4 reasons I’m literally begging people not to upgrade their PCs right now

• The RAM crisis is pushing memory prices higher
• Better video cards are about to become rarer and more expensive
• The US economy is in flux
• You might not need a full-sized PC anymore

Sometimes, upgrades are inevitable. A few months ago, my old laptop died, despite the best efforts of my wife and I to save it. Given that I needed a laptop to work, there wasn’t much choice but to immediately rush out and buy a new one. I’ve at least been relatively happy with the replacement, which I suspect will end up lasting longer.

If you can, of course, it’s best to save up for the specs you want, and strike when the timing is right. Unfortunately, it’s increasingly looking like 2026 will be a terrible year to buy a new PC. There are a few reasons for this, some of which may be familiar if you’ve been paying attention to tech news headlines.

The RAM crisis is pushing memory prices higher

Even the basics will cost more

It’s relatively trendy to blame things on AI, some complaints being more valid than others. One of the legitimate gripes, though, is its effect on the RAM market. Starting in November 2025, prices for DDR5 RAM surged, owing to huge amounts of it being snapped up for AI datacenters. In a sense, it’s amazing the crisis didn’t happen sooner — whereas an average PC uses 16 or 32GB of RAM, a single AI component for the cloud can consume hundreds of gigabytes. The demand is so huge that one of the primary RAM manufacturers, Micron, has decided to wind down its consumer-focused Crucial division in favor of business customers. For us long-time PC builders, it’s the equivalent of seeing Pepsi or Dr. Pepper disappear from the soda aisle.

For the cost of 64GB of DDR5-6000, you could buy a PlayStation 5 Pro.

How bad are RAM prices? For the cost of 64GB of DDR5-6000, you could buy a PlayStation 5 Pro. In some circumstances, DDR4 production is being revived as a response, and it may just be a viable alternative if you’re not too picky about performance. Speaking of consoles, I’ll bet a lot of people who might have otherwise considered buying a desktop or laptop for gaming are going to be eyeing not just the PS5, but the Switch 2, and the burgeoning handheld PC market.

You’ve probably clued into a greater ramification here, no pun intended — so many things use flash memory that it’s bound to drive up prices for a lot of consumer electronics in 2026. Indeed with the AI hype train showing no signs of stopping, there’s a real chance that the supply chain won’t be able to catch up by the time 2027 rolls around.

Better video cards are about to become rarer and more expensive

No rush to upgrade, either

At the moment, Nvidia is the world’s most valuable corporation, precisely because it’s the engine of the AI hype train. If you want to build an AI datacenter, there’s a good chance you’re going to be using Nvidia processors if you’re outside of a US-sanctioned country. Its customers include the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet.

The problem for PC shoppers is that Nvidia isn’t just an AI business — it got its start as a GPU maker, and it’s still the leader in that arena. If you want maximum graphics performance, you buy one of the company’s higher-end GeForce RTX products. With AI taking priority, then, it’s not just driving up RAM prices, it’s actively diverting resources away from consumer GPUs. Indeed, reports claim that Nvidia could cut production of its RTX 50-series GPUs by 30 to 40% in the first half of 2026, which could make them both costlier and harder to find in stock.

Buying a cheaper card (or PC) based on one of AMD’s Radeon chips may be a solution, but even AMD is expected to hike its GPU prices by 10% or more in 2026, according to PC Mag. So one way or another, chasing the best visuals and framerates is about to become tough on your wallet.

It may be worth waiting until 2027 regardless. It’s rumored that Nvidia may announce RTX 60-series GPUs as soon as the first quarter of that year. It’s not that a 50-series product will suddenly become outdated — but if you want something futureproof, you might end up kicking yourself for buying prematurely.

The US economy is in flux

Uncertainty reigns supreme

I’m not a political scientist, nor am I an economist, but I do follow politics closely enough to recognize that the US economy — and by extension, the global one — may be at a turning point. The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in 2025 have upended international trade, for instance, making it costlier for US companies to import many products from China. Inflation remains a serious problem in the US and other regions. And ironically, the possibility of the US Supreme Court undoing some or all of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act is creating more uncertainty, since it’s not clear if, how, or when businesses might be able to claim tariff refunds.

The gist is that if PC and component makers have to deal with this, you will too. They do often try to mitigate price hikes, but they’re only willing to take so much of a hit to profits before they pass the costs along. Some businesses also use “uncertainty” as an excuse to cut your job, only to end up hiring fresh blood later.

There’s no guarantee that 2027 will be that much better, I should note. The Trump administration will try to find a way around any ruling against IEEPA, and even if the Democrats sweep the US midterms in November 2026, it will take a long time for any changes to have a tangible impact. If nothing else, 2027 should see some of the dust of the current year settle.

You might not need a full-sized PC anymore

Are you among the lucky few?

I’m pretty firmly committed to desktop and laptop PCs. They’re often the best or only way of getting some tasks done, and the better models are great for entertainment too. So as much as they cost upfront, they can easily be worth it in the long run.

Times are changing, though. Thanks to a combination of cloud services and increasingly powerful hardware, some people are already able to get by with nothing more than a smartphone and/or a tablet for work. And even if they do want a PC, there are options that may be difficult or impossible to upgrade directly, but make up for it by being cheaper from the outset. I’m thinking not just of handheld PCs, but mini PCs, including Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine. That product is mainly intended to run PC games, but you can flip to a Linux-based desktop mode if you want to get productive.

Handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X are based on Windows 11, which means they can run all the apps you’re used to.

I actually should take a moment to return to the topic of handhelds. While the Steam Deck is similar in scope to the Steam Machine, other handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X are based on Windows 11, which means they can run all the apps you’re used to. You’ll probably need a dock, monitor, and other peripherals to build out a workstation, but that might be a small tradeoff for being able to play Balatro or Diablo in a cramped airline seat.