.jpg)
The 2025 RAM crisis is hitting UK businesses where it hurts most: the IT budget. With DDR5 prices up 171% year-on-year and SSDs following suit, business laptop prices 2025 are set to surge 20-50% in 2026 as OEMs pass on the pain. AI data centres have gobbled 40% of global DRAM supply, leaving enterprise buyers like you scrambling for allocation.
If you're planning a refresh for Dell Latitude, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, or workstations like Dell Precision series, expect £150-£400 extra per device. We've crunched the numbers from TrendForce and live UK quotes—here's exactly how much more you'll pay, and why now's the time to lock in stock.
Real UK Business Hardware Price Impact (December 2025 vs 2026 Forecast)
Sources: TrendForce Q4 2025 report, PCPartPicker UK, live broker quotes (8 Dec 2025)
How the RAM/SSD Shortage Hits Specific Business Laptops & Workstations
The crisis isn't abstract—it's inflating bills of materials (BOM) across enterprise favourites. Here's the breakdown for key models, based on current configs (16-32GB RAM, 512GB-1TB SSD) and projected hikes from memory alone. (Add 5-10% for labour/shipping.)
Projections from Bain & Co. and Counterpoint Research (Dec 2025); assumes mid-spec enterprise configs. Full fleet (500 units) could add £100K+ to budgets.
Why Business Laptops Are Taking the Biggest Hit
- Dell Latitude Series: Built for IT fleets with upgradable DDR5 slots—great for longevity, but now a vulnerability. Latitude 7000/5000 configs rely on 32GB+ kits, pushing prices 20-30% higher. Dell's COO flagged "unprecedented" delays in Q4 earnings.
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon: The gold standard for execs (1kg ultralight, 18hr battery). But its premium LPDDR5X memory is in shortest supply—expect 25-40% jumps for 32GB models. Lenovo's holding just 2 months' stock, per supply chain leaks.
- Workstations (Dell Precision/HP ZBook/ThinkPad P-Series): These beasts need ECC RAM and high-capacity SSDs for CAD/AI workloads. Shortages could delay projects by weeks; Precision 5000 series lead times already doubled to 16 weeks.
OEMs like Dell and Lenovo are redesigning some models with lower-spec RAM to cope, but that risks throttling performance—bad news for AI/Copilot+ tasks.
What This Means for Your 2026 Refresh Cycles
- 500-Unit Laptop Rollout: £90,000–£175,000 extra vs. early 2025 pricing.
- Server Upgrades: A 10-node cluster's memory alone jumps from £1,180 to £2,370+—plus 20% BOM inflation.
- Workstation Fleets: For 50 Precision units, add £22,500–£45,000; delays could halt design teams.
The Window Is Closing Fast
December 2025 is the last realistic month to secure 2026 delivery at close-to-current pricing. After January, most remaining first-line allocation disappears and everything moves to daily-updated spot/broker pricing.
