Sick of Copilot, Grok AI, or the upcoming Googleization of Siri? Disgusted with the insane prices for RAM and storage? Tired of watching prices rise for video games, the proliferation of subscriptions for everything, and crapitalists monetizing everything and buying stuff just to kill it off? Well, you can’t affect change on your own, but we, as in “We the people…”, can make a real dent in their appetite with one simple modification to our behavior:
Don’t buy any new technology for one year.
That’s right. It’s that simple. If you were going to get a new desktop or laptop or tablet, put it off for a year. If you can’t wait an entire year, buy used or refurbished. Now I’m not suggesting you go full-on old school nor am I suggesting that professionals handicap their production pipelines, but little has changed significantly over the past decade when it comes to the technology that average people use every day.
I’m a writer, so I don’t push my systems very hard. My primary system is an Apple M1 Mac Mini. I have a 2019 Intel Mac Mini I use for Plex and a YACReader server. I have a launch version Steamdeck I use with a dock for gaming. I have a 7th gen iPad I use for reading comics and books. I have an 8th gen Dell 7200 2in1 running Fedora KDE for those rare times I need to compute on the go. Aside from the Steamdeck, all of my systems are more than five years old, and still work great.
I had intended to upgrade a few of them, though, at least until recently. I’ve been eyeing the M4 Mini for some time, but have put off that upgrade because my M1 is still excellent. I was also excited for the Steam Machine, but there’s a strong chance that RAM and storage prices will make it more expensive than I was willing to spend, but more on that in a bit.
If what you have now still works, take a year off before you consider replacing it with something brand new. Even a half million people making that decision will speedily impact the sales of major vendors and, more likely than not, anger their shareholders. The more of us who pile on however, the stronger the effect. Though I haven’t heard this phrase used much in recent years, “Put your money where your mouth is”, it is apropos. In a nutshell, this means you are making your feelings known by how you do or, in response to this AI-fueled RAMpocalypse, do not spend your money.
As something of a post-script, two things have happened recently that illustrate how disillusioned consumers are about the changes in the computer marketplace of 2026. First, after annoucing new hardware late last year, Valve has chosen to delay the launch of the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame VR headset in hopes that RAM and SSD prices will come back down instead of releasing the systems at prices far higher than Valve wants and what they thing consumers are willing to pay. Second, Apple has released their new MacBook Neo at $600 ($500 educational pricing) and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. From a company never known to play in the entry-level market, this is significant.
So, tell the big corporations how you feel, but not buying the crap they’re trying to force down our throats. They’ll only care when they start to feel some of pain we’ve been feeling.
