Dell Signals Major Price Increases Across PCs and Laptops as Memory Shortages Hit Mainstream Market
Rising memory and storage constraints are now reaching the mainstream PC market, and one of the world’s largest manufacturers appears ready to pass those costs directly to consumers. According to a new report from Business Insider, internal Dell communications reveal plans for substantial price hikes across the company’s commercial product lines, including laptops and pre built desktop PCs.
The report indicates that Dell is preparing one of its most aggressive pricing adjustments to date. Internal emails reviewed by Business Insider suggest that upcoming increases could push the cost of certain configurations higher by hundreds of dollars. While memory shortages are a key driver, the pricing changes are not limited to DRAM alone, as storage upgrades are also expected to become significantly more expensive.
As early as next week, Dell’s latest Pro and Pro Max systems are expected to see price increases of up to $230 depending on memory configuration. More strikingly, configurations featuring 128 GB of memory could now carry an additional cost of as much as $765 per device. Storage upgrades are also affected, meaning consumers seeking higher capacity SSD options will face noticeably higher system prices. One Dell employee cited in the report expects overall system pricing to rise by as much as 30 percent, depending on existing supplier contracts.
Dell’s updated internal pricing chart outlines the scope of the increases across multiple product categories. Systems configured with 32 GB of memory are expected to rise by $130 to $230 for Dell Pro and Pro Max notebooks and desktops. Systems equipped with 128 GB of memory may increase by $520 to $765. Configurations with a 1 TB SSD could see an additional $55 to $135. Beyond core systems, the Dell Pro 55 Plus 4K Monitor is expected to increase by $150. AI focused laptops equipped with an NVIDIA RTX PRO 500 Blackwell GPU with 6 GB of memory may rise by $66, while models featuring the 24 GB variant of the same GPU could increase by as much as $530.
Given Dell’s position as one of the largest PC manufacturers globally, the implications extend far beyond a single brand. If Dell proceeds with widespread pricing adjustments, competitors such as Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, and other major OEMs are widely expected to follow suit. This could result in a broader market wide reset that leaves consumers facing significantly higher entry points for both productivity and gaming systems.
Industry outlooks offer little near term relief. Memory shortages are widely expected to persist well into 2027, keeping supply constrained across multiple quarters. At the same time, demand from AI driven workloads continues to absorb available DRAM and high density storage capacity, further tightening availability for consumer focused products.
While artificial intelligence is often positioned as a technology that simplifies life and boosts productivity, its rapid expansion has created unintended consequences for gamers and everyday users alike. As enterprise and AI demand reshapes the hardware supply chain, the cost of owning a capable computing device may soon become a far greater challenge for consumers worldwide.
Do you think PC manufacturers should absorb more of these costs, or is a wave of higher system prices now unavoidable for consumers?
