After scarcity comes abundance! Memory chip makers are struggling to sell inventory, and RAM and SSD prices have never been lower. It’s the perfect time to refuel and boost your computer!
We are in 2023, and inflation has spread to all sectors of the economy. All ? No. One domain is escaping the terrifying price hike we’ve seen for over a year. Better: the prices are collapsing. This “irreducible village” is that of memory. More precisely, memory components, those little electronic “chips” that are used in our computers. For several weeks, and probably for a few more months, memory modules (RAM) and permanent storage systems (SSD) have seen their prices drop in quite impressive proportions, to the point of reaching levels never seen before. . Examples ? You can now find 32 GB Ram kits at most specialist retailers at less than 80 euros and 1 TB SSDs at less than 50 euros. What seriously boost old or recent PCs without breaking the bank. And you have to take advantage of it now!
This recent drop in prices is all the more surprising as it follows a long period of increases. Indeed, in 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic and the various confinements imposed by governments around the world have greatly increased the demand for electronic devices of all kinds, with many consumers seeking to equip themselves with computers, especially for telecommuting. And as many factories in China and Asia were closed or idle for the same reasons, supply did not follow. The classic result: components have become rare and prices have skyrocketed.
But the situation gradually returned to normal. And after record results, demand has fallen and sales have faltered in 2022, especially in smartphones and computers. According the Gartner Institute, specializing in market analysis, PC sales fell by more than 16% between 2021 and 2022, even dropping by more than 28% in the fourth quarter of 2022. A finding confirmed by IDC And Canalys, other analytical experts. Even Apple has struggled to sell its Macs, yet doped with M1 and M2 chips: the apple firm saw its computer sales reduce by 40% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022! Ey we observe the same phenomenon on the telephone market, with global sales down 11% in 2022…
RAM and SSD modules: lowest prices
At the same time, chipmakers kept production high, pushing up inventories. But without managing to sell it all. And while waiting to find a balance between supply and demand, they have lowered the prices of memory components, in particular DDR4 – used in vivd memory bars – and NAND Flash – used in SSDs. The downward movement observed at the start of the year has intensified in recent weeks: and it could last several more months in 2023, if we are to believe the institute’s analyzes and predictions. TrendForce, which announces upcoming price reductions of 15 to 20% on DDR4 type memory – the more recent and rarer DDR5 not being concerned. And SSD chips could follow suit, with similar reductions.
Be that as it may, the prices of these components are already constantly falling among specialist retailers, and in particular online shops such as Amazon, AllExpress, Fnac, Darty, LDLC, Baker, Rakuten and consorts. There are currently DDR4 memory sticks – and even DDR3, the previous generation – and SSDs – in Sata or M2 format. NVMe – at unprecedented prices, as we can see with our few examples. This is the perfect opportunity to refuel and boost recent or old computers at a lower cost, by adding RAM (to go to 8, 16 or even 32 GB), replacing a hard drive with an SSD (see our fact sheet). Simple operations on desktop computers – and not very complicated on laptops – except on the latest generation Macs, the RAM being integrated into the SoC M1 or M2. And even if the prices may still drop, don’t wait to take advantage of this bargain: you will be much more comfortable to face the future with future versions of operating systems, and to collect gigas of data…