It’s a bad time to want a new computer

It’s no surprise that RAMaggeddon is making new tech devices expensive. But if you’ve been shopping for things like a new computer or tablet, this week is full of stickers. Considering the number of companies that have announced price hikes related to supply shortages, it seems unlikely that things will get cheaper anytime soon.

Valve kicked off the week by finally revealing the price of the Steam Machine, its long-delayed PC-like console that, in our tests, performed on par. and PS5. They they start it was $1,049almost double the price of the six-year-old PS5, and that’s the base configuration with 512GB of storage and no controller. The included controller adds $79, and if you want the 2TB version, you’ll have to pay another $300. (If you still want it soon at that price, well, I hope you entered the lottery.)

Ahead of the launch, Valve he had warned that the sector’s problems forced them to revise their pricing plans. When asked recently in PC Gamer one thing they would change about the Steam Machine, valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said: “Make it cheaper.” Although the company hasn’t mentioned its initial price, it looks like if you can shave $250 or $300 off the current Steam Machine prices, you’ll get there. in football about where Valve was thinking in the first place.

Microsoft introduced some new, cheaper versions of its Surface devices this week, though they’re still expensive. List of companies now includes 12-inch Surface Pro at $849 and 13-inch Surface Laptop at $949, ​​but they come with big problems: Microsoft cut the amount of RAM included in half, bringing it down from 16GB to 8GB. However, it is cheaper than the previous models of this device, which jumped to $1,049 and $1,199 as part of Surface price hike group.

And just today, two major companies announced price increases. Apple was introduced inflation which includes MacBooks, iPads, and devices such as HomePod and Apple TV. MacBook Neo, that is it was stealing at its original price of $599, it now starts at $699, for example. (We have a list of all new prices right hereand they are not beautiful.) Apple he gave Bloomberg statement about the price increase, saying it was caused by an increase in the share price at a level the company had “never seen” due to data growth.

Xbox has announced higher prices for the console $100 or moremeaning the six-year-old Xbox Series S now starts at $499.99 and the price tag only goes up from there. In blog postMicrosoft criticized the decline in the sector, saying that “costs for storage of consoles and memory have increased by 2.5x and we expect to double in the fall of 2027.”

If you’re looking for a new computer or computing device, whether it’s for gaming, or school, or whatever you need, the shortage of memory and storage means that electronics are only going to get more expensive now. And it is Ram and SSDs is still very much in short supply – likely to be so for a long time – these high prices may not be temporary but rather our new reality. If even Apple, known for its marketing prowess, is forced to raise prices, is anyone immune?

The massive construction of AI data is to blame. If a person is building a PC at home or a technology company that is looking for parts of the product that they follow need things like memory or storage, they are competing with an AI company or a hyperscaler who may be willing to pay more for the increased capacity. Valve said the same interview published this week; if the company doesn’t take the prices as quoted, then the dealers “won’t talk to us anymore.”

The competition for the data center sector is based on betting that AI will become a fundamental part of how people will use computers and interact with technology in the future. Hyperscalers are rushing to build infrastructure to train their AI models and deliver AI services to people and businesses. But the lack of product categories means that buying a computer can be difficult for everyday consumers. Today, everything in technology is more expensive than it was yesterday.

There is no end in sight: hyperscalers are destroying eye watering money computing to push AI into everything we do. This is making computers more expensive, and may be the beginning of things to come.