News: 0180372891

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Framework Raises DDR5 Memory Prices By 50% For DIY Laptops (phoronix.com)

(Friday December 12, 2025 @10:30PM (BeauHD) from the sign-of-the-times dept.)


Framework Computer [1]raised DDR5 memory prices for its Laptop DIY Editions by 50% due to industry-wide memory shortages. Phoronix reports:

> Framework Computer is keeping the prior prices for existing pre-orders and also is foregoing any price changes for their pre-built laptops or the Framework Desktop. Framework Computer also lets you order DIY laptops without any memory at all if so desired for re-using existing modules or should you score a deal elsewhere.

>

> Due to their memory pricing said to be more competitive below market rates, they also adjusted their return policy to prevent scalpers from purchasing DIY Edition laptops with memory while then returning just the laptops. The DDR5 must be returned now with DIY laptop order returns.

Additional details can be found via the [2]Framework Blog .



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Framework-50p-DDR5-Memory

[2] https://frame.work/blog/updates-on-memory-pricing-and-navigating-the-volatile-memory-market



What about the long-term? (Score:1)

by blue trane ( 110704 )

If prices were $700 in 2022 and $100 today even if they go to $200 isn't it just a blip on a long-term trend?

This RAM thing is the AI bubble inflection point (Score:2)

by sg_oneill ( 159032 )

We've all seen for a while how the AI bubble has led to increasingly irrational market behavior. Nvidia priced higher than the entire pharma industry combined , OpenAI just churning through insane amounts of money while ranting incoherently about trillion dollar data centers. Microsoft just rolling out unprecedented data centers, all for a product that the public by and large appears to resesent and business companies struggle to figure out how to extract any sort of productivity out of it.

But its when the

Re: (Score:2)

by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 )

Search engine, not spellchecker.

Re: (Score:2)

by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

It's also being used to exploit enshittification by "you won't own anything" because all you'll be able to afford for computing devices are basically terminals accessing cloud services. And those cloud services will have the raw power you need.

Re: This RAM thing is the AI bubble inflection poi (Score:1)

by blue trane ( 110704 )

What if Greenspan hadn't raised interest rates because he had an irrational fear of new technology?

What if this RAM price blip is like the Thailand floods that got everyone in a tizzy over hard drive prices, but they still ended up going down long-term?

Re: (Score:2)

by burtosis ( 1124179 )

I’m hoping this bubble is how I get 2TB of rdimm at 4800 or 5600 slightly used for my server for just $200 in 2028.

Re: (Score:2)

by arglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 )

Here's a [1]good example of "AI" applied in practice [linkedin.com]. The Bobs have already identified him as a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/agustinlinenberg_last-quarter-i-rolled-out-microsoft-copilot-activity-7405271030979592193-zGo9

I'm thinking of getting another DGX Spark. (Score:2)

by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 )

128 GB for 3K for the ASUS version seems almost like a deal now. Then I can run ~200b models locally. I wonder if they'll raise the prices.

We have at least four years (Score:2)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

Of severe RAM and storage shortages. That's because openai has already bought 40% of ram capacity for the next 4 years.

It's possible that the whole thing will collapse before then but I don't think so because AI has the possibility to replace trillions and wages. Remember the problem AI is designed to solve is paying wages.

That's going to keep the 1% pumping all of their money into it and they have about 60 to 70% of the money in the country all to themselves.

While we were getting upset that we

Re: (Score:2)

by 0123456 ( 636235 )

Imagine if instead of the left spending the last ten years campaigning to ban Christmas and force women to allow men into their bathrooms, they'd been campaigning against the power of billionaires.

If the Woke left didn't exist, billionaires would have had to invent it.

Oh, hang on, in many cases they did.

Why do mathematicians insist on using words that already have another
meaning? "It is the complex case that is easier to deal with." "If it
doesn't happen at a corner, but at an edge, it nonetheless happens at a
corner."