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If you've been holding off on a new laptop because everyone keeps saying RAM prices will "come down soon," here's the uncomfortable part: the people who make laptops can't agree on when soon actually is. Acer's chairperson and CEO Jason Chen recently told reporters that memory makers are overstating how long the shortage will last, and that PC prices should start reversing in the second half of 2027. Other voices in the same industry, including memory maker SK hynix, are warning the crunch could run all the way to 2030.
For Indian buyers watching laptop and desktop prices creep up every festive season, that's not a forecast you can plan a purchase around. Here's what the conflicting predictions actually say, and why the smartest move may be to stop waiting for a "right time" altogether.
What Acer's CEO Actually Said
According to Tom's Hardware, Chen believes only the highest-end memory parts and a handful of niche chips are genuinely scarce right now, and that cheaper manufacturing capacity coming online out of China should ease the crunch. His timeline: prices keep climbing through the rest of this year, plateau in the first half of 2027, then start falling in the second half.
That's a notably more upbeat read than the one coming from memory manufacturers themselves. TechRadar notes that SK hynix and others have pointed to AI-driven demand for memory chips as a structural shift, not a temporary spike, and some have floated 2030 before real normalization.
Why the Forecasts Don't Line Up
Part of the disagreement comes down to who's doing the forecasting. Analyst firm IDC, cited by Tom's Hardware, has modeled scenarios where the global PC market could contract by as much as 9% this year as rising memory costs push buyers to delay purchases or downgrade specs. A laptop maker like Acer has an incentive to sound optimistic to keep customers from postponing purchases indefinitely; a memory maker benefits from higher prices lasting longer. Neither side is a neutral narrator, and neither has been reliably right about memory pricing over the past year.
What most forecasts do agree on is the shape of the next twelve months: prices go up before they go down, and nobody is promising a return to 2025-era pricing even after things "normalize."
So Should You Wait or Buy Now?
If your laptop is already struggling and you need one for work, college, or a small business, waiting on a forecast that even industry insiders can't agree on is a risky bet — you could be waiting well past 2027 based on some of the more pessimistic timelines. This is where buying refurbished or unboxed makes the timing question less stressful, because you're not paying new-unit memory premiums either way.
Our business and student laptop ranges are priced against today's refurbished market, not the inflated new-laptop pricing driven by the memory shortage, and every unboxed model still carries a full 1-year brand warranty. Refurbished units are graded Good or Fair and sold in 256GB/512GB SSD configurations paired with 8GB or 16GB RAM, so you can still choose a spec that matches what you actually do with the machine rather than settling for whatever a stripped-down new model ships with this quarter. If gaming performance is the priority, our unboxed gaming laptops carry the same 1-year warranty without the GPU markups new gaming rigs are currently absorbing.
One category worth steering clear of regardless of the price story: ultra-budget machines built around Chromebooks or Celeron processors. They look cheapest on paper during a memory squeeze, but the processor and platform limitations make them a poor long-term buy even at a discount.
The Practical Hedge
Nobody can tell you with confidence whether 2027 or 2030 is the right number. What you can control is not overpaying for new-unit memory premiums while that debate plays out. Every order above Rs5,000 ships free, with 1-2 business days of processing and 7-10 business days for delivery, and if you change your mind about needing that GPU-heavy setup, our buyback program refunds 80% of the purchase price within 15 days. That's a more useful hedge than trying to time a market where the CEOs disagree with each other.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I wait for RAM prices to drop before buying a laptop in India?
Only if you can comfortably wait past 2027, since even the most optimistic industry forecast doesn't expect prices to start falling before the second half of that year, and some memory makers are pointing to 2030. If you need a laptop now, buying refurbished or unboxed avoids paying today's inflated new-unit memory premiums.
Why do Acer and memory makers disagree about when the RAM crisis will end?
Acer's CEO has said memory makers are overstating how long the shortage will last, pointing to new manufacturing capacity coming online. Memory makers like SK hynix argue AI-driven demand is a structural shift rather than a temporary spike. Both sides have a commercial incentive in how they frame the timeline.
Is a refurbished laptop a safer buy during a price spike?
Yes, because refurbished and unboxed pricing isn't tied to the same new-unit memory premiums driving up retail laptop prices. You still get graded hardware (Good or Fair), a documented spec, and brand warranty coverage without waiting on an uncertain price forecast.
Will laptop prices in India ever return to 2025 levels?
Most analyst forecasts, including IDC's, don't project a full return to pre-shortage pricing even after the market stabilizes. The more realistic outcome across most predictions is prices leveling off at a higher baseline than before the memory crisis began.
What laptop specs should I buy right now given the uncertainty?
Match the configuration to your actual workload rather than buying the cheapest available spec. Refurbished laptops come in 256GB/512GB SSD with 8GB/16GB RAM configurations, which cover most business, student, and everyday use cases without the cost of chasing top-tier new-laptop specs during a memory shortage.
