Thanks to rising memory prices, PC makers are staring at a future where cheap rigs have gone the way of the steam train, the mechanical typewriter, and politicians resigning after being caught lying.
Divination experts at Gartner have been shuffling their tarot cards and seen a dim future for entry-level PCs, and can’t see anyone talking about them by 2028.
For those who came in late, DRAM shortages are smashing the PC industry harder than most, with prices soaring, launches slipping and retail stock thinning out as supply fails to meet demand. Gartner expects PC shipments to drop 10.4 per cent in 2026, and it reckons the fallout will kill off the bargain basement.
Gartner, senior director analyst Ranjit Atwal said: “The sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028.”
The problem is that memory is dragging up bills of materials, with DRAM prices punching holes in margins that manufacturers used to patch up quietly. For lower-cost machines, vendors have typically swallowed rising component costs because raising prices can scare buyers away, yet Gartner thinks they are now stuck passing the pain on to customers.
That pressure is expected to bite hardest in the $500 to $1,000 bracket, where every extra dollar matters and there is nowhere to hide. Gartner figures many buyers will simply sit on their hands, and it expects the average PC lifetime to increase by 20 per cent by the end of 2026.
Manufacturers, meanwhile, have limited moves left if memory keeps climbing and inventories keep draining. Gartner expects them to “accept a unit volume decline to sustain profitability”, Atwal said.
