First up, let’s look at laptops, since they are still a very popular option among our clients. Since COVID, working from home seems to be here to stay, and just about everyone wants to have a laptop. We have mostly sold the HP ProBook line of laptops for the past few years, and our costs never varied by much. Last summer, HP removed our quantity discounts for bulk purchases and then every order we placed was just a little higher after that. Overall, from early 2025 till the end of 2025, our cost on the exact same laptop went up 27%. Starting out in 2026, that cost stayed mostly level through one product refresh, but then came Copilot+ PCs. These are another 30% more expensive than the previous models, or a whopping 65% more expensive than the device we purchased at the start of 2025. Not quite double, but it can feel like it. That’s with all stats staying about equal.

When it comes to our desktop line, specifically the Loki 200 series, the pain hasn’t been quite that bad. We launched the Loki 200 last summer in July of 2025. Between launch and the end of the year, the total BOM cost went up just 10%. But in the past 8 months, the BOM cost has grown an additional 36%, or 50% higher than when we launched the desktop last year. Not to mention our ability to acquire components has been severely hampered by supply constraints with certain components.

Our total cost to make a standard office desktop is up 50% from this time last year, but that’s not to say every piece is more expensive. Our cost for the steel case and power supply is level, even down a bit. Microsoft hasn’t changed the price of the Windows license in a very long time, so it’s not there. Even the motherboard that we use has only gone up 7% since this time last year. The Intel CPU has gone up about 17% this year which is contributing to the increase, but the meat and potatoes here are the prices of the SSDs and the RAM that we use. SSD cost went up 291% from this time last year. Exact same drive, buying through the same distributor. DDR5 RAM is where we really get wiped though. 538% increase from this time last year. Yes, over 5x the price.

A lot of that price increase is where we are having to get our RAM from. We work with 4 of the world’s largest computer and electronics distributors, and none of them have any RAM for us. We’re mostly having to source from retail channels when we can find it. And when it comes to server RAM, it’s even worse. Trying to find any ECC memory these days is very difficult.

Networking equipment is also going up as of recently, but not nearly as dramatically as desktops and laptops. We’re talking between flat and 15% on switches and access points. That said, HPE has just announced a new line-up of business switches that we’re really excited about that bring 2.5G ports to support Wi-Fi 7 and faster desktop connectivity. Those are going to be a bit more pricey, but we feel that the extra bandwidth will be worth it considering how long these switches are in use. SonicWall also refreshed their firewall line, adding about 25% more cost but a lot more capacity and future proofing.

My takeaway from diving into these numbers is that computer hardware prices have jumped more this year than any other year that I can remember. I’m used to price increases when a new standard arrives, like going from DDR4 to DDR5, but a 5x increase in the same modules from a year ago to today? I’ve never heard of anything like it. The good news is that the increases have slowed down a bit but reports from the “Big Three” are that these supply issues will continue throughout 2026 and into 2027. New players from China may be able to relieve some stress on the markets, but I’m not holding my breath.

-Nate