PC {hardware} costs are up, however not throughout the board. RAM prices were the first to skyrocket, then SSD costs adopted. It’s affecting all types of stuff now—like Nvidia skipping new consumer GPUs this year—and the AI-driven crunch is fanning the flames of 2025’s tariff chaos.
You may suppose PCs have now turn into prohibitively costly… nevertheless it’s extra nuanced than that. Decent PCs aren’t fully out of attain simply but if you already know the place to look and what to keep away from.
If you’re going to purchase a brand new PC this yr, right here’s what you want to know to be sure you get deal.
Don’t construct. Go with a prebuilt PC
I’ve been constructing my very own PCs for many years, however these days are gone. No extra placing collectively a listing of elements and price-matching to get the most effective offers from my native PC ironmongery store. Our recommendation if you happen to’re considering of constructing a PC in 2026? Just don’t.
Rather than assembling a PC from elements, search for a prebuilt desktop PC or a laptop computer. Stores like Costco, Best Buy, and Walmart nonetheless provide wonderful offers on all the things from prebuilt gaming desktop PCs to workstation laptops. Price out the elements and also you could be shocked.
For instance, certainly one of Costco’s least costly desktop gaming PCs is this CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme system. For $1,100, it comes with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 GPU. If you have been shopping for elements, you’d be spending one thing like $360 for the RAM, $280 for the SSD, and $360 for the GPU at present costs. That’s already as much as $1,000 and we haven’t even included the CPU, motherboard, case, or the opposite stuff.
Now, if you happen to caught a system like this on sale, it might be an excellent higher worth. But my level is, you aren’t going to economize by shopping for elements proper now. Prebuilt methods are the place the worth is.
PC makers need their PCs to promote
Today, prebuilt PCs are typically cheaper as a result of {hardware} producers have stockpiled elements and are ready to maneuver models. While some firms (like Micron) are discontinuing their consumer brands to give attention to enterprise prospects, consumer-focused PC producers don’t have any alternative however to maintain promoting PCs.
According to stories, PC producers like Lenovo have stockpiled RAM and different elements forward of the scarcity. Even although Lenovo is reportedly raising prices anyway, not all PC producers are doing so throughout the board. It’s very totally different from what we’re seeing occur to RAM and SSD costs, that are largely following the market. While PC makers may raise prices, a lot of current machines on retailer cabinets haven’t seen worth will increase… and doubtless received’t.
Indeed, most PC makers haven’t raised costs on current laptops or desktop PCs. They might have agreements with retailers stopping them from doing so. And but, these machines nonetheless include the identical RAM and SSDs they’d at launch, which makes them a tremendous worth—a much better worth than they was once, for certain.
In the long term, it’s unclear what’ll occur to PC half costs. PC makers are already looking for new sources of RAM, however for now not less than they aren’t instantly elevating costs to match the market worth of stated elements. So, now’s nonetheless time to purchase.
Shop the gross sales for critical worth
PC gross sales have all the time been a tremendous supply of worth. Previous-generation methods usually get massive worth cuts—and even get placed on clearance—to make room for newer machines.
My recommendation? Instead of searching for the most recent and biggest {hardware} at full retail worth, scoop up an older-gen system at an enormous low cost. That’s the place the actual worth is. If you’re available in the market for a solid-value laptop computer, take a look at our record of the best laptop deals (updated daily).
I can’t emphasize this sufficient: within the PC market, you’ll be able to usually save tons of money by snapping up machines on sale. In truth, retail costs are sometimes inflated to make room for stated worth cuts later.
Don’t improve your PC in 2026
I’ve beforehand inspired upgrading your PC. You may give an outdated PC a brand new lease on life with some new RAM, and it was as soon as cheaper to buy a base-model laptop and upgrade its SSD and RAM than to purchase a higher-spec system proper off the shelf.
Chris Hoffman / Foundry
This recommendation doesn’t maintain water anymore in 2026. If you’re shopping for a brand new PC, guarantee it has the {hardware} you need while you purchase it. It’ll doubtless be cheaper to get a machine that comes geared up with extra RAM now than to purchase further RAM at market worth later.
Likewise, in case you have an outdated PC that wants new {hardware}, consider carefully earlier than upgrading its elements. For the value of a RAM and SSD improve, you might be able to get an entire new mini PC as a substitute. (Check out our roundup of the best mini PC deals worth jumping on.)
Embrace last-generation {hardware}
While I’m impressed by Intel’s new Panther Lake hardware, you don’t want it for good efficiency. Last-gen Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs are nonetheless good. And, if you happen to’re shopping for a mini PC or gaming PC, it’s possible you’ll not even discover whether or not it’s a 2025 mannequin or 2026 mannequin.
Foundry / Chris Hoffman
Intel’s Lunar Lake (Core Ultra Series 2) is an attention-grabbing piece of this puzzle, although. Lunar Lake {hardware} comes with on-package reminiscence—both 16GB or 32GB of RAM—which PC producers get from Intel together with their CPUs. While Core Ultra Series 3 is now right here, Core Ultra Series 2 {hardware} will nonetheless be on the cabinets. And, because it’s last-generation {hardware}, it’ll additionally doubtless see gross sales and offers.
I simply reviewed the Acer Aspire 16 AI laptop, which comes with 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage for $1,099—and that worth hasn’t gone up even with the present {hardware} scarcity. In truth, I guess you’ll be capable to discover machines like this one on sale for even much less now.
Plus, laptops and desktop PCs with last-gen {hardware} usually go on clearance to make room. Even in the event that they’re not on clearance, they’re extra prone to go on deep low cost. Last yr’s PCs are nonetheless nice and I guess most individuals will probably be more than pleased with them. This is actually one of many best ways to outsmart the current RAM crisis.
Don’t surrender!
Social media is filled with doom and gloom round PC costs. Don’t get sucked into the concept that the PC’s golden age is behind us as {hardware} shifts to AI knowledge facilities and enterprise computing.
Yes, it’s a tough time to purchase elements proper now, particularly if you wish to construct your personal PC. But it’s not the tip of the world but. You can nonetheless discover a lot of nice offers and PCs at nice costs if you happen to put in somewhat legwork. We’re nonetheless within the golden age, and I refuse to consider in any other case.