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You might not think much about computer memory until your machine starts crawling along. But changes happening in the RAM market now have a real impact on your business.
For a long time, adding more memory was a simple and cheap way to get more life out of computers and keep your team working efficiently. Companies like Crucial made it easy to find the right RAM, even for mixed setups. However, with memory prices going up, partly because of AI needing more of it, this easy fix is becoming a lot harder to justify.
The risk here is that machines will get slower, staff will get frustrated, and time will be wasted. All of this quietly chips away at productivity and can even affect staff retention. When the cost of an upgrade starts getting close to the price of a whole new computer, planning becomes much more important.
Key Takeaways
- Get your device lifecycle under control. If you’ve been relying on memory upgrades, doing them sooner rather than later could save you money and hassle.
Why Crucial’s Exit Matters
Crucial has recently pulled out of the memory market. Why is this a big deal for your business? Well, as a business leader, you might not spend much time thinking about computer memory unless you’re dealing with a really slow computer. We generally suggest that machines today should have at least 16 gigabytes of RAM, but I’ve seen plenty of machines with only 4 gigabytes, and that’s when you start seeing the dreaded blue circle of doom, indicating a very slow system.
The Memory Market Shift
For years, before Good Choice IT was even around, we used Crucial to upgrade memory in machines when needed. It was a really cost-effective way to extend the lifespan of computers. If you had a lot of machines and needed to figure out what RAM you needed, their website was helpful in matching it up. This worked well, and compatibility issues were rare.
However, the cost of computer memory is currently rising significantly. A big reason for this is the high demand from AI applications. While it makes sense for companies to focus on high-demand areas, it seems a bit odd to completely leave the consumer sales market, especially when they were arguably the market leader. Perhaps the profit margins just aren’t there anymore, or it’s purely a price-driven decision.
The Impact on Your Business
This shift means we’re likely to see more people struggling with slow computers. It’s becoming too expensive for businesses to spend, say, £200 on a RAM upgrade when they could buy a new computer for only a few hundred pounds more. At the moment, upgrading RAM might only cost around £40-£50 (excluding labour). When we’re already on-site, we often upgrade machines to 16 gigabytes of RAM without even needing to ask the customer, simply because the cost is so low and it’s worth the small expense.
Planning for the Future
So, we have two opposing forces at play: the increasing demand for resources from AI, and the reality that people’s work is becoming less efficient because they don’t have the right tools. This is why I always stress the importance of having your device lifecycle under control. If you need to make the most of your existing assets, and you’re considering a memory upgrade, it’s best to do it sooner rather than later. This could save you money and prevent disruption down the line.
