Buying a cheap PC may soon become significantly more difficult. According to research firm Gartner, sharply rising memory prices are expected to make computers more expensive in the short term and could cause the entry-level PC market to “disappear” by 2028.
The market chaos is largely driven by the growth of AI, with newly planned AI infrastructure gobbling up all the RAM it can get its hands on, leaving little-to-none for the consumer market. Prices for DRAM memory and SSD storage are expected to jump around 130 percent by the end of 2026, driving PC prices up an average of 17 percent.
As PCs become more expensive, both businesses and individuals are expected to hold on to their current sysetms for much longer than they might’ve anticipated. Gartner estimates that consumers may use their computers up to 20 percent longer before upgrading.
The budget segment is particularly vulnerable. Gartner believes that PCs in the entry-level range (under $500) may wind down and disappear altogether as early as 2028. At the same time, the development of so-called AI PCs is expected to slow down as higher component costs make it more difficult to produce at reasonable prices.