Microsoft's memory squeeze has reached the shop floor, and Surface prices have been jacked up to match.
The changes weren't announced, but they're easy enough to spot with a quick look back. The 13-inch Surface Laptop now starts at £1,099, up from £899 in February, while the 15-inch model has gone from £1,349 to £1,519. The 12-inch Surface Pro has climbed from £779 to £999, and the 13-inch version now sits at £1,199, up from £1,029.
In other words, what used to be entry-level Surface pricing has been nudged firmly into mid-range territory, with a £170-£220 bump depending on which slab of Microsoft hardware you fancy.
Across the pond, as first reported by Windows Central, Microsoft has been far less subtle, pushing some Surface configs from $999 to $1,499. The UK move is smaller in absolute terms, but the direction of travel is identical: up, and not by a trivial amount.
Microsoft – which recently reported a 60 percent jump in profits – is pointing the finger at component prices.
"Due to recent increases in memory and component costs, Surface is updating pricing on Microsoft.com for its current-generation hardware portfolio," a spokesperson told The Register. "We remain committed to delivering value to customers and partners while upholding our standards for quality and innovation."
The explanation lines up with reality, even if it doesn't make the bill any easier to swallow. Memory prices have been heading north for months as chip makers prioritize HBM, leaving customers fighting over diminishing supplies of DRAM and NAND.
The knock-on effects have already shown up in everything from Chromebooks and mainstream PCs to shipment forecasts and component contracts, with vendors warning that the days of cheap RAM are, for now, behind us.
That pressure isn't easing either as geopolitical tensions and rising freight costs pile on already soaring memory prices, pushing PC costs higher across the board.
It's not just the big players feeling the squeeze. Even Raspberry Pi has nudged prices up off the back of the same supply crunch, a reminder that when memory gets expensive, it tends to drag everything else up with it.
It's not just the hike, it's how it landed. Redmond didn't announce anything; it just swapped out the numbers and moved on. The cheaper configs have vanished, leaving higher starting prices as the new normal.
A £200 bump on the base model is a bold ask, whatever's going on in the supply chain. Either way, the RAM squeeze has made it all the way to the checkout – and it's not Microsoft picking up the tab. ®
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