It’s a bad time to want a new computer
It’s a bad time to want a new computer
现在想买新电脑可不是个好时机
Apple, Microsoft, and Valve announced some difficult prices this week — a sign that this is our new reality. 本周，苹果、微软和 Valve 相继公布了令人难以接受的定价——这标志着我们已进入了一个新的现实。
It’s not exactly surprising that RAMaggeddon is making new tech hardware really expensive. But if you’ve been in the market for things like a new computer or tablet, this week has been filled with sticker shock. Given how many companies announced price hikes related to component shortages, it seems unlikely things will get cheaper any time soon. “内存危机”（RAMaggeddon）导致新款科技硬件价格飙升，这并不令人意外。但如果你最近正打算购买电脑或平板电脑，本周的价格变动一定会让你感到震惊。考虑到众多公司都因零部件短缺而宣布涨价，短期内价格回落的可能性微乎其微。
Valve started the week off by finally revealing the price of the Steam Machine, its long-delayed, console-like PC that, in our tests, has performance on par with the PS5. It starts at $1,049, nearly double the price of the six-year-old PS5, and that’s for the base configuration with 512GB of storage and without a controller. A bundled controller adds an extra $79, and if you want the 2TB model, you’ll have to tack on another $300. (If you still wanted one soon at that price, well, I hope you entered the lottery.) Valve 在本周初终于公布了 Steam Machine 的价格。这款跳票已久的类主机 PC 在我们的测试中表现与 PS5 持平。其起售价为 1049 美元，几乎是六年前发布的 PS5 的两倍，而且这还只是不含手柄、仅配备 512GB 存储空间的入门配置。捆绑手柄需额外支付 79 美元，若想要 2TB 版本，还得再加 300 美元。（如果你在这个价格下还想尽快买到一台，嗯，我希望你已经参加了抽签。）
Ahead of launch, Valve had warned that the component crisis had forced it to revise its pricing plans. When asked in a recent interview by PC Gamer the one thing he would change about the Steam Machine, Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said: “Make it cheaper.” While the company hasn’t spelled out its initial planned price, it seems like if you shave off $250 or $300 from the current Steam Machine prices, you’ll land in the ballpark of where Valve was originally thinking. 在发布前，Valve 就曾警告称零部件危机迫使其修改了定价计划。在最近接受《PC Gamer》采访时，当被问及如果能改变 Steam Machine 的一件事会是什么时，Valve 工程师 Yazan Aldehayyat 回答道：“让它更便宜。”虽然该公司没有明确说明最初的计划价格，但如果从目前的 Steam Machine 价格中减去 250 或 300 美元，似乎就接近 Valve 最初的心理价位了。
Microsoft introduced some new, cheaper options for its Surface devices this week, though they’re still expensive. The company’s lineup now includes a 12-inch Surface Pro at $849 and a 13-inch Surface Laptop at $949, but they come with a major drawback: Microsoft cut the amount of included RAM in half, dropping it from 16GB to 8GB. Still, they are more affordable than the previous base model versions of those devices, which recently jumped up to $1,049 and $1,199 as part of a batch of Surface price hikes. 微软本周为 Surface 设备推出了一些更便宜的新选项，尽管它们依然昂贵。目前的产品阵容包括售价 849 美元的 12 英寸 Surface Pro 和售价 949 美元的 13 英寸 Surface Laptop，但它们有一个重大缺陷：微软将标配内存减半，从 16GB 降至 8GB。不过，它们确实比之前的基础款机型更实惠，后者在近期的一轮 Surface 涨价潮中分别涨到了 1049 美元和 1199 美元。
And just today, two major companies announced price increases. Apple introduced sweeping price hikes of its own affecting MacBooks, iPads, and even devices like the HomePod and Apple TV. The MacBook Neo, which was a steal at its original $599 price, now starts at $699, for example. (We’ve got a list of all of the new prices right here, and they’re not pretty.) Apple gave Bloomberg a statement on the price hikes, saying they were due to component cost increases at a scale the company has “never seen” because of the data center boom. 就在今天，两家大公司宣布了涨价。苹果公司对其 MacBook、iPad 甚至 HomePod 和 Apple TV 等设备进行了全面涨价。例如，最初售价 599 美元、性价比极高的 MacBook Neo，现在的起售价已涨至 699 美元。（我们在这里列出了所有新价格，情况不容乐观。）苹果在给彭博社的一份声明中表示，涨价是由于数据中心热潮导致零部件成本上涨，其规模是公司“前所未见”的。
Xbox announced higher console prices of $100 or more, meaning the six-year-old Xbox Series S now starts at $499.99 with the price tags only going up from there. In a blog post, Microsoft blamed the component shortage, saying that “console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027.” Xbox 宣布主机价格上涨 100 美元或更多，这意味着六年前的 Xbox Series S 起售价现已达到 499.99 美元，且价格只会更高。微软在一篇博客文章中将原因归咎于零部件短缺，称“主机存储和内存价格已经上涨了超过 2.5 倍，我们预计到 2027 年秋季还会再翻一番。”
If you’re looking for a new computer or computing device, whether it’s for gaming, or for school, or whatever you might need it for, the memory and storage shortage means that hardware just costs more now. And with RAM and SSDs still in very short supply — a situation that will likely be the case for a very long time — these higher prices probably aren’t a temporary thing but are instead our new reality. If even Apple, known for its supply chain mastery, has been forced to raise prices, is anyone immune? 如果你正在寻找一台新电脑或计算设备，无论是为了游戏、学习还是其他用途，内存和存储的短缺意味着硬件成本现在就是更高了。由于内存和固态硬盘（SSD）仍处于极度短缺状态——这种情况很可能会持续很长一段时间——这些高昂的价格可能并非暂时的，而是我们必须面对的新现实。如果连以供应链管理能力著称的苹果都被迫涨价，还有谁能幸免呢？
The big AI data center buildout is largely to blame. If an individual making a PC at home or a tech company looking for parts for their next product needs components like memory or storage, they’re competing with an AI company or a hyperscaler who might be willing to pay far more for what’s becoming increasingly limited inventory. Valve said as much in an interview published this week; if the company doesn’t take prices as offered, then the suppliers “never talk to us again.” 大规模的 AI 数据中心建设是罪魁祸首。如果个人在家组装电脑，或者科技公司为下一代产品寻找零件，他们就需要内存或存储等组件，而他们正在与那些愿意为日益稀缺的库存支付更高价格的 AI 公司或超大规模云服务商竞争。Valve 在本周发表的采访中也表达了同样的观点：如果公司不接受供应商给出的报价，那么供应商就“再也不会理我们了”。
The competition for parts for data centers is all based on a bet that AI will be a foundational part of how people will use computers and interact with tech in the future. The hyperscalers are racing to build out infrastructure to train their AI models and offer AI-based services for people and businesses. But the lack of supply for components means that buying computers is increasingly more miserable for everyday consumers. Today, everything in tech is more expensive than it was yesterday. 对数据中心零部件的争夺，本质上是一场赌注，赌的是 AI 将成为未来人们使用电脑和与科技互动的基础。超大规模云服务商正竞相建设基础设施，以训练其 AI 模型并为个人和企业提供基于 AI 的服务。但零部件供应的匮乏意味着，对于普通消费者来说，购买电脑变得越来越痛苦。今天，科技领域的每一件东西都比昨天更贵了。
There’s no end in sight: hyperscalers are spending eye-watering amounts of money to build compute capacity so they can shove AI into everything we do. That’s making computers more costly, and it could just be the beginning of what’s to come. 目前还看不到尽头：超大规模云服务商正投入巨额资金建设计算能力，以便将 AI 植入我们所做的每一件事中。这使得电脑成本更高，而这可能仅仅是未来趋势的开始。