Laptop Prices to Skyrocket in January

Cerco

According to GIZMODO newsletter the prices for laptops in the US will skyrocket in January.

https://gizmodo.com/laptops-prices-are-about-to-skyrocket-2000696366

Maybe this is a drive to increase sales before then.

Seems due in part to chip cost increase.

Glaceon

RAM prices are ridiculous at the moment, AI vendors are hoovering up most of the stock.

Nowso

ram and storage will be dearer . last week you could go from 16 to 32 for 40 euri itls be 200 soon

eronayne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124134645#Comment_124134645

eeeek I don’t think, so bones of 650 quid for a 64gig module.

Capt'n Midnight

Crucial are stopping selling RAM to consumers. Because like Nvidia and others they are trying to extract as much cash from the AI bubble before it bursts.

On one hand Microsoft have for no good reason decreed that Windows 11 won't run on older processors. (Bitlocker could be considered ransomware.) On the other they are moving to web based O365/copilot so you don't need Windows or even an Intel compatible device (but be aware of Recall) .

For light use it's very hard to justify a new laptop compared to an ex corporate one with a decent CPU and a replaceable keyboard (insane prices to replace built in ones).

jj880

Got a thinkpad refurb at Christmas. Its a nice piece of kit but having some trouble with shut down. It seems Windows now has some bizarre shut down mode for laptops that lets it fire up and install updates. I didnt know this as last laptop I had was running windows 7. Stored the laptop in a bag after shutdown. Ran a battery report and it used 50% battery charge while inside the bag and fried the battery from 100% capacity down to 77%. Vantage is now telling me to order a new battery. WTF is the point in shut down if the laptop can fire up and install updates in the middle of the night?! I dont see the sense in it. Shutdown should mean zero power. Hopefully can get the battery replaced and not have to purchase a replacement unit after prices shoot up.

Edit: Im thinking my laptop must have been in S0 network connected sleep and not shutdown. To be honest at this stage I cant remember. Anyway I changed the BIOS sleep state to "Linux" and now my sleep state is showing as S3 and not S0 so hopefully that's the end of this issue.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135126#Comment_124135126

Check if "fast startup" is disabled - this is putting computer to hibernate instead of actual shutdown. It is ON by default

Actual computer up-time you can check in task manager(performance tab, select CPU) or see last boot time in powershell

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem | Select LastBootUpTime

smuggler.ie

On other note, wonder why laptops and phones are made with non-removable batteries since …

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135285#Comment_124135285

Fast startup is disabled and Im sure I disabled it as soon as I got the laptop as I wanted it to be shutdown and not sleeping / hibernating.

From powercfg /a I only have Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected and Hibernate as available sleep states.

I tried disabling S0 via the registry and then all I was offered was Hibernate. No other sleep states became available.

I will do further testing but I cant see a powered off sleep state for this laptop so far.

edit: got S3 sleep state enabled in the BIOS eventually.

smuggler.ie

Why not to disable hibernate altogether(unless you have reason for it)
I would not put much trust into vantage - it might take time for it to learn and settle down with battery metrics, especially on second hand device…

HazeDoll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124134660#Comment_124134660

That poster has a total of 5 comments, all posted since 2:53 this morning, four of them promoting infinitefix.ie…

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135292#Comment_124135292

For phones it makes them more waterproof. But you also lose Micro SD slot and headphone socket which means you also lose FM radio.

For laptops it's cheaper and lighter and thinner as you don't need to encase the battery in something user proof or provide latches and things. It also means you can make them less upgradable.

Once upon a time Dell did laptops with NiCAD batteries where you swap out the CD for a second battery. Then they released Lithium batteries that were backwardly compatible. So you could replace the old battery and CD and have four times the original battery life. If you want full day battery life nowadays, get a Mac or Tablet or large power bank.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135339#Comment_124135339

Vantage is matching the system generated batteryreport at the moment. Ive cycled the battery 3 times in the last few days up to 100% (leaving plugged in for 2 additional hours) then down down to 0% (leaving off for 2 additional hours). All that happened was capacity went from 80% to 77%. So doesn't look good. I'll try disabling S0 and hibernate later and see what happens. Last battery related post here for me. Im well off topic...

ItHurtsWhenIP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135126#Comment_124135126

Have you got the Windows update setting "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available" turned on?

I think that might force install and reboot.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135375#Comment_124135375

Who said vantage has its own way to read battery metrics and not using powercfg behind the scenes :D
dont know

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135374#Comment_124135374

.. and charging port you'd loose as well…
I get all the points you mention, but with my tinfoil hat on…
With all the benefits of saving $$ (that is not passed on to consumer, just to make bigger profits), tech corp get yet another way to monitor/track(whatever) the device, hence end user.
Cant even use camera without "nearby devices" enabled FFS. What is this got to do with my still image.
Such smart device(andoid phone) doesn't even have calculator anymore - we had them on casio watches.

Eh, the time we live in

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135473#Comment_124135473

Good point, however, with device truthfully powered OFF, like - no power, that shouldn't have effect in OFF state, i'd guess

extra-ordinary_

What the eff is Vantage?

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124135541#Comment_124135541

Lenovo software with a nice GUI that lets you admin your thinkpad. As smuggler says above it probably pulls all its info from system stats but for clarity I was pointing out theyre matching up.

Hard to believe some laptops these days are setup like this. I dont care if theyre office machines. A zero power sleep state should be available.

edit: so after messing around in the BIOS I changed sleep state to "Linux". which has now changed my laptop sleep state from S0 to S3. This should prevent my laptop from installing updates or whatever other bollox was going on over night.

SuperBowserWorld

Any downside with getting an apple laptop from Amazon ie imported from the UK ? Maybe a shorter warranty ?

Anyway ....

Macbook Air 2025, probably the best laptop you can get for price/performance/robustness is 934 euro. Sky blue one

https://amzn.eu/d/fDyfDfQ

Royale with Cheese

Maybe some issues returning it if anything is wrong?

I bought one a while back on amazon.ie for about €975. Unless 256gb storage is an issue for you then I can't imagine there's a better laptop for the price. I've a 2-3 year old Dell laptop for work that's supposed to be developer spec (i7 with 32gb RAM) and the MacBook runs rings around it for general computing tasks.

magicbastarder

FWIW, i work for a large multinational and our laptop supplier has stopped taking orders, as they cannot guarantee any price and not know if they're making a loss or not.

Nowso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124164031#Comment_124164031

the prices of ram and now memory are rising due to the ai wanting 70% of all produced

magicbastarder

cheers, that's the reason given.