Dell’s Huge XPS Worth Hikes Spell the Doom of Low-cost PCs

No laptop computer can escape the plague of spiking RAM costs. In what appears like a watershed second for notebooks in all places, Dell’s longtime high-end XPS laptops now price near or greater than $3,000 if you would like the newest and best specs and display. 

The firm’s revised XPS 14 and XPS 16 fashions had been supposed to assist get the corporate’s pocket book manufacturers again on monitor. Now, these already costly laptops price almost 25% extra. When we first reviewed the XPS 14, it price $2,200 for the high-end mannequin that comes with an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H chip, 32GB of RAM, and the OLED contact show. Now, as of May 18, the laptop computer prices $2,900 at Best Buy. An XPS 16 got here with a $2,350 price ticket when Gizmodo reviewed it this month. Now, it’s $2,950.

These laptops price much more on Dell’s own webstore (these laptops additionally include restricted recreation and artistic software program bundles when ordering direct from Dell). Those costs are usually not even the highest-end model of the laptops. There are extra configurations with a higher-end Intel Core X9 388H that price $3,000 at 14 inches and $3,050 at 16 inches. Overall, Dell’s new pricing scheme for its longtime XPS laptop computer lineup feels extra like our PC-loving brains are being pile-driven into onerous concrete. 

There is one non-OLED model of the XPS 16 with the identical chip that at the moment prices $2,480 on Dell’s on-line storefront. In an e-mail, a Dell spokesperson confirmed that these had been certainly the brand new costs of its 2026 XPS fashions, including, “It has been a dynamic time in our industry for component costs along with other factors.” 

Just two years in the past, you would anticipate to seize a decently highly effective gaming laptop computer with an OLED display and a discrete GPU for underneath $3,000. In 2026, Dell’s beloved Alienware model now hopes to promote an Alienware 15 “budget” laptop computer beginning at $1,300 for the lowest-end configuration and costing $2,300 with a higher-end GPU and 32GB of RAM. 

Essentially, the pricing scheme customers had come to anticipate for all PCs is getting thrown out the window. Fellow PC maker Lenovo lately spiked the value of its Legion Go 2 gaming handheld to $2,000. More system makers are actively contemplating scaling again the capabilities of their devices so as to hold costs regular, a course of finest described as “shrinkflation.” 

Gizmodo was fairly constructive about Dell’s redesigned XPS fashions. They featured vivid, stunning OLED shows, robust efficiency with Intel’s newest Core Ultra Series 3 chips, and a high-quality chassis. Sure, their seamless keyboards grew more and more annoying to kind on, however they no less than captured their very own distinctive look in a world full of lifeless, grey bins. 

Are both of those laptops price near $3,000? It might not matter anymore. Soon, increasingly PCs might hike prices to compensate for the ballooning costs of RAM and different reminiscence parts.