Is This the End of Affordable Tech?

Summary

The Wirecutter Show – “Is This the End of Affordable Tech?”

The New York Times | June 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles the sharp rise in the cost of consumer technology, particularly laptops, smartphones, and other personal devices. Host Rosie Guerin is joined by Caitlin McGarry (Sr. Editor, Tech), Arthur Giese (Supervising Editor, Tech & Gaming), and Kimber Streams (Sr. Writer, Laptops), all of whom have been closely tracking price inflation in the tech sector. The core theme: the era of affordable tech is over, driven largely by surging demand for AI-related hardware, with a secondary role played by supply chain constraints and the consolidation of component manufacturing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. State of Technology Pricing (05:28–06:44)

• Prices Are Up Across the Board: Tech has never been truly cheap, but the declining cost trend is now reversing. The hosts are "sounding the alarm"—affordable laptops are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
• Emotional Impact: There's a recurring sense of resignation and concern—"sad, sad, sad, bad, bad, bad" (05:32, Rosie Guerin).

2. Why Are Prices Rising So Fast? (06:03–07:52)

• Components & R&D: Rising costs for critical components (RAM, storage) and escalating R&D needs.
• Historical Context: Technology's democratization made it indispensable, but this new scarcity could leave many priced out.
  • Quote: “We have built a world that makes people need this stuff and increasingly it's going to be very difficult for a broad category of people to afford.” – Arthur Giese (06:44)

3. The AI Gold Rush Hits RAM & Storage (07:52–12:44)

• Shift Begins in Late 2025: RAM prices surged after OpenAI signed contracts with Samsung and SK Hynix, securing up to 40% of global output (07:52–09:03).
• Laptop Prices: Real-world Effects:
  • Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: from $750 to $1,000 in months.
  • HP’s budget Windows laptop: $850 → $950.
  • Major brands (Microsoft, Samsung, Asus) all raised prices, sometimes after product launches.
  • Quote: “I have never seen anything like that in my career.” – Kimber Streams (11:15).
• Price Hikes Are Rapid and Severe: SD cards, phones, gaming consoles, and virtually any RAM/storage-based devices are affected.

4. Explaining RAM & Storage (12:52–14:18)

• RAM Basics: RAM (“short-term memory”) vs. storage (“long-term memory”).
• Minimum Specs: 8GB is the bare minimum for light tasks; 16GB is Wirecutter’s baseline for satisfactory performance (13:09–14:08).
• Phones vs. Computers: Phones usually get by with less RAM (14:31).

5. Why the Shortage? (14:34–18:01)

• AI Company Priorities: AI deployments are soaking up component supplies because they pay more and sign long-term deals.
• Manufacturing Is Oligopolistic: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron make 90%+ of global RAM & storage (16:01–16:27). New manufacturing is extremely capital-intensive and slow to ramp.

6. Tariffs & Supply Chain—Secondary Factors (18:01–19:24)

• Tariffs Let Companies Delay Price Hikes: Last year’s stockpiled inventory cushioned price shocks, but those stockpiles are exhausted (“we’re pretty much out” – Caitlin, 19:03).
• AI Demand Is the Primary Culprit: Now prices are driven almost entirely by new component demand, not tariffs or logistics (18:20–19:24).

7. AI as a Market Dominator (22:25–26:56)

• AI Spending Is “Infinite,” Consumer Tech Can’t Compete: AI companies (Nvidia, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Anthropic) are “hyperscalers” outbidding consumer tech by multiples.
  • Quote: “It’s like the housing market… someone would come in and offer double asking price in cash… now imagine someone offering triple.” – Arthur Giese (23:50)
• Consumer Devices Get Squeezed: PC makers are launching devices with less RAM/storage and higher prices to cope (26:05). Even phone base models are being discontinued in favor of pricier, higher-capacity ones.

8. Is There Hope for Deals? (26:56–30:43)

• Sales Are Scarce: Recent sales on MacBooks, but virtually none on Windows laptops or Chromebooks during major holiday events.
• Manufacturers Are Coy About Upcoming Products: Uncertainty around pricing and availability—manufacturers are hesitant to announce specifics and then raise prices, which ruins consumer trust (28:16–30:02).
• The “Affordable” Threshold Keeps Shifting: Wirecutter may have to redefine “budget” laptops from under $500 to potentially $700+ given current trends.

9. What Should Consumers Do? (30:43–34:09)

• If You Need It, Buy Now: Especially if you find a sale, or if you need a specifc MacBook (the Neo is highlighted as a relative bright spot).
• Stretch Current Devices: Maintain and update, clean storage, uninstall unnecessary apps, keep devices running as long as possible (32:06).
• Used/Refurbished Market: Manufacturer-certified refurbs (Apple, Lenovo, HP) are safest. Retailer refurb (Best Buy, Newegg) is second-best; third-party sites (eBay, Craigslist) entail more risk (33:33).

10. Closing Thoughts—An (Attempted) Note of Optimism (34:09–37:02)

• Arthur Giese’s Perspective: Treat tech scarcity like drought preparation: an opportunity to “reevaluate your relationship to technology and how you use it” (34:16).
• Kimber Streams: The MacBook Neo—a $600 MacBook with 8GB RAM—is the “ray of sunshine” as other budget options dry up (35:23). “I literally bought one today for my niece for her 13th birthday.” – Arthur Giese (36:09)
• Caitlin McGarry: Tech cycles are cyclical. Buy high-quality products now and they should last through the downturn. “Whatever you buy now will last you a long time… when you need to buy something again, hopefully the tides will have changed.” (36:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Rosie Guerin on outlook: “Sad, sad, sad, bad, bad, bad.” (05:32)
• Arthur Giese on necessity and inclusivity: “We have built a world that makes people need this stuff, and increasingly it's going to be very difficult for a broad category of people to afford.” (06:44)
• Kimber Streams on price changes: “I have never seen anything like that in my career.” (11:15)
• Arthur Giese on AI’s effect: “It’s like the housing market… now imagine someone offering triple that asking price and then saying for every house you build for the next two years, we want that too.” (23:50)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:54–04:10 — Introduction, Episode framing, Guests
• 05:28–07:52 — Rising prices: overview & lived experience
• 07:52–12:44 — RAM/storage inflation, brand-specific price hikes, real examples
• 12:52–14:34 — RAM explained and why it matters
• 14:37–18:01 — The role of AI and the tech component supply chain
• 18:01–19:24 — Tariffs, supply chain, and end of stockpiles
• 22:25–26:56 — AI’s outsized role; manufacturers adapting (often poorly)
• 26:56–30:43 — Sales/delays, opaque pricing, back-to-school market advice
• 30:57–34:09 — Consumer strategies (buy now, maintain, buy used/refurbished)
• 34:16–37:02 — Hopeful closing thoughts from each guest

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Actionable Advice & Takeaways

• Buy Now (Cautiously): If you need a laptop—especially a MacBook, like the Neo—purchase soon before further price hikes hit.
• Maintain What You Have: Keep existing devices running smoothly for as long as possible.
• Shop Manufacturer Refurbished: If on a budget, prioritize certified refurbished devices from makers or major retailers.
• Prepare for Fewer “Affordable” Options: $500 laptops may soon be a memory; $700+ is the emerging entry point.

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Closing Tone

The episode is frank but not defeatist: though the end of cheap tech is here (for now), good purchases and smart maintenance can mitigate the pain. The panel urges listeners to reconsider what they need and how often to upgrade—”reevaluate your relationship with technology”—and to hope for brighter horizons in future tech cycles.

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For further reading, check the show notes for linked articles and guides mentioned on the episode.

Transcript

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[Arthur Giese]

We have built a world that makes people need this stuff, and increasingly it's going to be very difficult for a broad category of people to afford.

[Rosie Guerin]

I'm Rosie Guerin, and you're listening to the Wirecutter Show. Hey, it's Rosie. Several months ago, my colleagues on the tech team here at Wirecutter began reporting on the rising costs of consumer tech products like laptops, phones and gaming consoles. By January, we had published an article on the Wirecutter site called the Death of the Cheap Laptop Is Coming. Well, we're just a few months later and the tech team is confidently ringing the alarm and saying that the death of the cheap laptop isn't coming, it's here. It's about to get worse, and the reason behind it has a lot to do with AI. I want to get a better understanding of what factors are at play, whether there's hope on the horizon and if not, whether we all need to rush out to buy the devices we need or think we may need now, before prices climb higher and higher. How bad is it and what can we do about it? After the break, I'll put those questions and more to my colleagues who've been closely tracking this some members of Wirecutter's tech team, Caitlin McGarry, Arthur Giese and Kimber Streams. I hope you'll stick around. We'll be right back.

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[Rosie Guerin]

Welcome back. Today we're talking about the end of the era of affordable consumer tech products. Are we there? And what, if anything, can we do about it now? As you'll hear, part of the answer is about AI. And because of that, we should note that we work for the New York Times Company, which is suing several companies, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity over alleged copyright violations. With that said, joining me to break it down are three of my colleagues who have written and reported extensively on the subject. Caitlin McGarry, senior editor on our tech team.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Hi, thanks for having us.

[Rosie Guerin]

Arthur Giess, supervising editor on the tech team, who also covers video games and hardware.

[Arthur Giese]

Nice to be back.

[Rosie Guerin]

And Kimber Streams, senior staff writer covering laptops. Welcome.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Hello.

[Kimber Streams]

Hello.

[Rosie Guerin]

This might be a slightly sad. A conversation tinged with sadness might be fair to say, but let's just jump right in. What we try and do on the show is service, and so I want to make sure that they're in addition to sort of talking about what what's happening, we're also talking about what, if any, recourse there is for folks listening. So, Caitlin, I want to start with you. What's the headline and how should the average person be thinking about these price increases that you're already seeing?

[Caitlin McGarry]

The headline is bad. Everything is pretty bad.

[Rosie Guerin]

Sad, sad, sad, bad, bad, bad.

[Caitlin McGarry]

I wish I could be more optimistic about it, honestly, but if I needed a new computer right now, I would be pretty stressed out. I just bought a New computer about a year and a half ago, and I'm planning to use it forever if I can. It's not good.

[Rosie Guerin]

So prices are increasing. What are the components that are contributing to these hefty price tags? Before we talk about where we're headed, let's talk about where we are and where we've been.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Yeah, I mean, technology has never been affordable or even cheap, really. Like, this is probably the cheapest technology has ever been. I mean, if you think about the earliest personal computers or portable telephones, incredibly expensive. And that's because there's a lot that goes into them. I mean, you have the chipsets, the screens, cameras, RAM storage, the research and development that goes into all of that. Like, that's just crazy expensive. But prices have been coming down a lot in recent years, and now we are seeing a reversal of that trend. And I think that's where we're getting concerned because we were hopeful that they would decrease forever.

[Arthur Giese]

I think the sort of decrease in price over time towards tech has corresponded with this idea of indispensability for technology, that there was a time where cell phones were a luxury and then cell phones felt important, and now cell phones are an absolute necessity. Like, we can't function in most of our modern lives without them. And so the democratization of tech has made them a bigger part of our lives. And I think one of the things we're most concerned about with the direction and trajectory that we're seeing on prices is that we have built a world that makes people need this stuff. And increasingly it's going to be very difficult for a broad category of people to afford.

[Rosie Guerin]

Arthur, you wrote this great piece that folks should check out on the Wirecutter site called the Death of the Cheap Laptop Is Coming. I'm curious when this story started to pique your interest. This is a question for you in regards to the show, but I'm also curious, Caitlin and Kimber, when you started to see hear signs that made you concerned?

[Arthur Giese]

I got a little worried last October as the prices of memory for PCs started to jump up. And that happened concurrently with this sort of agreement that was signed between OpenAI and two of the largest manufacturers of RAM and storage, that they were essentially committing up to 40% of all RAM output for the foreseeable future. As that happened, we saw just this two, then three, then four alarm fire in the price of certain kinds of components, specifically with RAM at first. And then by the end of the year, storage prices had started to jump. I was concerned. And then analysts started predicting that this would have a sort of cascading effect through the entire electronics chain by the end of the year. As we were starting to get briefed on things that would happen in 2026, companies like Dell and Lenovo and HP were pointing very explicitly to memory pricing in a way that I'd never seen before. And being more forthright than I'd ever seen that everything was going to be more expensive and by a lot more than I'd ever seen them discuss. And I think Kimber probably has a lot more transparency on that, given how much they focus on laptops.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yeah.

[Kimber Streams]

Watching the same things that Arthur was watching last year. I bought myself a new hard drive SSD for my computer because I saw that those prices were going in that direction, and I was like, okay, I'm going to get ahead of that for myself. And then during CES in January, we started asking companies, like, what is the year look like? What does pricing look like? What are you. How are you thinking about, for example, $500 laptops?

[Rosie Guerin]

And, Kimber, CES is the consumer Electronics Show. It happens every year in Vegas. I know you and your team are always in attendance, looking at. Well, you tell me what. What are you looking for when you all go to the conference every year?

[Kimber Streams]

Yes. It's one of the biggest waves of tech announcements in the year, where companies are announcing a bunch of products that will come out throughout the whole year. It's also a good spot to talk to companies directly and kind of find out what the trends are in tech for the year. And I spoke to some laptop makers there, and I was like, what are budget laptops going to look like this year? And they effectively told me that they're not going to look this year. They were not planning to launch many, if any, of them. And then since then, we've actually started seeing significant price increases on specific laptop models across whole laptop lines. For example, our former upgrade pick for chromebooks, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, was $750, which sounds like a lot for a Chromebook, but it's actually a pretty decent price for something that's about as nice as a MacBook Air. But then Lenovo raised the price that to $1,000, and now we're demoting it from being a pick because $1,000 is a lot of money to spend on a Chromebook. We've also seen prices across the board from all of the laptop makers. HP increased the price of our budget Windows laptop pick from $850 to $950, which makes it not really Something I would consider a budget option anymore at that price. Microsoft increased the prices on their Surface laptops. Samsung increased the prices on their Galaxy Books. Asus launched their whole zenbook lineup and then immediately changed the prices upward on all of them by several hundred dollars.

[Caitlin McGarry]

That was wild.

[Kimber Streams]

I have never seen anything like that in my career.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Unheard of. Yeah. Late last year, like the component prices started going up and from there it was like, okay, this will affect everything that we buy this year.

[Rosie Guerin]

So when you say everything, what are we talking about? Because obviously we're talking about laptops. What else is going to be under the umbrella of things that are going to be affected by these price increases?

[Arthur Giese]

We've already seen it start to happen with phones. Like Samsung has raised the prices on several of their flagship phones. Video game consoles are being hit especially hard right now. Every video game console costs significantly more than it did when it launched. Last time we spoke, we Talked about the Switch 2 and how the price could probably go up. And there was some concern that I might look stupid if it didn't. And then almost immediately after that episode went live, they announced that it would. Yeah, you know, it's nice to not feel like Chicken Little before the sky actually falls.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Yeah. Basically anything that has RAM in it, the price is going up.

[Arthur Giese]

And storage as well.

[Caitlin McGarry]

RAM and storage is. Yeah, we're seeing like Micro SD card, like little cards you put in your devices for storage. Those are increasing significantly.

[Kimber Streams]

Oh, I just bought a new camera as well and I need a Micro SD card for that. And I went to buy one and I was like, I guess I'm just not buying one right now. I'm just gonna rely on the internal storage because I think it was like 40 bucks a couple of months ago and now it's like 150. And I was like, well, I'm not buying that.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Yeah, these are like wild price increases. It's not just like 10 or 20 bucks.

[Rosie Guerin]

Storage and RAM. These are important terms that I want to just take a quick pause and make sure we explain. Define what RAM is. How is it increasing? Why is it increasing in price and why is that significant specifically?

[Kimber Streams]

So RAM stands for random excess memory, which is an album that was released by Defmunk in 2013. Just kidding. It does stand for that though. So think of it like the short term memory of your computer, whereas the hard drive or the SSD is kind of the long term memory where you keep documents and screenshots and videos and all of that. So all of the programs and tabs you have open At a given time are using that RAM kind of like, you know, just in your everyday life, when you're on the phone, you're also reading a text, and then your kid comes into the room because they need something. And then you're also trying to plan what's for dinner, but you're also daydreaming about a beach vacation all at once. The more you're multitasking on your computer, the more. The more RAM you need to do that effectively. So eight gigs is about enough to get by for simple everyday tasks. Like maybe you're doing half of those things in that list of many brain activities, but typically we recommend 16 to be able to do all of that stuff comfortably. And also, whenever you buy a new computer, you want it to last at least five years, especially right now.

[Rosie Guerin]

So eight gigs. 16 gigs. This is for computers specifically, or this is also phones. Like, how do you think about RAM in relationship to different items?

[Kimber Streams]

So this is for, like, everyday computer specifically. If you're doing heavier tasks like gaming or like video editing and stuff, even on a laptop, you will want more than that. And then phones, we have different recommendations for.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Yeah, you don't need quite as much RAM on a phone.

[Rosie Guerin]

Kimber. RAM is getting more expensive. Why?

[Kimber Streams]

Because the companies that make that and also storage are prioritizing selling the stuff that they're making to companies that are setting up AI servers instead of the companies who are making personal computers and phones for regular people.

[Rosie Guerin]

It's a prioritization thing where the focus is on AI, not just in this country, but globally. And so that's sort of where the energy and the money is going right now versus to personal consumer tech.

[Kimber Streams]

Yes.

[Rosie Guerin]

So what does it mean? What's the ramification here beyond prices are going up?

[Kimber Streams]

Yeah. So for regular people, it kind of means that laptops specifically, but kind of tech generally is going backwards. So talking about laptops specifically, in the past couple years, it was possible to find a passable Windows laptop under $500 with 16 gigs of RAM. So, like, fast enough, comfortable enough to be doing all of the things you need to be doing on it? It wasn't likely. Most of the laptops in that price range were still awful, but it was technically possible with a lot of time and effort to find decent laptops there. Now in 2026, I'm seeing companies announce laptops with eight gigs of RAM that are starting at $700. That means that's the lowest price they're selling it for, and then it will be more expensive from there. So decent Laptops on a budget are getting real scarce.

[Rosie Guerin]

Moving to storage, what is there to say about why we're seeing price increases there specifically?

[Arthur Giese]

Yeah, so RAM and storage are essentially made by the same companies. And the entire market of RAM and storage is owned primarily by three companies. There's Samsung, which many people know, and SK Hynix, which are both located in South Korea. And then there's Micron, which is located here in America. And that accounts for about 90% of both RAM and storage.

[Rosie Guerin]

How, how, how, how is it that so few companies control the manufacturing of these requisite components?

[Arthur Giese]

It's really hard and really expensive to make modern storage and ram. Like when we're talking about modern manu for things like phones and computers, we're on the nanometer scale of transistor. Like every chip has millions of transistors and they're nanometers wide. So essentially that's real small. It's so small, it's just really, really expensive to build these factories and it's really expensive to maintain them. They take a lot of power, they take a lot of water, and they take a lot of access to resources that are not necessarily in ready supply. And the companies that make this stuff were making it at a relatively affordable pace. And honestly, RAM and storage until late last year were about as affordable as we'd ever seen it. And In October, when OpenAI signed this agreement with Samsung and SK Hynix, it created a sort of arms race between these huge companies to also secure their source of storage and memory. And that has led to more demand than there is the ability to manufacture. And responding to that is something that people are trying to do to a degree, but it takes a lot of time. It's just an unprecedented change in the demand structure for this kind of stuff.

[Rosie Guerin]

So I imagine supply chain is an issue here. Tariffs. We talked a lot about tariffs last year, another issue. So I'm curious, Caitlin, how do you think about tariffs playing into these across the board price increases for these tech products?

[Caitlin McGarry]

I mean, last year we saw companies largely avoid raising prices the way that we have seen them raise prices this year because they had stockpiles of stuff that they had already imported. The tariffs were telegraphed months and months in advance. We basically knew they were going to happen. I personally bought a laptop because I was expecting them to happen, and they just had a bunch of stuff sitting around like to be sold at current prices. So that's not actually what we're seeing here. Like this is entirely because of this explosion in demand for components that companies just weren't prepared for.

[Rosie Guerin]

Are there still stockpiles that people can take advantage of or. We're running low here.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Yeah, we're pretty much out. So every year, you know, products are refreshed, they get new features, they become more powerful. Tech doesn't have a long shelf life. You can obviously buy, like, an older device that might be kicking around at Best Buy or on Amazon, but those devices aren't supported with software for as long as new ones.

[Arthur Giese]

Yeah. In some ways, tariffs actually cushioned us more this year than we had hoped. When I wrote the piece back in February and March, the name of the article was that the death of the cheap laptop is coming because it wasn't quite here yet because people were selling the tariff stock that they'd amassed last year. But that stock is mostly gone. And now what we're left with is what Kimber is describing, which are these things that started off more expensive than they were last year and now are more expensive than they were like three months ago. And it's because the AI uptake of components is increasing. It's not reducing, it's going up.

[Rosie Guerin]

All right. Prices are definitely rising by concerning amounts. And the reason has to do with competition for the RAM and storage being manufactured now and in the future. We're going to take just a quick break, and when we come back, we'll talk about the elephant in the room, the factor that's most aggressively driving up the prices of our devices. AI. You're listening to the Wirecutter show. Stick around.

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[Rosie Guerin]

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[Rosie Guerin]

Welcome back. Reading your piece, Arthur. AI is obviously a huge factor here. Let's zoom in on AI. What role is AI playing in this issue?

[Arthur Giese]

The way that AI is responsible for this is that all memory, all storage is basically made from the same bits in the same places. And every piece of AI storage and RAM that's made is a piece of consumer AI and storage that is not made until these companies are able to make more. AI companies are just willing to pay a lot more. Like they have these almost infinite wallets. They're spending hundreds of billions of dollars, they're approaching more than that in some cases on buying up this stuff. And not just buying it up, but buying up agreements in the future for things that aren't even manufactured yet. And that creates a really dangerous and difficult to predict supply chain situation for companies that are making stuff to sell to us.

[Rosie Guerin]

I'm thinking of the greater than, less than sign when you're learning algebra or whatever in elementary school, where what these AI companies are able to offer the manufacturers is greater than even our combined wallets in terms of how much money we as consumers are able to spend on the products.

[Arthur Giese]

You know, I would almost compare it to like the housing market of the last several years where people would talk about trying to find a house and someone would come in and offer double asking price in cash. And how do you compete with that? Yeah, now imagine someone offering like triple that asking price and then saying in every house you build for the next two years, we want that. 2. It's extremely difficult for these companies to compete and also to plan. Planning is how companies like Apple, how companies like Dell are able to be competitive, how they've been able to lower prices is by leveraging these supply chain relationships with the companies that make memory, with the companies that make storage, to buy a lot of their stuff for less money than they would if they were buying less of it. And those relationships don't mean anything when companies are offering as much money as they are for their AI purposes. And so it's driven prices up. And the thing that worries me is that we really haven't seen how bad this is going to get yet. I think that we are staring down a very long tunnel before we see the end of it.

[Rosie Guerin]

Who are some of the players, in terms of companies on the AI side who are coming in and infusing all of this capital into these manufacturing companies?

[Arthur Giese]

There's Nvidia with the most valuable company on earth. They are buying an enormous amount of RAM for their server hardware. OpenAI obviously is spending an enormous amount of money. Anthropic is another company. And then you have the more traditional tech players like Google is spending a fortune. Microsoft Meta. These companies are what are referred to as hyperscalers, which means that they are becoming much bigger than everyone else could ever conceivably try to be in order to get to a place where they can't fail. Meanwhile, companies like Apple, who are a very powerful company, are honestly kind of being left behind in this conversation because they're just not trying to compete in the same space. And Dell, hp, all these companies that are big consumer laptop companies and consumer electronics companies just can't compete with the amounts of money that these other hyperscalers are spending.

[Kimber Streams]

The companies that make the tech that we use are kind of making do with a much smaller slice of the pie as far as like supply of RAM and storage than they have in the past, which is why we're seeing them launch devices with less, because they're trying to make do with less in more devices in a way that people can still have any kind of computer.

[Caitlin McGarry]

For phones, we're seeing actually companies discontinue the lowest starting storage option. So that effectively raises the price. You know, if the phone used to be 999 for the entry level storage, now it's, you know, closer to $1,100 with more storage, which isn't actually quite as good of a deal as it sounds when it's just the price has gone up. Soon there will be no computers.

[Kimber Streams]

Soon there will be no computers and we'll be free and we'll just all go outside and touch grass.

[Rosie Guerin]

Sounds a little bit liberating on this show the irony is that we're often telling folks not to buy things and if you do need to buy things, wait for a sale. And so I'm curious, there are these sales events, Labor Day, prime day for Amazon, I think is coming up. Should people expect to see tech sales or deals that we can take advantage of?

[Kimber Streams]

I hope so. I mean, frankly, we don't know in advance what the sales are going to be, but I would love to see some. Over Memorial Day we did see a few sales on the MacBook Air. So those are kind of good everyday laptops if people need them. Our deals experts did not see any significant sales during that event for Windows laptops or Chromebooks though, so we're hoping to see some more of those.

[Rosie Guerin]

And is that unusual? Ordinarily we would see deals on PCs.

[Kimber Streams]

Yes, yes. Historically we've seen lots of price dips there and usually more aggressive ones actually than the MacBook sales.

[Arthur Giese]

We've seen Lenovo get really aggressive with sales around holiday periods in particular, but they've also been some of the most aggressive price increases we've seen this year. So I wouldn't necessarily hold my breath on that.

[Caitlin McGarry]

But we are seeing companies like announce products and not announce the prices that

[Rosie Guerin]

will go along with them because they don't know.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Because they don't know. Kimber's been dealing with this a lot.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yeah, Kimber, what does that look like in practice?

[Kimber Streams]

It's super, super frustrating in practice. For example, I'm trying to research laptops that are inexpensive for back to school season right now. So I'm trying to figure out what laptops are going to be around for back to school season. And so far I don't have a lot of information on that front. Dell says that it's launching a new budget focused XPS 13 and that that's launching in June. It's starting at $700, which is not as budget focused as I want it to be. And then Qualcomm has also announced new Snapdragon C processors that the company claims is going to be in the $300 range. So I'm very interested in what those are going to feel like to use. We have no information on when they're going to be available right now.

[Rosie Guerin]

Right. So it's. You don't know when they're going to be available, you don't know the cost of them, you don't know performance because you aren't able to get your hands on them. So there's a lot of fog around this, it seems.

[Kimber Streams]

Yes, a lot of Companies, I think, are afraid to have to announce one thing right now and then have to raise prices again, given how the first half of this year has gone where they announced some prices at the Consumer Electronics show in January, and then they've had to change them in the intervening months as everything has shifted. So I think that they're just choosing to be very coy and not tell anybody anything until they have to, which makes it kind of difficult as a person who's shopping for a laptop or a person who's trying to help people shop for laptops, figure out what the

[Rosie Guerin]

heck is going on and whether you're going to be able to use the word affordable in these guides or not. What are we calling affordable?

[Kimber Streams]

Yes. So we used to Recommend laptops under $500 as budget because that's what people were looking think that exists anymore. So we've talked about shifting the kind of cap on that guide to match the MacBook Neo at $600, because that's a great budget laptop at a price point that we're kind of comparing everything else to. I'm just not sure what's going to exist even at $600 and below if all of these PC makers are launching things that are starting at $700.

[Rosie Guerin]

Kimber, thinking about laptops specifically, you know, back to school is a huge moment given our conversation today. Would you recommend folks do their back to school tech shopping now rather than waiting?

[Kimber Streams]

Kind of depends on what you need. So if you need like a cheap MacBook, then yes, like grab the MacBook Neo right now, stock is pretty good, the price is solid and there's not like huge shipping delays on it. But we also don't know if that's going to change going forward. And then if you need like a higher end thing for college and you want to spend like $1,000 for something like thin and light or the MacBook Air is also a pretty decent time to buy something in that like thousand dollars, like great battery life price range. But if you need something super cheap, that's like a Chromebook or a Windows laptop under $500, there's actually not a lot of options available right now. So you might be stuck looking for something used, trying to find like a good refurb or just having to wait it out and hope that something changes between now and August.

[Rosie Guerin]

Do we have recourse at all as consumers, people wanting, needing to buy tech products? Can we push back against these increases or is it really, is it the Sisyphus thing where we're trying to push against the boulder of AI and we're always going to be smaller and weaker, unfortunately, that thing.

[Kimber Streams]

The only options you really have as a consumer are if you need a computer, buy one now, especially if you can find it on sale. If there's any way that you can squeeze more life out of the thing you already have, do that. Update all of your operating system and apps, clean up your storage, uninstall apps you're not using. Try and make your computer that you have last as long as humanly possible. You might be able to find something used.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Rosie Guerin]

What are your recommendations for buying used?

[Kimber Streams]

If you need a used computer, I would say avoid Craigslist, ebay or Reddit. I would kind of be a little bit softer on that stance now, given that it's kind of a get what you can get situation out there. It is possible to get a good deal on those sites if you know what you're doing. But there are a lot of ways to get scammed or tripped up by misleading listings or end up with like a PC that's just preloaded with malware. If you're shopping on those sites, the best options are actually manufacturer refurbished computers. The computer maker themselves takes the laptop that someone has returned to them or is used in some kind of way. They make sure that it's up to snuff, they do all of the repairs on it, and then they'll sell it to you. Apple offers the same warranties that they offer on new computers, so those are going to be your best bets. Lenovo and HP also offer refurbs, but they have a shorter one year warranty. And then if you can't find anything in those places, you can also shop for refurbished PCs on retailers like Best Buy, Newegg or OWC. But in this case, refurbished is more just a fancy word for used because it's not the maker itself doing the refurbishment. If you're shopping on one of those sites, you want to look for the longest warranty you can find and you should stick to items that are in excellent like new or very good condition. Definitely double check to make sure that you're avoiding any sketchy third party sellers on those sites and that you're purchasing directly from the retailer. So it'll say like ships from and sold by Best Buy or ships from and sold by Newegg, rather than having another third party in.

[Rosie Guerin]

Okay, last words. And ideally they will only be accepted if they are optimistic. Arthur, you go first.

[Arthur Giese]

Oh, that's mean. I grew up in California, which, you know, went through like a lot of Droughts. And a sort of common conversation in California was sort of drought prevention and drought preparedness. And that was a discussion about how do you modify your habits and behavior to account for something that people take for granted being in short supply. And in a lot of ways, I think that that is kind of what we're looking at, and I do think that that will have plenty of negatives, but it is also an opportunity to sort of reevaluate your relationship to technology and how you use it and how you spend your time on it, and whether or not there are better ways for you to spend your time or more sort of efficient ways to use tech and make it last longer. And so I think if ever there was a time to look at how you spend your time on technology, how you spend your money on it, what its connection is to your life, it would be now, because we're not in a situation where you can expect that if something fails or you need something, you're going to be able to afford it. So I think that it is a chance to make changes now before they're made for you.

[Kimber Streams]

I guess. The MacBook Neo to me, is like a ray of sunshine in this bleak, bleak computing landscape right now. Whenever it first launched, I was wary of its specs since it only has 8 gigs of RAM. I was not super impressed with its $600 price tag because you could get a Windows laptop or a Chromebook for 380. That was like, pretty good at the time. But now that I've used the Neo for a couple of months, I have been very impressed with how much better it feels to use than Windows laptops with similar specs and that similar RAM limitation, both from a build quality perspective and performance wise. And then since the stock of cheap laptops and Windows laptops has almost entirely dried up since the Neo's launch and it's only been replaced with more expensive options, the Neo only looks better comparatively.

[Arthur Giese]

I literally bought one today for my niece for her 13th birthday.

[Rosie Guerin]

Wow. All right, Caitlin, last word.

[Caitlin McGarry]

I mean, this stuff is cyclical. I think in a couple years things will change. And in the meantime, you can buy something right now that's extremely high quality that will last you for a long time. You know, laptops that are made now, they do tend to last for years and years, especially if you are following our recommendations and getting the best possible thing, and we're always evaluating warranties. But also how long will these products be supported with software updates and security updates? So whatever you buy now will. Will last you a long time and when you need to buy something again. Hopefully the tides will have changed. But yeah, in the meantime, just focus on what you need and don't worry too much about the rest of it.

[Rosie Guerin]

Thank you all so so much. This was really informative and really very helpful as ever. We will link all of your brilliant writing and reporting in our show notes and I encourage folks to check that out and I really appreciate you guys.

[Caitlin McGarry]

Thanks. Thanks so much for having me.

[Kimber Streams]

Of course.

[Rosie Guerin]

The Wirecutter show is executive produced by me, Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today's Episode Episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson, original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Alicia Etoupe, Rowan Namisto, Katherine Anderson and Diane Wong. Cliff Levy is Wirecutter's deputy publisher and General Manager. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's Editor in Chief and I'm Rosie Guerin. Thank you for listening. Basically, how to buy a great laptop at a price point that would work for you. Your guide got shortened to you can't, you can't.

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