Should You Buy a Laptop Now or Wait? What the 2026 Memory Shortage Means for You.
If you’re holding off on a new laptop hoping prices will come back down, here’s the uncomfortable news: they probably won’t anytime soon. A global RAM and storage shortage is actively pushing laptop prices up through 2026, and understanding the timing can save you real money either way. Here’s how to decide.
A global shortage of RAM and storage components is expected to drive laptop prices higher through 2026. Driven by demand from AI data centres, component costs have risen significantly. Analysts predict that mainstream laptop prices could increase by up to 40% as manufacturers pass these costs to consumers.
Purchasing sooner may be more cost-effective for those needing an immediate upgrade before further price hikes or spec reductions occur. However, users with functional devices should avoid panic-buying. Strategies for navigating this market include verifying hardware specifications, prioritising memory capacity, and considering refurbished models to maximise value.
Why This Decision Is Different This Year
In a normal year, waiting for a sale or a new product cycle is usually the safer bet — prices on existing models tend to drift down over time as newer ones launch. 2026 is behaving differently. The underlying cost of building a laptop has gone up sharply, driven by a memory chip shortage as AI data centres consume the global supply of RAM and storage components. TrendForce has tracked DRAM contract prices rising 90-95% quarter-over-quarter in early 2026, with NAND flash storage climbing 70-75% over the same window — increases severe enough that a mainstream laptop could cost up to 40% more by the end of the year, according to TrendForce’s analysis reported by Mindcron.
That means the usual “wait for it to get cheaper” instinct is working against you this year, not for you.
The Case for Buying Now
Prices are trending in one direction. Every major analyst firm tracking this — Gartner, IDC, and TrendForce — expects laptop prices to keep climbing through the rest of 2026, with meaningful relief not expected until new memory manufacturing capacity comes online in 2027 or later. If you need a laptop within the next several months regardless, buying sooner rather than later is likely to cost you less than waiting.
Specs are quietly shrinking at the same price points. Manufacturers facing higher component costs are increasingly holding prices steady while trimming what you actually get — less RAM, smaller default storage, or other quiet downgrades. A laptop configuration available today may simply not exist in a few months at the same price, replaced by a lesser-specced version instead.
Black Friday and holiday sales this year may be genuinely different from past years. Some coverage has specifically flagged this year’s Black Friday period as a meaningful window before further price increases take hold, rather than the routine seasonal dip shoppers are used to.
The Case for Waiting
Your current laptop is still working fine. If nothing is actually pushing you to upgrade—no performance bottleneck, no hardware failure, no software you can’t run—there’s no rule that says you have to buy into a bad pricing environment just because it exists. Gartner’s own analysis expects buyers broadly to hold onto devices longer in response to this exact situation, and that’s a reasonable individual strategy too.
You need a specific configuration that isn’t available yet. If you’re waiting on a particular model, chip generation, or feature that hasn’t launched, buying an older laptop now just to “beat the price increase” may not actually serve your needs — you’d be solving a pricing problem by compromising on the actual product.
Your budget genuinely can’t stretch further right now. If waiting is about affordability rather than optimism that prices will drop, that’s a legitimate reason to wait regardless of the broader market trend — just go in with realistic expectations that the price likely won’t improve while you save.
How to Buy Smart in This Market, Whichever You Choose
Prioritise RAM and storage capacity over other specs. Since these are exactly the components getting squeezed, buying a bit more RAM and storage than you think you need today provides real insurance against needing an upgrade sooner than expected — especially since these components are non-upgradable on many current laptops.
Read the actual spec sheet, not just the model name. The same laptop model name can quietly ship with different RAM or storage configurations at different points in the year as manufacturers adjust to rising costs. Don’t assume a “MacBook Air” or a given Windows laptop model bought today matches the specs of the same model reviewed a few months ago — verify the current configuration directly.
Check refurbished and certified pre-owned options. Since new device pricing is under the most direct pressure from rising component costs, refurbished laptops — built before this shortage took hold — can offer a meaningfully better price-to-spec ratio right now than they typically would in a normal market.
Don’t panic-buy a laptop you don’t need. The shortage is a real market condition, not an emergency that requires an immediate purchase. If you’re not actually in the market for a new laptop, there’s no reason to rush a purchase purely out of fear of missing a pricing window.
Bottom Line
If you have a genuine need for a new laptop in the near future, the current pricing environment favours buying sooner rather than waiting, since most analysts expect prices to keep climbing through 2026. If your current laptop is working fine and you’re not under any real pressure to upgrade, there’s no downside to waiting it out — just don’t expect the memory shortage to resolve quickly. For a full breakdown of what’s driving these price increases, see our explainer on the 2026 RAM crisis.
