If you’re buying a new machine or upgrading the one you already have, you’ll need to set aside some additional cash for RAM as prices continue to increase.
Recent increases in demand along with supply constraints have driven up solid-state disk (SSD) prices over the last several months, which has put pressure on system and storage accessory pricing. Now, it looks like anyone in the market for a new machine, or for the parts to upgrade their existing machine, is going to face higher prices on other components as well.
This time around, it’s RAM that’s on the way up. While prices started rising sometime in the middle part of 2016, it looks like things aren’t likely to improve anytime soon, PCWorld reports.
The reason for the increase in RAM prices is similar to the reason it affects SSD prices — issues such as power outages affecting DRAM manufacturer Samsung have decreased RAM supply at the same time that demand continues to go up. Servers and mobile RAM are the primary drivers of the increased demand, particularly as Android smartphones continue to increase the amount of installed memory.
It’s therefore not a great time to buy more RAM or a new SSD for your machine or to buy a new machine for that matter. However, unless you’re willing to wait more than just a few months to upgrade, then you might as well bite the bullet and pull out your credit card. Just be prepared to adjust your budget accordingly. […]