PC Sticker Shock From Component Crunch

Microsoft raised starting prices on all Surface SKUs by several hundred dollars, with midrange models now often costing more than last‑year flagships. The company and reporting cite rising RAM and component costs as the cause, pushing even entry points above $1,000 and inflating top‑end configurations well beyond competitors. — If consumer PC prices are being driven higher by upstream component shortages (RAM, SSDs, chips), that reshapes access to computing, consumer inflation measures, and the political economy of AI‑driven demand for hardware.