The dire state of desktop PCs: ‘If you want performance, you have to pay for it’

RAM shortages, SSD shortages, Nvidia shortages, possible shortages of Intel CPUs — 2026 is off to a rough start, if that’s not enough, consider what AMD and Intel have to offer us in new desktop processors throughout this year. It’s not much at all.

After a thrilling launch of its Core Ultra 300 (Panther Lake) chips, Intel is looking ahead to its upcoming “Arrow Lake Refresh” processors. But, as the name suggests, there might not be a whole lot there. Even AMD’s Ryzen AI 400 (Gorgon Point) chips...