Here is Why You Should Buy Now
From July 1, a fresh round of price rises is coming through on Windows laptops. This isn’t a maybe. Suppliers are pushing the increases through on any new stock and orders placed from the first of the month.
I’ve been tracking this through my distributor and vendor contacts, and the message is the same across the board. Prices are going up, and they’re not coming back down any time soon unfortunately.
So if you spot a good price right now, my advice is simple. Buy it now. Or pay more later.
How much are we talking?
Based on what I’m hearing from the major Aussie distributors and the brands themselves, you’re looking at rises starting around 5% and climbing up to 20%, maybe more on some models.
And let me be clear about that 5% figure. That’s the lucky one. That’s the best you can hope for. Plenty of laptops will land well above it.
A few things to know:
- It’s pretty much every Windows laptop brand. HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Dell, Acer, MSI… No one’s sitting this one out.
- The cheaper and middle end of the market often cops it hardest in percentage terms, because there’s less margin to absorb the cost.
- Some models will only nudge up. Others will sting.
This isn’t a sale gimmick or a bit of marketing fluff. The cost of building these machines has gone up, and that’s now being passed on.
Why prices are rising (again)
It comes down to the guts of the laptop. The parts that have been climbing in cost for many months now:
- RAM – memory prices have been on a tear. This is a big one.
- Storage – SSD and NAND flash costs are up too.
- CPUs – Intel and AMD have both been pushing chip prices higher. I covered this in detail in my piece on Intel and AMD CPU price hikes.
A lot of this traces back to the AI boom. The big data centres are hoovering up memory, storage and chips at a pace that’s squeezing supply for everyone else. I went deep on this back in November of 2025 in How AI is Pushing Up the Cost of Computers and Parts, and to be fair it’s only gotten worse since then, with no end in sight.
When the raw parts cost more, the finished laptop costs more. Simple as that.
Even Apple is feeling it
If you reckon this is just a Windows problem, think again.
Apple boss Tim Cook last week told the Wall Street Journal that price rises on Apple gear are now unavoidable, with the memory and storage situation getting too expensive to absorb. He called it “a hundred-year flood” and said he’d never seen anything like it in over 40 years in the business.
You can read the full Wall Street Journal piece here.
When a company the size of Apple, with all its buying power, says it can’t hold the line anymore, that tells you how serious the squeeze on parts has become. The same pressure is hitting every laptop maker (and they haven’t got Apple’s buying power).
I called this back in December, and I was too soft
Back in December last year, I wrote Warning: Laptop Prices About to Jump 10-20% in Australia.
I got that prediction wrong to be honest.
Not because prices didn’t rise. They did. I got it wrong because 10-20% turned out to be too conservative unfortunately. Most models jumped 20% plus, while some models jumped by 50% and more. I underestimated just how hard and fast this would hit.
So when I tell you prices are going up again from July 1, I’m not crying wolf. If anything, my track record says the real-world rises could land at the higher end, or beyond.
There’s two things going on here
This is important, because not every price rise you see is honest.
1. Genuine cost increases on new stock. This is the real deal. The cost of building and importing new laptops into Australia has gone up, and that flows through to the shelf price. Nothing dodgy about it.
2. Retailers lifting prices on existing stock. Here’s where you need your wits about you. Some stores will bump up the price of stock they already have sitting in the warehouse, stock that was bought at the old cost. That rise is pure margin.
To be fair, this isn’t just the big chains. The smaller and specialist stores are raising prices too. Their replacement cost is going up the same as everyone else’s, so they’ve got to move with the market to stay afloat. Everyone’s in the same boat here.
I wrote about the dodgier end of this behaviour back in April in Laptop Price Gouging: Retailers Are Absolutely Ripping You Off Right Now, and you can bet it’ll ramp up again around July 1.
Watch for the classic trick:
- A laptop suddenly shows a “was” price that’s way higher than what it actually sold for last week.
- The “saving” looks huge, but it’s measured against an inflated number that never really existed.
Always check the real recent selling price, not the made-up reference price on the sticker.
Don’t sleep on the EOFY sales
Here’s the silver lining, and it’s a real one.
We are in the dying days of the end of financial year sales right now. That means there are some genuinely sharp EOFY deals floating around on current stock for the next 6 days.
This is the bit that matters:
- That stock is still on the old pricing. It was bought before the July 1 rises.
- Once we tick over into the new financial year, those deals dry up and the new, higher cost base kicks in.
- So an EOFY price you see today could easily be the cheapest that laptop ever gets.
If you’ve been waiting for a sale, this is it. Don’t wait for the next one. The next one will be off a higher starting price.
What you should do before July 1
If you need a laptop in the next few months, sort it now. Here’s my simple advice:
- Buy now if the price is right. Stock currently on shelves was bought at the old cost. That window is closing fast.
- Make the most of EOFY. A good deal now beats full price (or worse) in July.
- Don’t wait for a “better deal” later. The better deal is the one in front of you today.
- Check the actual price history, not the marked-down theatre. Tools like Staticice are handy for this.
- Price match where you can. A lot of stores will match or beat a competitor’s price if you ask, and you’ll often get better advice for your trouble.
If you’re not sure what to actually buy, my buying guides will steer you right:
Will prices ever come back down?
I don’t see it happening soon. Maybe this time next year, but even then it looks unlikely.
The pressure on RAM, storage and CPU supply isn’t easing. As long as AI demand keeps soaking up parts, the cost base stays high. These July rises aren’t a temporary blip. They’re the new normal settling in. And there will be more price rises in the coming months too.
We’ve now had wave after wave of increases, and each one tends to stick. The laptop you can afford today will likely cost more in a few months, and the budget that bought you a decent machine last year buys you way less now.
The bottom line
From July 1, expect Windows laptop prices to climb. Around 5% if you’re lucky, up to 20% or more if you’re not, and across just about every brand.
It’s driven by real cost rises on memory, storage and processors, and even Apple has admitted it can’t hold prices any longer.
Right now, though, you’ve got two things working in your favour. Stock on shelves is still on the old pricing, and EOFY deals are live. After July 1, both of those advantages are gone.
If you’ve found a laptop you like at a decent price, my honest take is don’t muck around. Grab it now while it’s still on the old pricing.
Wait, and you’ll almost certainly pay more.
Got a specific model in mind and want a second opinion before you buy? Get in touch and I’ll give you my straight take.
