Why New Computers Are Quietly Getting Worse Value (and the Smart Way Around It)

If you’ve priced up a new laptop or desktop lately and felt like the money doesn’t go as far as it used to, you’re not imagining it. Laptop prices are rising through 2026, desktops are wearing the same squeeze, and where the sticker hasn’t moved, the machine behind it has quietly shrunk. The cause is a global memory squeeze. The AI boom is consuming the world’s supply of RAM and SSD storage, and every new computer pays the toll. Here’s what’s actually happening, what we’re seeing from the buying side of the industry, and the smart way to sit this one out.

Why laptop prices are rising in 2026

Every computer needs memory, both RAM to run on and an SSD to store things. Right now the companies building AI data centres are buying that memory faster than the world can make it, and chipmakers are shifting their factories toward the high-margin server parts the AI industry wants. That leaves less for ordinary laptops and desktops, and the price of what’s left has exploded. Industry analyst firm Gartner estimates a 130 percent surge in combined DRAM and SSD prices by the end of 2026, and expects that to push PC prices up by around 17 percent compared with 2025.

This isn’t a niche industry story anymore. Apple has already announced price rises on MacBooks and iPads to pass its memory costs on, calling the shortage an “unprecedented challenge”, and major electronics retailers are warning that computers will be the hardest-hit aisle in the store. When the biggest brands on the planet can’t absorb the cost, the sticker price is where it lands.

Shrinkflation comes for computers

Groceries taught everyone the trick. Keep the price familiar and shrink what’s inside. Computers are getting the same treatment. Memory is forecast to peak at 23 percent of a new PC’s total build cost, up from 16 percent in 2025, and manufacturers protect their margins by trimming the parts that got expensive. In practice that means less RAM and smaller SSDs at the same price point you remember, and the spec sheet is the only place it shows.

The cheapest machines can’t be trimmed any further, so they’re simply disappearing. Gartner expects the cheap entry-level PC segment to vanish by 2028, because low-margin budget laptops no longer make financial sense to build. The affordable end of the new market, the part most families and students actually shop in, is the part being deleted. Buyers are responding the only way they can, holding on to machines longer. Average PC lifetimes are expected to stretch 15 to 20 percent by the end of 2026.

What we’re seeing from the buying side

We buy new stock every week through our trade and wholesale channels, and we track the prices on those lists closely. Over one recent month, price rises outnumbered price cuts by more than a hundred to one across the listings we monitor. That’s not a normal market wobble. In a healthy market, rises and cuts trade places constantly as suppliers compete. Right now, essentially everything is repricing in one direction.

Here’s the part that matters for you. The used side of the market moves from a far lower base. When a business-grade machine that was built two or three years ago goes up in trade price, it’s a small dollar movement on an already sensible number. When a new machine wears a 17 percent rise on a four-figure sticker, that’s real money. The value gap between new and renewed was already wide, and this squeeze is stretching it further every month.

Should you just wait for prices to come back down?

The honest answer is that waiting probably won’t save you. There are early signs the steepest rises are slowing, with research firm TrendForce projecting memory price growth cooling from roughly 60 percent per quarter to 13 to 18 percent per quarter later in 2026. But cooling is not falling. Those are still increases, stacked on top of everything that came before. Gartner’s own analyst put it bluntly in June, saying it won’t be until the end of 2027 before pricing returns to anything like normal, and hardware makers like Framework are telling customers to expect continued rises and volatility through the rest of 2026.

And if you’re waiting on an ageing Windows 10 machine, remember the clock runs both ways. Windows 10 reached end of support in 2025 and only limited security patching remains, while Windows 11 is where all of Microsoft’s current quality and security work is going. The real question isn’t whether to move, it’s what you move to, and buying new in the middle of a memory squeeze is the most expensive possible answer.

The smart way around it is business-grade renewed

A renewed business laptop sidesteps the entire squeeze, because the machine and its memory already exist. The ex-lease computers we renew were built for corporate fleets, to a higher standard than the entry-level machines now vanishing from shelves, and they were specced back when memory was cheap. Where a brand new 2026 entry-level machine trims the specs to hit a price point, our refurbished laptops typically carry yesterdays higher spec offerings whilst providing a better build quality as standard, giving you the best of both worlds.

The same logic goes double for desktops. An ex-corporate tower or small-form-factor PC was built with the same pre-squeeze memory, and because desktop parts are standard and roomy, there’s easy upgrade headroom down the track. Our renewed desktop computers go through the same renewal process and carry the same warranty as the laptops.

Every machine goes through our full renewal process, a deep clean inside and out, hardware upgrades where they make sense, and a 48-hour multi-point quality assurance test before it ships with a warranty and local NZ support. If you’re new to buying renewed, our guide to choosing a refurbished laptop walks you through what to look for, and our affordable refurbished laptops from $249 cover exactly the budget territory the new market is abandoning.

Business-grade machines were specced before the squeeze, and renewed properly they’ll outwork a 2026 entry-level laptop.

New entry-level versus renewed business-grade in 2026

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