Is 8GB of RAM enough for a laptop in 2026?

There's a crisis in the world of PC components in case you hadn't noticed. Yes, another one, and this time it's memory, the RAM modules which are crucial (pun fully intended) to your computer for running its host operating system and the apps (or games) installed with it.

Why the price of RAM has rocketed skywards is a somewhat complex issue, but by way of simplification, you can blame AI, as well as some past market-related decisions regarding production and supply by memory chip makers. (Check here for a more involved explanation.)

With system RAM prices climbing so steeply during the final quarter of 2025 that it's given consumers and PC makers vertigo – and with those increases expected to continue, at least in the near-term, and there's certainly no sign of any easing, given the predictions of an impending 'RAMageddon ...