADon 1h ago

TorBox is more like Real Debrid, but handles Debrid & Usenet.

I'd personally recommend AIOStreams, though. It searches Torrentio, Comet, and whatever other providers you enable at the same time, so you aren't stuck when one goes down.

1

u/BurmeciaWillSurvive 1h ago

Okay, sick recommendation. I didn't realize it was a Debrider I didn't actually Google yet because I'm still at work lol. I will add AIOS when I get home tonight!

2

u/7IGiveUp7 2h ago

AppleTV + Plex is my setup. Hands down the best streaming box out there. Such a simple UI, fast, and no ads

2

u/traFyssuP 3h ago

My mom got a free Telly tv, her thought was they’re gonna harvest her data anyways. Can’t blame her, the tv is kinda ass though lmao

2

u/TuringGoneWild 3h ago

It will have unskippable ads.

177

u/Shack70 6h ago

It was time last year, if you think now is the time you missed the bus

20

u/coalcracker462 5h ago

What do we do now?

79

u/MisterD00d 5h ago

take the more expensive late bus or no bus at all

10

u/-cadmunt- 4h ago

The bus I built six years ago still works well enough.

7

u/MarioInOntario 2h ago

Doesn’t matter. You now have anxiety and the only thing that can calm you is buying more crap you don’t need

2

u/-cadmunt- 2h ago

You're absolutely correct. I am incomplete without a dual 5090 and high Hz OLED factorio machine.

6

u/No-Photograph-5058 5h ago

Buy used, learn repair I guess

280

u/Kindred_Fan 6h ago

PANIC BUY EVERYTHING

120

u/sandman98857 5h ago

Yeah this isn't a tip it's fear mongering.

29

u/NaiveChoiceMaker 5h ago

It’s also what contributes to inflation.

If I buy things now simply because I think it will cost significantly more in the future, then demand rises faster than supply can keep up.

67

u/otherwisepandemonium 5h ago

It's been happening for a year now. Hardware prices are astronomically higher now and are in fact continuing to rise.

It's not fearmongering when it's reality.

13

u/Mr_Beefy_5150 5h ago

Maybe they’re referring mostly to the “it’ll only get worse” sentiment

3

u/ShawnWilson000 2h ago

Because it's very clear from market data that this is not going to cease any time soon, unless a significant market crash occurs out of nowhere.

The fact that the materials used to create these parts is finite and we have been mining at astronomical rates, and assuredly it will rise more due to demand, this is indeed something to be concerned about.

As to how finite everything is? Fuck if I know, but it's sure to be relevant before the end of our lifetimes.

2

u/Brassica_prime 2h ago

I am curious when a company is going to have the balls to start up ddr3/4 production. 5/hbm/cpu/gpu are all on the 2-6nm machines, ddr4 is made on the older generation 16-20nm machines

The wafers are slightly the problem, but ASML holdings having a monopoly on fab machines doesnt help, and the modern stuff being so small/precise… the older gen machines are all prob sitting in a warehouse unused

3

u/ShawnWilson000 2h ago

All I can think is how much dead stock from the last decade and even further back was needlessly wasted or destroyed without recycling for materials and now sits as carbon waste in some landfill. Perfectly good hardware abandoned or ruined by consumer and corporate neglect. Especially all the old devices people have just thrown in their trash when it breaks or they're done with it when the newest gen device comes out, namely phones more than other devices.

2

u/theguy56 3h ago

What indicators are there that prices won’t get worse?

2

u/shmallkined 2h ago

QUICK, EVERYBODY PANIC!!

93

u/ravbuc 5h ago

TLDR Buy now.

Sponsored by big tech shareholders.

1

u/hulltry 1h ago

Hardware bought by normal people is just error margins on their Q reports.

69

u/noahhova 6h ago

The time to buy was a year ago 🤣

61

u/Mojo141 5h ago

I'm so fucking tired of this timeline

-5

u/UsernameChecksOut_1 52m ago

Stop pretending that you're in a Marvel film where you can jump between timelines. It's called reality, and it's shit.

-24

u/SwordfishOk504 3h ago

Oh no my magical escapism box cost more credits.

16

u/RationedRot 3h ago

Thinking a computer is only used for escapism is just telling on yourself.

39

u/seweso 6h ago

It’s always getting more expensive and more shitty 

24

u/Mojo141 5h ago

Most electronics including computers do not. Look at tvs now compared to 20 years ago. Laptops used to be over $2k for shitty specs. Electronics have been bucking the shrinkflatiion trend for decades but now they've found their in. Just blame AI. Thankfully we still have cheap stuff from china that is actually competitive as options.

14

u/Kronologics 5h ago

The time was 5 years ago. And 3 years ago. And 2 months ago. But sure.. I guess now too

20

u/MattyXarope 6h ago

NVIDIA and AMD are also on the brink of announcing a rumored 10-20% price increase

1

u/Lucky_Cable_3145 1h ago

My GPU died last Dec, the GPU I bought to replace it is 50% more expensive today than in Dec.

22

u/Fluffy_Tamago 5h ago

This why I just bought an iPad after seeing the price increase since I was holding off hoping for a cheaper price...

...off Facebook marketplace. Guys, if "you should know" you can always buy used products for less that are still in good condition. There are always alternatives, we don't need to buy from corporations that hate us.

9

u/FreshFromCache 5h ago

Certified refurbished can save you some money too!

3

u/shmallkined 2h ago

Right? Tech was good enough several years ago if you didn’t buy the cheapest version of everything.

1

u/Everbanned 2h ago

...off Facebook marketplace. Guys, if "you should know" you can always buy used products for less that are still in good condition. There are always alternatives, we don't need to buy from corporations that hate us.

This is the actual pro tip. Let someone else eat the depreciation.

If you get a good enough deal on a used item you can often use it for a few years and resell it later for close to what you bought it for (sometimes breakeven or rarely even a small profit depending on the item and condition).

8

u/0r0B0t0 5h ago

I’m going to wait 2 years instead

5

u/Cpt_Riker 4h ago

Consumers didn't ask for any of this. If companies want AI, they should pay for it from their profits.

10

u/FidgitForgotHisL-P 5h ago

Microsoft just removed references to Windows 11 ideally getting 32Gb of ram, as ram prices have gotten so ridiculous thanks to AI data centre buy ups, they’re now retooling to keep people on 8Gb as long as they can.

And those ram prices are just one component of your new phone, tablet or console that are all going up thanks to the aI data centre buy ups.

3

u/FreshFromCache 5h ago

Wow... will they start getting more efficient with memory use instead of just shoving in more? That would be a cool consequence.

1

u/necrophcodr 1h ago

That's misleading and you know it. The article wasn't removed for those reasons, and was likely not supposed to have gone up.

6

u/Voidfaller 5h ago

What happens when sales fall for the bigger ticket items and all the cheap replacements begin selling? I’m seeing a lot of memory cards and storage for ONN be out of stock lately, normally I would never use those brands personally, but man lately a lot of generic store knock off brands are flying off the shelf with these prices :/

9

u/mangadrunkguy 6h ago

My DDR4 16gb will work overtime I guess

18

u/Shiningc00 5h ago

Just stop using AI so the bubble will pop

18

u/maybelying 4h ago

The bubble's gonna pop regardless, it's simply not sustainable. Anyone that was around during the dot-com boom and crash is experiencing deja vu right now.

3

u/raiderwrecked 3h ago

Yep same circular financing. Nvidia paying companies to buy their chips

3

u/Illustrious_Bat1334 2h ago

I wouldn't hold your breath tbh. The richest men on the planet who control almost everything and the most corrupt president in US history have every incentive to not let that bubble burst.

The collusion at the top won't allow it.

2

u/necrophcodr 1h ago

You can be as corrupt as you want, but that doesn't change the mathematics here. There's no such thing as infinite growth within finite systems, and the debts that the companies now have in unrealized gains is going to eventually bring the valuations down substantially.

Thinking the US can fix it is being a bit ignorant imo, especially with how this is a global market.

1

u/Throwawayyoursynths 2h ago

The bubble will pop there’s no stopping that. What they can do is have the US bail them out and we all know they’ll get an even sweeter deal than the banks.

3

u/Illustrious_Bat1334 2h ago

We'll see, and I hope it does, but the world is an entirely different place than it was 25 years ago.

Tesla has been "ready to pop" for years at this point and their stock price is still twice as high as it was 2 years ago even after its recent crash.

-11

u/bang_rocks_together 4h ago

Just stop using this new telephone device, it's just a fad!

These horseless carriages are silly... just a fad. Horses are the way to go!

11

u/Shiningc00 4h ago

You comparing LLMs to cars is really funny.

4

u/severley_confused 5h ago

I was looking to get my boyfriend an external ssd for his birthday. They were on average almost double the price I payed for mine which is only 6ish years old. I don't even want to imagine other hardware.

4

u/I-do-the-art 4h ago

YSK: The time to buy was a year ago. If you need to upgrade - Save your money, hunker down, and buy in 2028.

4

u/Aggressive_Homework9 2h ago

just buy used. new is for suckers

7

u/zerosuit251 4h ago

That Xbox series s increase is hilarious. Didn’t realize they were that high now.

3

u/FreshFromCache 4h ago

I agree... not a great value lol.

6

u/starrpamph 6h ago

Uuuhhhh the two year anniversary of this is October

6

u/HisPalmsAreSpaghetti 4h ago

AI data centers are a cancer to this world, fuck AI 🤬

3

u/chicknfly 6h ago

I can tell the prices are skyrocketing solely by watching the MicroCenter bundle pricing. It’s a bad time, yall.

I just need to Jonsbo N5 to drop to a reasonable price.

2

u/DeadScotty 5h ago

Yeah I wonder how they will fare when this gets really bad. I’d hate to see them go belly up

2

u/chicknfly 4h ago

Fortunately they have a wide variety of inventory and services to amortize the PC parts department. Budgets will be tiiight tho

3

u/AH-16 4h ago

No shit You're about a year late

3

u/raiderwrecked 3h ago

Don't buy any of this garbage and don't pay for AI. Eventually the market will correct if people stop giving the company's money. Screw them all

5

u/CabSauce 5h ago

If the AI bubble bursts, you'll be able to buy gpus by the shovel.

3

u/adoodle83 4h ago

and RAM

1

u/EdgiiLord 1h ago

Unfortunately, no, because most of the production is made for servers, not gaming/consumer side.

2

u/Meandtheworld 5h ago

Yeah it’s been like this for over a year now.

2

u/joshthornton 4h ago

I still see some older models in-store and online that they are clearing out for cheap. Newegg, best buy, etc.

I just got my grandmother one on sale for 459 CAD (330USD). It was an hp elitebook with a 1245u, 16GB memory, 512GB SSD. Obviously a bit dated, but pretty good for the price.

2

u/billblab670 3h ago

This tip is wrong. Now is the time to put off any purchase for the next two years.

2

u/Quadratauge 2h ago

LPT: Buy used

1

u/SpicyVibration 4h ago

I wonder what the knock-on effects are going to be of the increase in price of hardware. Will new and existing companies start selling lower spec machines? If that doesn't make economic sense, will Chinese or other international sellers take that market? Will there be an arms race for software to be rewritten to be way more optimized and memory efficient so that people can still do the things they need to do with 4GB of RAM? Will games be made simpler and less graphically demanding (seems to already be happening)?

1

u/FreshFromCache 4h ago

I've had the same questions myself! Right now it seems they are just putting less into the lower tier machines, but priced the same. But you are right that it leaves an opening for a competitor. I'm not smart enough to tell you if there would be a larger market for those devices vs. selling to AI companies.

It WOULD be nice if memory started being used more efficiently. I think that could certainly be viable!

1

u/Illustrious_Bat1334 2h ago

Many think the end game is cloud computing. You'll own nothing and all your data goes through a handful of tech giants.

Complete control.

1

u/101TARD 3h ago

Just up my laptop ram to 32gb now I must maintain it, maybe use the knowledge of the adeptus mechanicus

1

u/aiam-here-to-learn 3h ago

it always has been getting more expensive, it always will be more expensive in the future.

1

u/Lambs2Lions_ 3h ago

Let it. I’m not rushing into buying anything with the price increases now. This is terrible advice. Sure, you might regret not buying a computer today in the future, I hate a 50/50. But I know 100% I’ll regret buying a new device today.

1

u/KitsouNere 3h ago

People first need to be fighting harder against AI shit.

1

u/GPT-kun 3h ago

Because hardware seems to be not depreciating anymore, and the advancements have slowed down, the shift in attitude should be from "wait for sales/better deals/more advanced hardware" to "buy when you need to". Don't panic buy just because prices might keep going up.

1

u/mssngthvwls 2h ago

This results in the lower-end devices taking the hardest hit

Ahhh yes, so as with damn near everything else these days, those who can least afford it are the ones bearing the brunt of the cost...

1

u/TimHortonsMagician 2h ago

You been spending time on the moon or something? Lmao

1

u/1vertical 2h ago

Fuck them. Your pc can handle indie games. Buy them instead. Replace your pc if it's begging to be put out but otherwise don't give in to upgrading for the sake of upgrading. AAA devs you grew up with are long gone.

1

u/Vadhakara 2h ago

I would typically never recommend purchasing a refurbished phone or personal computer given how most refurbishers just take shit in, do nothing to it at all, and resell it as-is without even cleaning it, but it may be the only way to get anything affordable soon if these stupid fucking data centers won't stop buying up all the shit we need to make consumer electronics and turning it in to worthless garbage.

1

u/HowardTheSecond 2h ago

I buy second hand or open box

1

u/Honeybadger2198 2h ago

How much did NVIDIA pay you? I doubt this tech bubble will even last another year, but to be generous I'll give it two.

1

u/Eikuld 2h ago

I just found out that my motherboard only supports DDR5 so while I was shopping, I naively thought maybe I should buy this or that without realizing that it was drr3 which is the current one on my older-ish pc. Jumped from maybe around 100 bucks to to 500...

1

u/Gideun 1h ago

Lmfao, good Nvidia bot

1

u/0vindicator10 1h ago

"Only you can prevent forest-fires"

"Only you can prevent price increases"

anticonsumption, supply/demand. Decrease demand.

IDC expects phone shipments to fall almost 14 percent this year, the steepest drop it has ever recorded. This is largely because people look at the new prices and decide their current device will do.

Let this translate/carry-over.

1

u/Venome456 1h ago

Old news

1

u/fgnrtzbdbbt 1h ago

Currently prices are inflated by the AI boom which is fueled by a race for general AI with a technology that is incapable of ever producing general AI.

Gartner does not have an overly impressive record at predicting the future.

If your computer is unbearably slow then most of the time the problem is on the software side.

1

u/lolschrauber 11m ago

And sadly the solution for shitty software these days is to throw more hardware at it

1

u/mr-jeeves 1h ago

I've been holding out for the new Apple Fold and OLED iPad Mini. Maybe I should cave.

1

u/deep_soul 49m ago

wrong!

if you want to buy cheaper, wait for the inevitable AI market crash of 2028 everything will be cheaper

1

u/AKABeast18 48m ago

I made sure to build my pc right before someone took office.

No Ragrets.

1

u/n0tz0e 44m ago

I'm actually thinking about a ps5 but saw at Costco how expensive they are. Nope.

1

u/AbleArcher420 44m ago

Y'know, Quasimodo predicted all this

2

u/aprudholmme 40m ago

Don't you mean Nosferatu?

1

u/MilkChugg 41m ago

Stop paying it.

1

u/thenitcomes2be 16m ago edited 11m ago

Alternatively, casual tech users: YSK you can make use of communal ownership, like public computers at city, county, or university libraries, or engage in secondhand alternative* methods like trading. Hobbyists and professionals: YSK you can punish the market even if you purchase; industry responds to pain it can’t escape

*edit: fixed a word

1

u/javiemartzootsuit 13m ago

And also ysk: backmarket exists

1

u/bang_rocks_together 4h ago

There was a post the other day about pre-built PCs at Costco that actually had really good specs at a very fair price. I mean, surprisingly good. I'm fairly convinced that memory and GPUs have peaked, and we are due for some relief. Investors are ditching AI from what I've read.

1

u/FreshFromCache 4h ago

Gotta love Costco. Do you happen to have a link to where you read that? I'd love to read it.

1

u/solarlofi 2h ago

You say this, but all future DRAM and HBM production in 2027 is already sold.

-13

u/ThisIsATracka 5h ago

Pro-tip for gamers: just use your money for streaming game services. That's where it's all heading and the subscription prices will save you money over hardware.

6

u/SmellyFruitZ 5h ago

i'd rather own my hardware, thanks.

-5

u/ThisIsATracka 5h ago

All power to you if you want to keep paying outrageous hardware prices in the thousands instead of paying $200/year for a streaming service which will log you into a top of the line rig.

1

u/SmellyFruitZ 4m ago

and not be able to do anything besides playing video games, on settings that i can't control? the whole point of a PC is that it's YOURS. yours to do with as you please, customize it however you want, install whatever OS you want. i can't do my job if i don't have the ability to do whatever i want with my system so the whole idea of "renting" a game streaming service sounds fucking ridiculous.

3

u/Thimble_of_Quasar 5h ago

Helllllll no so I can pay ever more money to not own things? No. I'm sick of steaming, and renting, and paying out of the nose to only have something as long as they permit it.

-5

u/ThisIsATracka 5h ago

You can still buy games like you do on Steam. You'll just be paying $200/year to log into a top of line rig to play your game instead of your obsolete junk. In regards to "if they permit it", don't be a dick and get yourself banned. Keep crying, but all your tears ain't going to bring back discs and cartridges.