US PC shipments fell by 7% in the first quarter of 2026, marking the most significant market contraction in nearly three years. This downturn is primarily attributed to severe supply constraints and surging prices for DRAM and NAND flash memory components. Analysts note that the market is also experiencing a demand hangover following the aggressive hardware refresh cycle prompted by the end of Windows 10 support.
Global memory shortages are not solely driven by the artificial intelligence boom but are the result of years of unsustainable price pressure from major customers. Micron reports that aggressive negotiations forced market prices down to one-third of previous levels by 2023, leaving manufacturers without the capital needed for expansion. This financial strain caused a significant industry-wide reduction in production capacity just as AI workloads began to demand massive quantities of specialized memory.
The Windows laptop market has transitioned into a multi-platform landscape featuring Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA silicon. Buyers must now choose between traditional x86 architecture and emerging Arm-based platforms, which offer distinct advantages and limitations. While Arm chips like the Snapdragon X2 series provide consistent performance on battery and excellent efficiency for web-based workflows, they face significant compatibility hurdles with legacy enterprise software and kernel-level anti-cheat systems used in competitive gaming.
Microsoft is reportedly discontinuing its budget-friendly Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go product lines. Sources indicate that the company has ceased manufacturing the Surface Go 4 and Surface Laptop Go 3 with no plans for future successors. This shift effectively removes the entry-level price points from Microsoft's flagship hardware portfolio.
AMD has submitted new Linux kernel patches that officially introduce a "Low Power" CPU core classification for its future heterogeneous processors. This new core type joins the existing Performance and Efficiency categories to help the operating system better manage diverse workloads. The patches enable the Linux kernel to identify these cores via specific CPUID functions, ensuring they are correctly recognized by the system's performance management infrastructure.
Chinese food delivery giant Meituan has released LongCat-2.0, a large language model featuring 1.6 trillion parameters and a context window of one million tokens. The model is notable for being the first of its scale to complete both pre-training and inference entirely on domestic Chinese hardware. This development serves as a significant milestone for China’s goal of technological self-sufficiency amid ongoing U.S. export restrictions on high-end AI chips.
Trying to get your hands on a full desktop PC that won't force you to take out a loan during this price-hiking RAM crisis is like trying to punch through a brick wall: painful and futile.
In such grim times for tech, mini PCs can provide a much-needed reprieve with their more affordable prices that won't set you back thousands of dollars while providing fast performance for productivity, vast storage space for precious documents, and compact sizes that won't eat up your desk.
One such lineup of high-quality mini PCs is those produced by Geekom, many of which are currently on sale for Best Buy's 4th of July sale, which will last until July 5, 2026.
So, if you've been eyeing up a chance to obtain budget-friendly mini-PCs like the Geekom IT13 (now on sale for $569.99) or a pink-sized performance powerhouse like the Geekom AX8 MAX (now on sale for $629.99), now's a great time to capitalize on it before the RAMaggeddon jacks their prices for good too.
"This machine is excellent in providing an exceptionally flexible tool that can serve files from external storage, be a hardware firewall or do any job that involves external devices connected by USB or Thunderbolt." ~ Mark Pickavance, writer at TechRadar
"It has the best single- and multi-core scores of any mini-PC I used, and it does a passable job at gaming, provided the title isn't too visually demanding." ~ Harish Jonnalagadda, Senior Editor
"The speed of this mini PC is boosted by one of the fastest SSDs in this price bracket. The CPU and GPU flex their power, offering decent multimedia editing alongside solid performance for standard office use. The main reservation is the slightly peculiar colour profile." ~ Alastair Jennings, Writer at TechRadar
"The A5 is a well-made, designed and considered NUC design that delivers most of the features customers need and want." ~ Mark Pickavance, writer at TechRadar
"Great mini PC! Super fast with multiple tabs and dual 4K monitors, incredibly compact, and comes with a clean Windows install with no bloatware. Setup was easy, performance is smooth, and it runs quietly. Highly recommend!"
"The Geekom A9 Max is, by all accounts, a premium mini PC. With top-tier hardware inside, be it for regular work or more intensive scenarios such as AI and gaming, it just eats it up. Toss in expandable RAM and storage, and I'm left asking why we would even bother with a full-size desktop anymore." ~ Richard Devine, Managing Editor
Which countries are eligible for Best Buy's 4th of July sale?
Best Buy's 4th of July sale is limited to the United States of America only, with no International shipping support.
Are Geekom's Mini-PC's capable of having their RAM and SSDs upgraded?
Many Geekom's Mini-PCs can their RAM and SSDs replaced and upgraded with better ones to boost their performance rates and install space, but how much RAM and install space you can store will differ for each Geekom Mini-PC.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
It looks like Microsoft's popular Surface Go and less popular Surface Laptop Go are on the chopping block. According to my sources that are familiar with Microsoft's hardware roadmap, these devices are no longer being manufactured, and no successors are currently planned
Just like the Surface Studio, Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Duo, Surface Hub, Surface Book, Surface Headphones, and Surface Earbuds before them, the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go are the latest Surface PCs to reach the Microsoft graveyard, and completes the Surface portfolio culling that began in 2023.
Now, the Surface portfolio consists exclusively of Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, with varying screen sizes and power capabilities spread between them. Surface Pro features a 12-inch and 13-inch model, and the Surface Laptop features 13-inch, 13.8-inch, and 15-inch models with a special Ultra model coming this fall.
Sources say that Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go stock may still exist at certain retailers and in certain regions, but once that stock has depleted, it won't be replaced. When asked for comment, a Microsoft representative pointed me to the new Surface website, which notably doesn't include Surface Go or Laptop Go anymore.
Surface Go is a particularly surprising device to be killed off, as I understood that it was very popular with enterprise customers.
In fact, it was so popular with enterprises that Surface Go became a device exclusively for commercial customers with its final generation. Surface Go 1-3 were available for both consumers and commercial customers, but Surface Go 4 only ever saw a release for commercial customers.
Fascinatingly, I'm told Microsoft had planned to ship a Surface Go 5 at some point in the last couple of years, and it was going to be powered by a low-end Snapdragon chip. Unfortunately, when the company asked its enterprise customers for feedback, it found that most of them weren't interested in an Arm version of the device, and so that plan was scrapped.
Surface Laptop Go was Microsoft's cheapest laptop offering. (Image credit: Windows Central)
Surface Laptop Go was pretty much replaced with the 13-inch Surface Laptop, which addressed the Laptop Go's biggest flaws such as the lack of a backlit keyboard and low-resolution display. Surface Go on the other hand hasn't really seen a replacement, as the 12-inch Surface Pro is significantly more expensive (and much larger) than the Surface Go 4 was at $579.
Of course, Surface Go originally launched at an astonishingly affordable $399 in 2018, albeit with very low-end specs that made the device hard to recommend. The Surface Go 3 and Surface Go 4 were the first versions with enough power to handle daily tasks without any noticeable performance loss, but their prices were much higher as a result.
I'm told that the decision to kill off these devices wasn't influenced by the ongoing RAMpocalypse, as the decision was made many months before memory prices became a problem for the company.
Now, the Surface portfolio is left with just two devices, Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Many would argue these devices are no longer interesting or innovative from a form factor perspective, serving only to compete with whatever Apple is doing on their side of the fence. With Surface Laptop Ultra coming in the fall as a clear MacBook Pro competitor, this has never been more true.
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If you've missed out on Amazon's June Prime Day sale trying to search for cheaper laptops for work, then Best Buy's 4th of July sale that's happening right now is your next best bet.
For a limited time, this event will allow you to get your hands on several vaunted laptops boasting strong performance speeds for productivity tasks, sturdy designs with responsive keyboards, and long-lasting batteries that will last you for full workdays.
With so many laptops to choose from, we've cherry-picked laptops we at Windows Central, and our colleagues at TechRadar and Tom's Guide, know are great to use but are no longer held back by steep listing prices thanks to this sale for your perusal.
Examples include the Acer Swift Go 16" AI laptop, with its Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD that's now 42% off for $899.99 at Best Buy, and the entry-level Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i with Intel Core i5-1335U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD that had its $899.99 fee cut down to a more budget-friendly $449.99 at Best Buy.
"I suggest grabbing the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i when there's a sale, as it’s quite reasonably priced and comes with a decent amount of power for the cost. There are a few premium features like a touchscreen, privacy shutter and fingerprint reader." ~ James Holland, Freelancer Writer at TechRadar
With its Snapdragon X CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU, and 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, this laptop's performance rates can more than deliver the goods for students, workers, and casual users alike, especially at this discounted price. View Deal
"The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 (2025) isn't an exciting laptop, but it does tick a lot of boxes for a capable and reliable mid-range 2-in-1 PC." — Zachary Boddy, Former Staff Writer
"The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is a remarkably cheap laptop, yet it delivers good performance and amazing battery life in a slim, elegant chassis with a comfy keyboard." ~ Stevie Bonifield, Writer at Tom's Guide
"It’s not perfect... but for the price and the performance on offer the [Dell] 14 Plus is easily one of the best Windows laptops going, and should be at the top of the list for students, remote workers, and just about anyone else who needs a solid notebook PC without breaking the bank." ~ John Loeffler, Components Editor at TechRadar
"The Acer Swift 16 AI impresses with its vibrant 16-inch OLED panel, powerful Panther Lake-powered performance, ultraportable design, and long-lasting battery life." ~ Tony Polanco, Senior Computing Writer at Tom's Guide
"In a vacuum, the Surface Laptop 13-inch is a great laptop with an excellent design and desirable build quality, paired with a top-of-the-class keyboard and trackpad that feel excellent to type with." ~ Zac Bowden, Senior Editor
"Its 120Hz OLED touchscreen boasts 100% color accuracy for the DCI-P3 gamut as the Zenbook S 16 lasts all day on battery power, making it a great option for anyone who wants a well-built, aesthetic laptop with local AI processing horsepower." ~ Ben Wilson, Senior Editor
Microsoft has expanded its 2026 hardware lineup by introducing lower-cost configurations of the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. These new models start at $849 and $949, respectively, featuring 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This shift marks a reversal from earlier in the year when the company raised entry-level prices above $1,000 due to rising component costs.
OpenAI has announced a July 15th release for a new hardware device designed to integrate with its Codex AI-powered coding tool. The teaser reveals a square-shaped mechanical macro pad featuring a 3x3 grid of buttons and side-mounted dials. This project is a collaboration with Work Louder, a manufacturer known for specialized mechanical keyboards and customizable input devices.
But the big story, unfortunately, was not so much how good the (terribly named) Claw 8 EX AI+ was, or how Intel is doing some impressive things these days, but rather the $1,799 price, which is probably about $500 more than planned thanks to the ongoing high demand for RAM and storage.
However, if there is one thing I know about PC gaming after 20 years on this site, it's basically that gaming is "recession-proof," meaning no matter how bad economic conditions may get, gamers don't stop spending. Anyone doing research on this will reach the same conclusion: Gamers will spend, and high price tags are no obstacle.
Best BuyB&H
To wit, in checking in Best Buy, Newegg, Micro Center, and B&H inventory levels this past weekend, I noticed the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ was sold out for shipping and local pickup.
Likewise, checking in on /r/MSIClaw reveals plenty of people sharing photos of their MSI handhelds with early impressions, mini-reviews, and those coveted gaming benchmarks (the tl;dr is near universal praise).
Now, for this story, it is totally fair to point out that each of these stores likely had very limited launch inventory. For all we know, your local Best Buy had one or two units available, so "selling out" here is doing a lot of heavy lifting when you consider availability.
While we think demand is strong for handheld gaming PCs, there are also some hardware shortages at play here.
The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is a high‑end Windows gaming handheld built for serious performance on the move. It runs on Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme processor for smooth gameplay, fast responsiveness, and reliable power delivery. With upgraded hardware, improved thermals, and polished software, the Claw 8 EX AI+ delivers MSI’s most advanced handheld experience.
So, the million-dollar question is whether a new shipment of Claws is en route to your local store?
Probably not.
One Reddit user noted, "I spoke with someone from Best Buy earlier. They said they tried to order more from MSI, but MSI hasn’t told them when they will restock them." That sounds about right for MSI, meaning this could be a weeks-to-months-long wait, and your best bet is to sign up for inventory notifications from whichever store you prefer.
What is likely to happen is that your local Best Buy will get maybe one unit at a time, and whoever gets it first is the winner.
As to why this keeps happening, it's like a combo of those high prices, MSI being shy on overproducing what is likely a low-volume product, and Intel likely doing low-yield production on that Arc G3 Extreme chip (currently only MSI, Acer, and some smaller boutique manufacturers like ONEXPLAYER are on board, with some of those devices, like Acer's Predator Atlas 8, coming later this year).
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The PC market is in shambles these days, and it's so bad that you don't have to be an enthusiast builder to feel the effects of RAM and storage shortages. Heck, even my less-tech-savvy parents are asking what's going on.
It essentially boils down to the global supply of DRAM being so short and the demand for AI datacenters being so high that it will likely take until 2028 to see any easing at all, while more pessimistic views extend the crisis into the 2030s.
I mentioned that I wasn't explicitly calling out collusion on the part of the three big DRAM producers who control 90% of the world's supply, but I might have been wrong.
Samsung is one of a trio of manufacturers that produces around 90% of the world's DRAM supply. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)
Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are facing a class-action California federal lawsuit alleging that they've been deliberately fixing prices and squeezing supply to drive up costs for regular consumers like you and me.
The lawsuit, reported by Law360 (via VGC), accuses the three memory makers of working together to reduce production of DDR3 and DDR4 memory while at the same time dialing their DDR5 production towards High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) that's used in AI data centers.
Citing the ongoing "RAMpocalypse," the lawsuit alleges that the "DRAM oligopolists" raised prices "with mind-blowing scale and rapidity." The lawsuit has been filed by a "class of individual and business consumers."
The three companies make almost all the world's supply of dynamic random access memory and have since 2022 fixed the supply and prices for DRAM, driving the price up some 700% over the past four years, according to the complaint filed by a proposed class of individual and business consumers.
Lauren Berg (Law360)
The lawsuit's argument is fairly straightforward. A healthy market with actual competition would see increased supply alongside rising prices. If RAM gets more expensive, it makes sense for RAM manufacturers to produce more in order to capture demand and undercut each other.
That isn't currently happening. The lawsuit alleges that the three big DRAM companies all moved in the same direction at the same time, and prices kept rising. Hard to argue with that claim.
The suit also says that "consumer purchasers of conventional DRAM and devices incorporating it have paid supracompetitive prices and have otherwise suffered the impacts of a distorted market crippled by the behavior of DRAM oligopolists." Again, I can't argue with that.
Why this lawsuit matters for regular PC users ... and practically everyone else
Xbox Series X prices recently went up, and not by a small amount. (Image credit: Daniel Rubino)
The global DRAM crisis isn't just affecting PC builders. Memory prices affect practically every device out there, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find any shelter from the storm.
None of these price increases happened just 'cause, and the lawsuit indeed argues that artificially constrained DRAM supply is a significant part of the reason.
Can any new DRAM makers challenge the current oligopoly?
Memory and storage prices have gone up due to global DRAM shortages. (Image credit: Future)
The lawsuit also raises concerns regarding how insulated the three big DRAM producers have become over time. Building even one DRAM fabrication plant costs billions of dollars and takes years, never mind the expertise required to keep one running.
Although Chinese DRAM manufacturers like CXMT and YMTC are slowly picking up Steam, export and supply controls imposed by the US don't help the situation.
The result? It's almost impossible for anyone to step in and compete with the big three manufacturers.
The DRAM oligopoly has been in legal trouble before
SK hynix has been in trouble for price fixing in the past. (Image credit: Windows Central)
As noted in the lawsuit filing, Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are not strangers to DRAM price fixing.
Samsung and SK hynix were accused by the US Department of Justice of price fixing between 1998 and 2022. Samsung ended up paying a $300 million fine, while SK hynix paid a $185 million fine.
Micron managed to avoid a similar fine after it reported "the conspiracy" and cooperated with officials.
It's well worth pointing out that nothing has been proven in court regarding this new lawsuit. As far as I can see, none of the three companies has offered a public statement, either.
Do you think Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron have indeed been conspiring to keep RAM prices high? Or is it just a lucky coincidence? Let me know what you think in the comments section below!
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Update (06/29/2026, 4:20am EST): The WD_Black C50 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is no longer in stock at Best Buy. ~ Alexander Cope, Staff Writer
Original article (06/29/2026):
Seagate's Storage Expansion Cards are one of the most popular plug-and-play SSDs for Xbox Series X|S for their increased install space and high read speeds. However, their high listing prices make them somewhat undesirable for the average player, especially during the ongoing memory crisis that has made tech so unaffordable.
Fortunately, Western Digital's WD_Black C50 Expansion Cards offer a cheaper means of adding storage while maintaining similar read speeds, and its 1TB model is now on sale with a 58% discount for $149.99 at Best Buy.
"The WD_BLACK C50 is a great expansion card for Xbox Series X|S, with a new lower price point, a fantastic design, and impeccable performance." — Zachary Boddy, former Staff Writer
Why buy the WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Card for Xbox?
The WD_Black C50 Expansion Card next to a Seagate Expansion Card. (Image credit: Windows Central (Zachary Boddy) | Western Digital)
The biggest draw for Western Digital's WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Cards for Xbox, aside from having chunky install spaces (which include 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB models), is that they allow a player to play games directly installed on the card without having to move them into an Xbox's internal SSD, saving them from tedious game file shuffling and deletion.
Of course, being able to play games directly from the card won't mean much if they don't run well. However, with the power of Xbox Velocity Architecture, the WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Cards can deliver fast and seamless performance rates for games installed inside them while improving load times and input detection speeds using a Superspeed NVMe Core.
Other notable features include Quick Resume Support so it can suspend a game and let you pick up exactly where you left off, and ease-of-use as you only need to plug the card into Xbox Series X|S's dedicated expansion card slot for it to work - no wires needed.
So, if you're hungry for more space for your Xbox, especially as newer games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 require over 161GB (and that's just for the base game alone without DLC add-ons), then the WD_Black C50 1TB Expansion Card will satiate it for a good while.
FAQ
Will this expansion card require any software installation?
No, WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Cards are plug-and-play devices that don't require any software installations to function.
The WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Cards are hot-swappable, which means you can unplug them from your Xbox Series X|S and plug them into another one to access your games and save files if you're playing on a friend's Xbox.
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Two more Surface devices were announced this week, at least technically. The ongoing RAM crisis forced Microsoft to follow in the footsteps of Apple and Acer by making laptops with 8GB of RAM in 2026.
During a week full of deals through Amazon and other retailers, Microsoft took a different approach to make its Surface devices more affordable, at least for certain models. The Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch can now be bought with just 8GB of RAM.
Those versions with less memory start at $849 for the Surface Pro and $949 for the Surface Laptop. I'm happy to see more affordable options, but Microsoft's timing was poor. Raising Surface prices during Prime Day meant better hardware was at or near the same pricing as the cheaper Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. And with other retailers dropping prices to compete with Amazon, the new Surfaces are a bad value.
Dell’s XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD is still $999.99, which means better hardware is sitting only $50 above Microsoft’s new “affordable” Surface models.
Deals, discounts, and rising prices were the focus of this week, but we also saw Windows 10 support extended and Bill Gates weigh in on AI. Here are the biggest stories from the week.
Biggest News of the Week
Getty Images | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Microsoft is in a no-win situation with pricing. RAM and other components continue to go up in price, so manufacturers have to adjust to match. Even Apple, which was more insulated than most due to stockpiles of components, had to increase the cost of MacBooks, iPads, and other devices.
As a result of shortages, Microsoft has had to raise the price of hardware. Since people still need laptops at somewhat reasonable prices, models with 8GB of RAM can fill that gap.
8GB of RAM is better than many assume on a Windows 11 PC. Our Cale Hunt said using a device with that amount of memory is "Not only viable but quite enjoyable." Since that's the case, more affordable Surface devices are good news.
But announcing a Surface Pro and a Surface Laptop with lower price tags in the same week as one of the biggest shopping events of the year is a strange strategy.
A Surface Laptop with a Snapdragon X Plus, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage costs $949.99 through Microsoft's website. The Dell XPS 13 (9345) with a Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage is on sale for $999.99 through Dell.
Maybe Microsoft should have rolled out its cheaper Surface devices a bit earlier or held off until other sales ended.
Shopping with Sean
The best deal of the week is still up for grabs despite Prime Day ending, and it's the laptop I just highlighted. Dell's discount on the XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite drops that premium laptop to $999.99. That discounted price looks even better after Apple raised the prices of its MacBooks.
If you want something newer, the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is $650 off. That gorgeous laptop is powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite. I'm jealous of our Senior Editor Zac Bowden because he got to review it (the OmniBook 14 Ultra earned a perfect score in that review).
As portable as it gets, this iconic 13-inch XPS laptop features Qualcomm's high-end, first-generation Snapdragon X processor for all-day battery life and a gorgeous (non-touch) OLED screen.
HP's new OmniBook Ultra is the best Snapdragon X2 laptop we've tested yet, complete with a gorgeous design, incredible keyboard and trackpad, best-in-class touchscreen OLED display, and incredible battery life and performance.
If there ever was a golden age of cheap memory and storage, I'm sorry to tell you that it's over.
The 2TB NVMe SSD you bought early last year? It now costs three times what you paid. The 32GB kit of DDR5 RAM that was $90 last summer? It's now somewhere between $300 and $500, if you can find it for sale at all.
The worst part of this whole RAMpocalypse? No one really knows when it's going to end.
Why are memory and storages prices still going up?
Memory prices are sky high ... get it? (Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
So what happened? AI happened. The way the world's memory market is set up relies on three major companies to supply everyone else with DRAM for consumer memory and storage.
Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron realized early on in the AI boom that they could make a whole lot more money by moving away from consumer memory and into high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that's used in AI datacenters.
Profit margins are enormous on the other side, and I really don't find it surprising that these massive corporations made the shift, as companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have essentially offered blank checks to buy up as much memory as possible.
The fallout of these moves by the three big memory manufacturers, of course, is a strangulation of the consumer memory market. And this isn't a typical supply crunch like we've seen in the past that can be remedied by a new manufacturing plant coming online.
This time around, the memory crisis is a reallocation of the world's DRAM manufacturing capabilities, and there's no real end in sight.
I don't think RAM and SSD prices will drop anytime soon
My collection of old RAM and storage becomes more valuable by the day. (Image credit: Future)
I'm not expecting to see tech prices drop anytime soon, and you don't have to take my word for it.
Counterpoint Research confirmed in February that memory prices rose in Q1 2026 by 80% to 90% compared to Q4 2025. Late last year, Kingston noted that it had seen a 246% increase in NAND wafer pricing compared to the start of 2025, the steepest ever in the company's 29-year history.
In February 2026, Gartner released findings suggesting that, by the end of 2026, DRAM and SSD prices could surge by 130% compared to 2025, which could raise PC prices by 17%. I believe we're already seeing that estimation come into play, and this same study predicts that global PC shipments could fall by 10.4% this year.
By the end of 2026, DRAM and SSD prices could surge by 130% compared to 2025, which could raise PC prices by 17%.
It gets worse. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra signaled earlier this year that the RAM crisis would continue beyond 2026. This week, Micron announced that most of its DRAM has been bought up via long-term contracts through 2030, and that there's almost certainly no end to the crisis.
SK hynix, another one of the three big DRAM players, stated in 2025 that its HBM, DRAM, and NAND manufacturing capacity is sold out through 2026.
Micron's Idaho fab won't be ready until the end of 2027. (Image credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto)
OK, I know that's a lot of numbers, but I'm trying to drive the point home: the RAM and SSD crisis isn't likely to end in 2026. It probably won't end in 2027, either. 2028 could be our lucky year, but that's relatively far into the future and harder to predict.
The problem is compounded by the fact that it takes a very long time to create new fabrication plants, not to mention the billions of dollars required to get the project going.
Samsung and SK hynix, meanwhile, are focusing on raising production in their existing plants, as new fabs won't be ready until the late 2020s.
Most of the analyst forecasts I've read rightfully point to some relief coming no earlier than late 2027, and I'm not talking about 2024-era prices. If those prices ever return, it will be at the end of a long, slow decline as the market levels out.
If memory prices drop, will PC prices also fall?
Surface prices went up recently, and not by a small margin. Will they come back down?
I certainly enjoy entertaining more conspiratorial ideas, and the one question that I don't think enough people are asking is about PC prices after memory and storage markets return to normalcy.
Will the laptops, PC components, consoles, tablets, and other affected tech products drop in price once RAM and storage markets return to normal?
If I'm being optimistic, then yes, I do believe that a correction in component costs would also lead to a correction in PC and console pricing.
If I'm being optimistic, then yes, I do believe that a correction in component costs would also lead to a correction in PC and console pricing. History suggests that this isn't out of the ordinary. There was a glut of memory and storage in 2023 and 2024, and I recall consumer prices did soften a bit.
However, I don't think 2026/2027/2028 is at all the same as years gone by. PC makers are expecting to see a major hit in worldwide PC shipments in 2026. As mentioned, Gartner predicts a 10.4% decline. IDC research points to an 11.3% decline.
The twist is that by raising prices for consumers, the PC market is still expected to grow by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years.
The new Dell XPS 13 showcased at Computex starts at $699 ($599 for students), and even that price might not stick around for too long.
This is what I find particularly frightening. If the volume of sales drops but profits keep growing, is there really any financial pressure that will make PC makers drop prices?
I don't think most PC makers will care that entry-level buyers are priced out of the market when enthusiasts and enterprise customers continue to shovel money their way. Why bother with discount laptops at thin margins?
I'm very glad I bought an RTX 5070 Ti when I did. (Image credit: Future)
I can reference the GPU price spikes from a few years ago during the crypto boom and pandemic shortages. GPU prices went up, the market leveled off, and GPU prices came back down. But they didn't go all the way back down, resetting at a higher baseline than before.
Consumers had become used to paying inflated GPU prices, and there was really no incentive to drop prices back to 2019 levels. I think the same logic applies to the PC market.
The Chinese wildcard could save us all
Will Chinese DRAM manufacturers save the global market? (Image credit: Getty Images | Anton Petrus)
Competition is likely the only thing that can save us, barring a collapse of the AI boom and a bursting of the market bubble.
Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron currently control about 90% of the world's DRAM production, which makes it painfully easy to coordinate pricing. I'm not saying it's explicit collusion, but it's certainly something.
Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron currently control about 90% of the world's DRAM production, which makes it painfully easy to coordinate pricing.
The best chance of breaking up this oligopoly comes from China. Companies like YMTC and CXMT have been steadily growing their share of the NAND market with newfound production and new fabs.
If these competitors can indeed scale up production and get their products out to international buyers, I don't see how that wouldn't disrupt the oligopoly. It's not exactly smooth sailing for China's manufacturers, though, as issues with exports, access to advanced equipment, and geopolitical concerns are all hurdles they must pass.
What does this mean for you and your next PC?
Rising prices are making a new PC a tough buy for a lot of people.
Gartner expects PC lifetime for regular consumers to increase by 20% by the end of this year. The cheap PC upgrade cycle has all but come to an end.
When new DRAM factories do come online, I expect them to serve AI customers first. Consumers will get the scraps, just like they are currently. Chinese DRAM makers might enter the international market and force prices to fall, but I doubt by enough to make a serious impact.
If you're waiting for the RAM crisis to be over before you buy your next device, I have some bad news. The most optimistic predictions put easing as early as late 2027 or 2028, while the most pessimistic push the dates into the 2030s.
Should you need a new PC now, I recommend buying one that will last for years to come. What some thought was a brief blip on the PC market's graph has some serious staying power. What it will look like, if it ever returns to normal, is anyone's guess.
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David Noel Ng, un chercheur installé à Munich, en avait marre du pile ou face et des tirages de dés truqués par les ordinateurs, alors il a construit une machine qui pose directement la question à l'univers. Son engin, le Beam Universe Splitter, fabrique alors du hasard pur en laissant une particule de lumière choisir à votre place. Et la réponse n'est pas 42 ! ^^
Le principe c'est qu'un photon, un simple grain de lumière, fonce vers un miroir semi-réfléchissant. Au moment où il y parvient, il a alors 2 possibilités : Soit il le traverse, soit il rebondit. Et dans l'état actuel de la science, absolument rien au monde ne permet d'anticiper ce qu'il fera. Un détecteur attend bien sûr de chaque côté... Si c'est le premier qui capte le photon, ça donnera un 0 et si c'est le second, ça donnera un 1. C'est la nature qui tranche, sans algorithme.
Pour rendre tout ça palpable, David a surtout branché sa machine sur une sorte de boule magique en ligne (les fameuses 8-ball). Vous tapez votre question existentielle du moment, l'appareil fait défiler ses bits quantiques en direct depuis sa cave bavaroise, et il vous sort LA réponse (non, c'est toujours pas 42).
Et comme l'expliquent certains experts de la physique quantique, chaque possibilité qui s'offre à vous, arrive forcément quelque part dans un univers parallèle, vous ne faites finalement que tomber sur le votre. Oui, je sais c'est barré.
L'Univers m'a dit que
Patreon
, c'était mal barré...
Pour repérer ses photons, il a fait de la récup et a chopé deux photomultiplicateurs Hamamatsu sur du vieux matériel de labo d'analyse de protéines parti à la benne. Ensuite, c'est piloté via une carte FPGA Red Pitaya qui a pour rôle de trier les signaux des millions de fois à la seconde. En ignorant au passage les affreux rayons cosmiques qui viendraient parasiter la mesure.
J'adore ces histoires de physique quantique. Puis ça bouge dans tous les sens en ce moment, entre
l'informatique quantique qui passe en open source
et les physiciens du CERN qui
fabriquent un qubit avec de l'antimatière
. Mais là, avec sa 8-ball directement branchée à l'univers, il n'a pas eu besoin d'un labo à plusieurs millions mais juste d'une LED, d'un miroir et de pas mal de débrouille.
Après pourquoi se donner tout ce mal alors que votre PC sait déjà cracher du hasard ?
Hé bien parce que le hasard de base de nos ordinateurs, celui du ALEA() d'Excel ou du random() de Python, c'est un peu de l'arnaque. C'est basé sur un algo (le fameux Mersenne Twister) qui imite très bien le chaos, mais qui reste prévisible si on connaît son point de départ. Alors je nuance quand même (merci Pierre-Louis pour la précision), parce que nos machines savent aussi produire du hasard bien plus sérieux : les générateurs cryptographiques comme le BCryptGenRandom de Windows ou le /dev/urandom de Linux sont imprévisibles, et ce sont eux qui protègent vos mots de passe et vos clés de chiffrement. La vraie différence avec la machine de David, c'est que même ces générateurs costauds restent au fond des algorithmes, alors que lui, c'est la physique elle-même qui tranche.
Tout le défi, comme
le raconte David sur son blog
, ça a été de prouver que ces bits sont du vrai hasard quantique et pas juste les ratés de son détecteur qui jouent les imposteurs. Mais bonne nouvelle, sa machine a passé tous les tests statistiques de référence du NIST sur 1 milliard de bits. Donc je pense qu'il est bon, y'a pas de schéma prédictible caché dans sa machine.
Après si vous voulez vous en faire une pour prendre toutes les décisions importantes de votre vie, sachez quand même que c'est lent de fou. On est à 2300 bits par seconde et comme ça tourne dans le labo de David, ça peut parfois se retrouver hors ligne.
Mais peu importe, c'est génial comme idée je trouve ! Bravo à lui !
Amazon Prime Day has entered its fourth and final day, and I know that some of you are probably tired of the sheer amount of deals floating around social media and your favorite websites.
I get it. There are countless deals to sift through, and the fatigue is real. However! I figured it was worth throwing together a collection of the deals that our readers here at Windows Central seemed to love the most.
At the top of the list, and no surprise in the current console pricing climate, is Seagate's 2TB Storage Expansion Card for the Xbox Series X|S. Although the original Amazon deal expired, you can still save $55 at Newegg.
Several other popular sales, including the Xbox Series X, Surface Laptop 7, and Seagate's other capacity expansion cards, are long gone, but the following deals are confirmed to be all in stock as of noon ET on June 26.
Most popular Prime Day deals according to Windows Central readers
Seagate
2TB Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S
Geekom
A7 Max
Microsoft
Surface Pro 11
Beelink
SER9 Pro
Samsung
Odyssey G55C
Samsung
990 PRO 2TB
SteelSeries
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
SteelSeries
Arctis GameBuds
Geekom
A8
More details about the most popular deals at Windows Central
This is by far the favorite deal out there right now for Xbox Series X|S owners, especially now that console prices have gone up again. It's a fairly cheap way to add 2TB of storage, giving you more room for your favorite games.View Deal
Geekom's A7 Max is a stellar mini PC featuring a Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, and plenty of ports.View Deal
The original Surface Pro 11 deal sold out, but you can still save $300 on a model with a Snapdragon X Plus SoC, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, 512GB SSD, and a 2.8K touch display.View Deal
Beelink's SER9 Pro is one of our favorite mini PCs ever, owing to its Ryzen 7 255 CPU, massive 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and 500GB SSD.View Deal
If you're a PC gamer, this 32" curved gaming monitor features a QHD resolution, 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and AMD FreeSync support.View Deal
Storage prices are still out of control, so deep 42% discounts like this one on arguably the best PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD out there are understandably super popular.View Deal
Gaming headsets seem to fall apart rather quickly, but this one bucks the trend. It's one of the absolute best you can buy for Xbox or PC, and it's 34% cheaper than normal.View Deal
Not everyone wants an over-ear gaming headset, and these SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds are the solution. Expect long battery life and excellent sound.View Deal
Geekom's A8 is yet another quality mini PC that's getting a lot of attention thanks to its Ryzen 7 8745HS CPU, 16GB of upgradeable DDR5 RAM, and 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.View Deal
La
Steam Machine de Valve
vient à peine d'arriver dans les salons que le youtubeur ETA Prime l'a déjà éventrée sur son établi. Et je sais pas vous, mais moi j'ai bien envie de voir ça avant de lâcher les 1039 euros qu'elle va couter. Ce petit cube vient de sortir d'usine avec ses 16 Go de mémoire et un SSD de 512 Go ou 2 To, et la vraie question que tous les geeks se posent c'est ... roulements de tambour ... : Est-ce qu'on peut l'ouvrir et bidouiller dedans ?
ET BIEN OUI ! Et c'est même plus facile que ce que vous pensez !!!
Tout commence donc avec deux vis T8 à l'arrière (qui ne tombent pas, elles restent solidaires du châssis, c'est qualiiii) et quatre autres sous les pieds. La façade avant, elle, tient juste avec des aimants.
Un coup de
spudger
, on fait coulisser tout le bloc hors de sa coque en plastique, et là vous tombez sur un gros radiateur en aluminium avec ses caloducs en cuivre, une alimentation intégrée, et la carte mère prise en sandwich au milieu. C'est propre et ça permet d'éviter le gros bloc d'alim qui traine sous la TV.
Le slot M.2, les ports USB avant, le lecteur SD, les USB arrière et l'Ethernet sont montés sur des petites cartes filles reliées par des nappes, ce qui rend le tout très modulaire. Ainsi, si le connecteur USB vous lâche dans 2 ans, bah y'a juste qu'à remplacer le module concerné et basta !
Même le Wi-Fi et le Bluetooth, soudés sur la carte d'entrées-sorties avant, se changent en remplaçant ce seul bloc. Notez que le seul élément un peu fermé, c'est le ventilateur car il est custom, dessiné spécifiquement pour la machine, donc oubliez votre rêve de coller un Noctua à la place. Et pour accéder à la RAM, par contre, il faut sortir le ventilateur et son carénage, débrancher les antennes Wi-Fi, puis dégager le radiateur.
Bonne nouvelle aussi, y'aura pas besoin de refaire la pâte thermique puisque la carte mère se soulève d'un bloc pour libérer les deux emplacements SO-DIMM en dessous. Valve n'en utilise qu'un seul d'origine, avec une barrette de 16 Go en DDR5 à 5600 MT/s, en single channel. ETA Prime a viré ça pour deux barrettes Crucial de 32 Go, soit 64 Go au total.
Au reboot, SteamOS Holo lui a par contre affiché 62 Go de mémoire système (?). Et pour le stockage, le SSD d'origine est un format court
2230
, mais il y a la place pour un 2280 classique. Du coup notre Youtubeur y a mis un Kingston Fury Renegade de 4 To, cloné depuis le disque d'usine avec
Etcher
pour garder ses jeux et son compte.
La barrette SO-DIMM DDR5 d'origine, à côté des Crucial de 32 Go
Côté tripes, le menu système le confirme bien... La bête contient un AMD Custom CPU 1772 en architecture Zen 4, six cœurs et douze threads à 4,86 GHz, accompagné d'un GPU RDNA 3 (un Navi 33, pour les curieux) avec 8 Go de VRAM. Malheureusement (et là, vous allez chialer), ces 8 Go de mémoire vidéo sont soudés et donc non extensibles. Donc même avec 64 Go de RAM système, vous ne gagnerez quasiment rien en jeu, puisque c'est la VRAM qui fait le boulot graphique. C'est couillon...
Le menu système après upgrade : 62 Go de RAM, mais toujours 8 Go de VRAM
Cela signifie que vu les prix de la RAM en ce moment, ça ne vaut pas le coup de l'upgrader sur la Steam Machine. Les 16 Go d'origine suffisent largement pour la plupart des gens (Le prix de la mémoire était justement une des raisons pour lesquelles la Steam Machine coûte plus cher qu'une PS5 Pro, haha).
Pareil pour le SSD, payer un M.2 4 To, c'est se faire mal au portefeuille pour rien alors qu'un disque dur externe USB de 5 To coûte trois fois moins cher. Un peu plus lent au chargement, certes, mais c'est largement suffisant pour stocker votre ludothèque.
Mais je suis quand même content de voir que Valve a sorti une vraie machine ouverte, réparable avec un simple tournevis, là où la concurrence nous soude tout comme des déglingos et interdit le moindre accès.
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