Yes. Yes it is.

But gaming laptops have a surprising resilience in them to protect from sudden prices changes.

Quick Overview

• Yes there's a price fluctuation in the gaming laptop market - I can see it on my little graph every morning.

• SSDs (Solid-State Drives, aka computer storage) have now joined the ranks of price-hiked components like RAM and graphics cards, often quadrupling or more in price.

The SSD Crisis of '26

SSDs have started being bought up in exorbitant amounts by data companies as well, driving prices high. This impacts gaming laptops since every gaming laptop worth its salt is going to feature a SSD. They're a vast upgrade over the traditional hard disk drive (HD), and the loading speed improvements are MASSIVE - so much so that some games require an SSD to play.

A few years ago I bought a 1TB SSD for $70. Today, that goes for $140 - $250.

The RAM Crisis of '25/'26

RAM shot up in price late last year due to the AI boom. AI requires enormous amounts of computing, and they need lots of fingers to count really high to handle the unholy number of data points they're attempting to process. RAM is how you hold large amounts of concurrent data in a ready-to-access format, which is necessary for training a model if you want it to be done anytime this year.

The issue is RAM was bought at the level of mega tech corporations with a budget of several hundred billion dollars, devastating the supply for all us normal folk just wanting a computer.

RAM used to be the cheapest computing item available and is now extraordinarily expensive, where usual prices of $40-60 are replaced by $400+ dollars.

Graphics Card Crisis of... the last decade

Graphics cards were a smart innovation to help the burgeoning 3D game world with very specific, very fast computing that was only meant for a small set of tasks. It was great for gaming... then bitcoin mining became a thing and shot the prices of graphics cards way up. That price hike lasted several years until it shot up again when the AI boom started and graphics cards were needed to process extreme amounts of data quickly.

Graphics card prices never got a break. They've been the single most expensive component in a gaming laptop for a long time.

What can I do?

So as you can see, many components are skyrocketing in price cost due to data corps buying up all the stock for their shiny new AI data centers.

But there's a lag.

There's a price lag between the components skyrocketing in price, and gaming laptops following suit. Why the lag? Because the pre-built laptops are oftentimes already built, or at the very least they have an existing stock of components in storage. Those price jumps in components weren't a factor when the laptop was first built, so their prices are a little bit insulated from the fluctuations we see.

Also for price sake, consider laptops that aren't major brands, like GIGABYTE. My current laptop is a GIGABYTE Aero and I'm very happy with it, especially because for the same components it was several hundred dollars cheaper than an ASUS. Companies that are trying to enter the laptop market are incentivized to keep prices low. And I can attest, their quality is not lacking.

Now don't get FOMO and go out and buy a laptop immediately. Gaming laptops are expensive and buyer's remorse is very real. They're just currently less expensive than building your own computer by a good margin. This advice is only for those who know they're going to pull the trigger on a laptop and aren't sure if the timing is right.

Hopeful Parting Words

Back in the early settling days, California had a stable supply of shovels. Until gold was discovered that is, and with the new gold rush came a shovel shortage. Over time though, an influx of shovels fulfilled the demand, and shovels went back to a reaonsable price. It's all supply and demand, and it's easy to get worked up in the moment.

To make things simple:

1. Do I have a current need for a gaming laptop?
2. If so, am I in a position to buy one?
3. Is there a gaming laptop that covers my needs, that I can comfortably afford?

If so, then consider purchasing that laptop to fulfill your needs.

While the price of components may be increasing drastically, the laptops themselves are only seeing a minor bump in prices. Computer companies want to sell their laptops to you, and want you to like the quality of their product and give them good ratings. Those companies are going to try to keep prices reasonable for you, so chin up - you're being supported even if you don't know it.