Finally some good news from the endless bleakness of RAMageddon: Microsoft has extended Windows 10 support for another year, to October 12th 2027, probably because it’s hard to force people to buy a new RAM-hungry Windows 11 computer when prices are rocketing. If you’re already signed up for Windows 10 Extended Security Updates, you should’ve gotten an email announcing the extension; if not, you’ll want to get on that.

Between this and Apple’s recent across-the-board price jump, it’s easy to see why repairability, and being able to keep old machines running, is so important. 

RAMageddon

RAM prices are absolutely insane right now, which means that buying a computer—or any device containing memory, is too expensive. Apple just increased prices by roughly 20% or more across its entire lineup. The Apple TV has gone up $70 to $199, and even the HomePod mini is up $30 to $129. At the same time, computer makers are shoving “AI” into their machines, which scarfs as much RAM as it can get. Apple even doubled the basic RAM spec of its entry-level MacBooks Air to 16GB last year, in order to better handle on-device Apple Intelligence.

So it’s especially ironic that this huge RAM price increase is down to “AI” data centers. Memory manufacturers have shifted their production lines from the DDR5 memory used in regular computers over to the HBM memory used in LLM data centers. And it’s profitable. Thanks to demand from OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and others, memory maker Micron, for example, has quadrupled revenue, and more than doubled its profit over the last year. After hitting this jackpot, it has completely abandoned the consumer market. And it’s nowhere near stopping yet. Analysts expect another ~50% price increase in every remaining quarter of the year. 

Unexpected Consequences

The ironies here keep stacking up. Both Apple and Microsoft are boosting AI in their computers, and both Apple Intelligence and Copilot require at least 16 GB of RAM to work properly. At the same time, Microsoft is building massive LLM data centers, and Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute also requires RAM, driving up the cost of their computers, and making them less attractive to buyers. 

Don’t listen to anyone who tells you modular memory is a thing of the past. LPCAMM2 memory, like this module in the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7, offers a lot of the benefits of soldered SO-DIMM RAM.

Apple’s markups have always run at 30%-40%, much higher than the industry standard of 15-25% for smartphones, and perhaps 10-25% for laptops. The iPhone 17 Pro may even reach a 47% margin. Customers are being forced to pay for Apple’s bet on AI, whether we care about the features or not. This price hike is especially painful for the lower-end models like the MacBook Neo, which has proved hugely popular because of its low price. Apple has even jacked up the prices of its refurbished models, which just seems spiteful. 

For its part, Microsoft has decided to claim that Windows 11 can run just fine on 8GB RAM, despite previously recommending 16GB. It has also, as mentioned above, extended Windows 10 support for another year, so its customers can keep using it on their older machines.

Repairability

Which brings us to the increased importance of repairability during RAMageddon. Repairability isn’t just about fixing things when they break. It’s about keeping your machines running for longer and easy swappability of components. 

For example, if you do need a new computer right now, and you buy one with user-swappable RAM and storage, you can buy the absolute minimum model, and add more RAM and a bigger SSD if (hopefully when) prices finally come back down.

Or you could buy that new low-spec machine, and cannibalize the big SSD and RAM sticks from your existing computer and use those.

This Bing-generated piece of slop just helped RAM prices go up a tiny bit more.

And of course you can keep that machine running longer if you can easily swap in a new battery, replace broken USB-C ports, and open it up to clean dust from the fans.

AI, the forced obsolescence of Windows 10, and the increases of RAM requirements in general are all ways to make us buy new computers, which ultimately serves computer makers, not users. Given the choice, many of us would keep using the same machine forever, with occasional maintenance to keep things ticking along.

The final irony, then, is that the whole AI schtick has been a way for Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and the others to sell us new machines capable of running RAM-hungry AI junk that we don’t want. And now that strategy has made computers so expensive we will want that junk even less. I feel we can allow ourselves a World Cup metaphor here: Talk about own-goals.