Order early to stay ahead
By Luke Rogers
2026-03-24
AI demand is pushing up the cost of key PC components, especially SSDs and memory. Prices have already gone up, and more increases are expected. So if you’re planning to buy, now is the time to move.
Since September 2025, the cost of 16GB DDR4 has risen by £75 and 16GB DDR5 by £120. SSD prices have also increased, with 250GB drives up by £32 and 500GB drives up by £52.
Industry sources are forecasting a further DRAM price rises of 40 to 70% by the end of Q2.
That matters because these increases do not just affect components. They increase the cost of complete systems too. And with budgets already under pressure, another round of rises could add £50 or more to a typical PC.
If you need to make your budget go further, you’ve got a few practical options:
- Buy new and lower the spec
- Spread the cost with finance
- Choose refurbished and refresh sooner
- Extend the life of your current devices with warranty cover
Where you can make smarter choices
If you’re buying new, a couple of spec decisions can make a real difference.
DDR4 still makes sense
DDR5 is faster on paper, but for most classroom and office users, the real-world difference is small. Unless you’re running memory-heavy workloads, you’re unlikely to notice much day to day.
A DDR4-based system can save you £50 or more per device on memory cost alone. And because DDR5 platforms often come with a higher overall cost base, the total saving can be even greater.
Be realistic on storage
SSD prices have risen too. And where moving from 250GB to 500GB used to be a small step up, it now carries a much bigger cost.
In 2025, that jump was often around £10. Today, it’s closer to £30.
So if a 250GB SSD works for your image and software needs, it may be the best value option available right now.
Component cost increases alone are now over £100 on a 16GB DDR4, 250GB SSD platform, and over £170 on a 16GB DDR5, 500GB SSD platform compared to last Summer. Based on the latest forecasts, a typical PC with 16GB of memory could cost between £150 and £230 more this summer than it did last year, depending on the memory and storage configuration.
Best bang for your budget
Right now, one of the strongest value pairings is a DDR4 system with a 250GB SSD, if it suits your deployment.
Our best value DDR4-based systems include:
- Aspect NANO Intel Core i5
- Aspect MINI AMD Ryzen 5
- Aspect MINI Intel Core 5
- Aspect All-In-One Core i5
If you want to avoid further increases, ordering early is the best move. And if budget is tight, you still have options, including DfE-compliant finance leasing and refurbished devices with a 3-year next business day replacement warranty.
