Memory Shortage Is Killing Budget PC Deals

The new reality: AI is eating your laptop budget

The DRAM shortage 2026 is a global squeeze in which AI data centers consume most new memory production, causing memory cost inflation that drives laptop price increases, wipes out budget PC deals, and leaves consumers facing fewer and more expensive choices.

This is not a blip; it is a structural reshuffling of who gets silicon. AI-compute giants now claim the lion’s share of memory output, because massive banks of DRAM are critical to peak AI performance. One industry estimate says AI-centric memory will consume 70% of global output, leaving a thin slice for consumer PCs. The fallout shows up on store shelves: average PC prices have already climbed above USD 1,000 (approx. RM4,600), and are expected to rise by up to 12 percent by December as supply-side headwinds meet a shift toward AI PCs. If your last laptop was cheap and cheerful, the next one will not be.

DRAM’s gold rush: why prices jumped and who is cashing in

At the heart of today’s laptop price increases is a brutally simple equation: demand from AI servers has exploded faster than memory fabs can keep up. To feed AI data-center hunger, major memory makers are diverting production capacity to high-bandwidth memory and server-grade DDR5, squeezing supplies of DRAM and NAND for PCs and phones. That starved supply, with steady demand, has driven DRAM prices sharply higher and pulled the rest of the PC market along for the ride.

On the industry side, this looks like a bonanza. One leading memory maker has seen revenue quadruple and its stock jump about 15 to 20 percent, with margins near 85 percent — numbers that “blank out the name and I’d have said this is a software company.” Someone’s loss is someone’s gain, and right now Micron and its peers are collecting the windfall while buyers fund it at the checkout counter. Analysts even frame the data-center boom as a “third wave” of inflation, with memory costs expected to keep entry-level PC prices elevated through 2027.

How the crunch is killing budget laptops

For years, cheap laptops were the safety valve of the PC market. That era is closing fast. Rising component costs are eroding vendor margins on entry-level devices to the point of being commercially unviable. Unit sales of sub-USD 500 (approx. RM2,300) PCs dropped 18.7 percent in the first quarter, and overall unit sales to distributors fell 7 percent to 15.8 million. As memory prices climb, that bargain-bin notebook is either disappearing or shedding features to stay on the shelf.

Budget systems and Chromebooks may avoid the steepest hikes because most already ship with 4GB or 8GB of memory, but starting low means a modest bump hits hard. When list prices rise, a USD 500 (approx. RM2,300) machine can quickly drift toward the midrange, and analysts expect the under-USD 500 (approx. RM2,300) selection to shrink. Consumers are responding predictably: many are delaying purchases in the face of higher price tags and tougher economic conditions, which in turn drags down overall PC shipments. The bad news is simple: you either nurse your current laptop longer or pay more for less choice.

Even Apple’s ‘cheap’ laptops are marching upward

When the most tightly tuned supply chain in consumer tech starts raising prices, you know the memory shock is real. Apple has increased prices by 15 to 25 percent or more across MacBooks, iPads, Apple TVs, Vision Pro, and displays to counter the memory shortage, passing the cost through instead of absorbing it. The base MacBook Neo, introduced as a value model, moved from USD 599 (approx. RM2,750) to USD 699 (approx. RM3,200), with an education discount back to USD 599 (approx. RM2,750).

Major Windows laptop brands have already signaled similar hikes of 15 to 30 percent, while some smaller makers are not only raising RAM prices but also prioritizing complete systems over standalone memory to discourage scalpers. No device with memory inside is safe: PCs, graphics cards, phones — all feel the same squeeze. Economists, meanwhile, are starting to ask what this means for inflation, since gadgets were supposed to get cheaper over time, not move in lockstep with a new AI boom. The uncomfortable truth is that even Apple’s “cheap” laptop was too good to last on old economics.

Where the deals still hide—and how to buy smart

If you need a laptop soon, denial is not a strategy. Prices “will become more volatile over the next year or two, and they’ll go only one way: up.” Analysts expect US PC shipments in 2026 to shrink 14.4 percent versus 2025, with memory costs keeping entry-level prices high through 2027. Top memory makers even see the crisis lasting through 2030, which means waiting for a big price reset is wishful thinking.

Your best move is to buy strategically. There is a short-term window where existing inventory, priced before the hikes, is still on shelves and in online channels. Some discounts jumped by hundreds of dollars overnight relative to new list prices, and current promotions — including big retail events — still include MacBooks even as official MSRPs climb. Looking back can also save money: a 2024 or 2025 model, such as an Apple M4 MacBook or early Intel Core Ultra system, was priced before the worst of the RAM crunch and can undercut newer machines. Meanwhile, truly affordable laptop alternatives may come from low-spec Chromebooks, used machines, and last-gen devices rather than new sub-USD 500 (approx. RM2,300) Windows laptops.