#memory computer memory apple memory pc memory

[vexwerewolf]

The thing is, D&D is not a game.

I know that sounds insane, but hear me out: D&D is not a game, it is a games console. You don't actually "play D&D." You play "Dragon Heist" or "Tomb of Annihilation" or "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" or "your GM's homebrew campaign" or "the plot of Critical Role Season 1 reconstructed from memory" on D&D.

For quite a long while now - possibly literal decades - D&D hasn't even been the best games console, but it's been "the one everyone knows about" and "the one my friends have" and in fact it's "the one whose name is almost synonymous with the entire medium of TTRPGs," like how "Nintendo" or "Playstation" could just mean "games console" to people who didn't understand games consoles. They might not have heard of a "tabletop roleplaying game," but most people have heard of "Dungeons & Dragons."

For this extended metaphor, D&D is Nintendo back in the 90s, or Playstation in the 2000s. Sometimes you say "oh let's go to my house and play Nintendo" or "c'mon dude I wanna play Playstation" but you're not actually playing Nintendo or Playstation, you're playing Resident Evil or Super Mario Bros or Jurassic Park or Metal Gear Solid or whatever on a Nintendo or a Playstation.

Now, this metaphor is going to get even more tortured, but remember how when the PS2 and the original X-Box came out, they used a standardised DVD format, but the Nintendo console in that generation, the Gamecube, used discs but they were this proprietary tiny little disc format that they had control over? That essentially meant that it was really difficult to make third party titles for the Gamecube that did literally anything that Nintendo didn't want them to do, and also essentially gave Nintendo an even greater ability to skim money off the top of any sales?

So that must've seemed like a smart business decision in their heads. But the PS2 and the X-Box used DVDs. This was a standardized format which gave Microsoft and Sony way less control over who made games for their consoles, but that actually turned out to be a good thing for gaming, because it meant that the breadth of games that you could play on their consoles was massively increased even if some of them were games Microsoft and Sony didn't really approve of. (Also it's worth nothing that the PS2 and the X-Box could just play DVDs, which meant if your household was on a budget, you didn't need a separate DVD player - your games console could do it for you! This was actually a huge selling point!)

What Wizards are currently trying to do now is kinda-sorta the equivalent of Sony suddenly announcing that the PS5 will only accept a proprietary cartridge format they hold the patent on, will control the content of and charge money for the construction of. This possibly seems like it could be a moneymaker in your head because you hold market dominance (apparently the PS5 has 30 million units shipped compared to X-Box Series X 20 million units) and so many people make games for your console, but what it actually means is game devs and publishers will abandon your product. If it takes so much more work, the scope of what they're allowed to do is so much more limited and they're going to make less money off of it, they just won't bother. They'll go make games for the X-Box or PC instead.

To use another computer metaphor, D&D is Windows - it might not be the best system but it's the system most people are familiar with and so it gets the most stuff made for it, but there's is an upper limit on the bullshit people will take before they decide fuck it and get an Apple or learn how Linux works.

TTRPG systems are a weird product because you're not selling people a game, you're selling people a method to play a game. All the actual games are created by the community - even prewritten campaigns needs to be executed via a game master. Trying to skim money off the community will mean they'll eventually give up on you.

[commodorez]

Alter Egos: Computers with Multiple Personalities – Kenny Riddile, April Roberson, Evan Klein

"In the 80s and early 90s, if you wanted to run another platform’s software or do parallel processing, your computer probably didn’t have the horsepower for usable emulation and ubiquitous multi-core CPUs were years away. The solution? Add-ons and cards that were practically entire second computers living inside the host. With their own CPU, and often separate memory, sound, and video subsystems, these add-ons let Macs natively run MS-DOS and Windows software, allowed Apple II programs to run on an IBM PC, or even brute-forced parallelism by simply slapping additional “Macs” in your Mac — no emulation required.

This exhibit highlights early Apple and Macintosh examples of these “computers in computers”. Be underwhelmed by CP/M games on an Apple IIc! Feel the pain of MS-DOS on an original Macintosh 128K! Play networked MS-DOS games between a pair of early Power Macs! Travel the Oregon Trail Apple II-style on a one-of-a-kind Mac LC! And yes, even marvel at the silliness of a triple-68040 IIci hot enough to roast marshmallows over."

Excellent use of plexiglass to show the innards of a machine and make it seem classy.

[a-spectres-fang]

I've been keeping up with the progress of this OS age verification bullshit that the 'Triumvirate of 1984' have successfully lobbied for in the state of California (obligatory 'fuck you, Gavin Newsom, you look like the LEGO Movie villain')

It's some deep garbage and has very suspicious timing.

Of course, when this law comes into play it will target open-source projects like Linux and even GrapheneOS with thousands of dollars worth of fines for each affected user exposed to software without age verification, which under the Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500. a user is defined as "a child that is the primary user of the device" regardless of if you let a child use the device or not. Some bullshit right? This law is attempting to make the term 'user' synonymous with a human person under the age of 18.

Of course, this law which is coming into effect January 1st 2027 is going to require age verification checkpoints at the OS level. It will not just be limited to PCs or laptops either. It will target video game consoles, phones, smart TVs, and other IoT devices. It will ask you to upload government identification or biometric scans to prove age, along with age verification software that tracks your internet history to match it up with the ID presented. On phones, it will ask for age verification before allowing you, the owner of the phone, to download an app.

What this is going to do is shut down the legal ways for people wanting to escape this madness of constant tracking and having their data sold. Quite frankly, it's pissing me off.

The timing couldn't be more convenient either, right? People leaving Windows in a mass exodus, GrapheneOS coming under fire, and people leaving AI-implementing or age-verifying websites en masse. Not to mention social media is becoming a warzone for political revolutions and destroying the oligarchy. More and more people are getting fed up with this joke of a democracy and are willing to share it online. Do you think this new law is going to just stop in California? Or to protect kids?

My friends, it is a poorly disguised attempt for mass global surveillance to lock up dissenting voices and quell the coming revolution while at the same time making it illegal for open-source projects that care about your rights to continue existing. Apple, Google, and Microsoft can afford to implement this software and are actively lobbying (throwing money at politicians) to get this manner of law passed because it actively benefits them.

Not only that, but age verifying software is hacked all the time with this data being involved in massive breaches. Want to use an Onion browser through Tor? No longer private. Want to use a VPN (whatever good it does lol)? Waste of time. ProtonMail? Forgettaboutit. Want to side load a version of Tor called Tails onto a flashdrive and boot it up for your own personal private OS that uses working memory only instead of the hard drive and can be accessed via a bridge from a country that doesn't support age verification while simultaneously bypassing the existing computer's OS but leaving it untouched? Probably going to be illegal in the near future.

Oh, and I forgot to mention but this age verification software data can and will be freely given to law enforcement personnel upon request. I am not a criminal by any means, I just value the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution--a document I feel a lot of politicians conveniently forget.

Anyone who values their online privacy or the ability to use their personal devices (considered an 'effect' under the U.S. Constitution's 4th Amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures) should be concerned with these laws and actively contact their state representatives to combat this malicious form of law. If it is unconstitutional for a law enforcement official to demand your phone's data without a warrant, then the OS demanding age verification via legal documentation and constant monitoring thereof without a warrant is by default also unconstitutional.

[grumblesaur]

Things to Know About Your Computer

I recently was skimming through the comments of a post about free and open source software (FOSS), and I saw a few people arguing back and forth about Linux. The ends of the rope in this tug of war were as follows:

Installing Linux in the first place requires so much knowledge about computers that it's out of reach of the average computer user to do it themselves.

The average computer user can just look this information up (from a variety of sources) and learn, which would be good for them.

I'm not here to pick sides. Asking my mom to install Xubuntu on her computer by herself would probably be too much, but with some guidance it would be doable. What this debate doesn't cover is how hard it can be to search for something when you don't even have the vocabulary to describe your problem. Once you get to the stage where your computer boots from the install disc or flash drive, it's no different from following the installation wizard of a new program. Getting to that point has some prerequisites.

In the interest of helping people start the reclamation of their computing experience, I'm gonna touch on some of those prerequisites here, to serve as an aid to beginners in search of instruction.

Specifications

If you're a PC gamer, you might already have these memorized, but for anyone else, knowing what parts your computer is built from is useful. The most important things to know are CPU (central processing unit); GPU (graphics processing unit), which may be discrete (a separate piece of hardware) or integrated (built into the CPU); motherboard (make and model, as this determines your BIOS—we'll get to that); and how much RAM (random access memory) you have.

If you don't know these things about your computer, put the screwdriver down. There's very likely some software already on your computer that can show these things to you.

Windows users: search "dxdiag" in the start menu or type it into the dialogue box opened by Win-R and press Enter. If it prompts you with a little dialogue box, just press OK.

Macintosh users: click on the Apple icon and select About This Mac.

This is useful information because it means you can search "Linux distros for NVIDIA GPUs" if you're running a GTX 1050 Ti or "lightweight Linux distros" if you only have 6 GB RAM. GPU compatibility is becoming less of an issue, but it's worth keeping in mind. As far as RAM is concerned, basically every Linux distro (short for "distribution"—we'll get to that later) is lightweight in comparison to Windows 10 or 11, but some may intentionally give up some aesthetic qualities in their desktop environment (the graphical interface installed with that distribution) in order to run on less capable machines.

Most of the other parts in your computer aren't going to be an issue from a compatibility standpoint. I can't rule those things out, of course, but whatever storage drives and Wi-Fi cards you have will probably fine. Anything connected externally (mice, keyboards, speakers) will also likely have common enough drivers that you don't need to worry about them.

(I'm happy to say that getting Linux to talk to a printer is a hell of a lot easier now than it was when I first started tinkering with it.)

Drivers

You are going to hear about drivers more when you use Linux than when you use MacOS or Windows. A driver is a piece of software that allows other pieces of software to talk with your hardware. They generally run inside the kernel, which is the part of your operating system that handles files, hardware connections, and dividing up CPU time and RAM for different programs on your computer to run.

Different kinds of devices have different drivers. Human Interface Devices (HIDs) like mice and keyboards have their own drivers. Webcams and microphones have their own drivers. Your GPU has a driver. When a program on your computer has a GUI, it'll call a piece of code named something like draw(). Your kernel sees this and passes that along to the graphics driver, which then translates draw() into instructions that the GPU understands.

Drivers, like any other software, can have bugs. They can also be outdated, when compared to some piece of hardware. A new driver may have been written with your hardware in mind, and having an old driver may mostly work, but fail in certain circumstances.

The Linux kernel is steadily being updated with drivers for all sorts of hardware, particularly game controllers (support was recently added for Rock Band 4 guitar controllers of all things), but just be warned that it's possible something you use may not work out of the box, and you may need to visit your chosen distro's help page.

BIOS

The basic input/output system is a program included on your motherboard, meaning it's always available even if your hard drive fails. Its job is to configure certain CPU and RAM behaviors, implement certain security features, and locate operating system files it can use to bootstrap (commonly abbreviated to "boot") the OS. If you plan on switching to Linux, you will have to go into your BIOS at least once.

Your computer as purchased was configured to boot from its main storage drive. In order to install Linux, you will need a live CD (assuming you have an optical drive) or a live USB flash drive. "Live" means that the disc or drive has a copy of your distro on it such that your BIOS can boot from it.

Getting into your system's BIOS varies by motherboard. There will usually be a button you need to press as your computer is first turning on (I recommend tapping it repeatedly). This could be one of the function keys (usually F2 or F12, in my experience), Delete, Home, or some other common feature of a keyboard.

It's common now for the Fast Boot option to be enabled in the BIOS by default, which skips the motherboard splash screen intended to catch these keyboard inputs to drop into the BIOS settings menu. There are ways around this, but they may be different for your machine. Fast Boot is not actually that much faster; it's really more to keep people from doing stuff like this.

Once you have access to your BIOS, you have to change your boot priorities, usually by moving USB and/or optical drives to be higher than the normal boot drive. This means that if you have a disc in the optical drive or a USB stick plugged in, the computer will try to boot from them before the hard drive. Anything not bootable gets skipped.

Even if you don't ultimately install Linux on your computer, knowing how to get into your BIOS may be useful later if you want to overclock your CPU or boot into your live CD/drive to rescue files from a corrupted OS. Also, using a live CD/drive means you can try the OS out a little bit before you commit to installing it.

What Is a Linux Distro Anyway?

The whole Linux ecosystem centers around a common kernel (occasionally with special or optional features applied). Relitigating the mythology of Linus Torvalds is out of scope for this document, but the kernel he started (and which myriad other developers united to contribute to) is the core of an operating system. It's a lot of hard work to make a kernel, and the kernel itself does a lot of hard work for the computer, but a computer is still useless if all it has installed is a kernel.

The distribution is a collection of software to accompany the kernel, typically including as a minimum* an init system (don't worry about this), a package manager, a web browser, a desktop environment, a terminal emulator and a shell, a text editor, and a media player. All of these things on essentially all distros are changeable, with varying degrees of difficulty. Swapping to a new web browser is no different on Linux from Windows or MacOS, and you're perfectly well able to have more than one installed at a time. Swapping to a new desktop environment for a new look and feel? This can be annoying and sometimes fail in hard-to-fix ways.

When choosing your distro as a beginner, these are the questions you should prioritize:

Do I like the way this looks? (Save yourself the trouble of installing a new desktop environment later.)

Is this distro optimized for an activity I do commonly? (You don't have to get a gaming distro to play games, but it can be helpful for reducing setup time.)

Are my PC's specs sufficient for running this distro? (The answer is probably "yes" unless your computer is a toaster.)

There are lots of Linux Nerds out there who will try to convince you that systemd is the devil or that Canonical has fucked with Ubuntu so bad you might as well use Windows instead. They aren't necessarily wrong, but the difficulty of going from a non-Linux system to a Linux system is much greater than merely swapping distros. Your first choice doesn't have to be perfect; you're never locked into one particular Linux distro. Any software that works on one should work on the others.

Wait, What's a Package Manager?

If you've used an app store on any platform, you've essentially used a package manager. From the user's perspective, this is a program that you use to install, update, and uninstall other programs. It also handles software dependencies gracefully. Sometimes, two (or more) programs on your computer use the same software library, which is some code written by a programmer for other programmers to use in their software. Part of a package manager's job is to ensure that only one copy of such a library is installed, rather than installing one for every program that uses it. Another part of a package manager's job is to remove this library if everything that uses it is also removed.

Package managers are typically invoked in a command line interface (that is, in a shell running in a terminal emulator), but many of them have newbie-friendly graphical interfaces now.

Installing a program from your package manager on the command line is actually one of the easier things to do without a GUI, though, so it's worth trying out.

Not all programs can be installed through a package manager. The downside of package management is that it requires a distro's community to maintain repositories, which are collections of code and installation instructions for programs users might want to install. Not everything will be in the repositories, but you can build and run any software for which you have the source code (and the appropriate compiler), and that's any FOSS.

Before You Switch

Make a backup of anything you'd like to keep on an external hard drive. Installing Linux on its own generally entails reformatting your hard drive, which will make any data on it inaccessible. If you've heard of dual booting, it requires you to shrink your first OS's partition to make room for another OS elsewhere on the drive (or even having a second drive to boot from). Shrinking drive partitions may require you to remove data if you've used a lot of space, so you'll have to offload it to storage anyway.

Take some time to search things like "linux distros for gaming" or "linux distros for video production" or "linux distros for old PCs" (or whatever your specific needs are) and see what folks recommend.

Get your hands on a USB stick (or some CD-Rs if you have an optical drive) and a tool like Rufus.

Be ready to read and possibly ask for help on the internet.

There's a bit more work involved in setting up a Linux system, but the alternative is to keep using an OS that decides what's right for you while it harvests your activity for data.

* Some distros, like Arch, will give you almost nothing at all, with the expectation that you know 1) know exactly what you want to install and 2) how to install these things from a command line interface. Maybe don't start with plain old Arch, but a derivative like CachyOS (which I use) that comes out of the box with useful default software is probably fine for a beginner.

[wingedtyger]

How to Buy a Computer for Cheaper

Buy refurbished. And I'm going to show you how, and, in general, how to buy a better computer than you currently have. I'm fairly tech-knowledgeable, but not an expert. But this is how I've bought my last three computers for personal use and business (graphics). I'm writing this for people who barely know computers. If you have a techie friend or family member, having them help can do a lot for the stress of buying a new computer.

There are three numbers you want to know from your current computer: hard drive size, RAM, and processor speed (slightly less important, unless you're doing gaming or 3d rendering or something else like that)

We're going to assume you use Windows, because if you use Apple I can't help, sorry.

First is hard drive. This is how much space you have to put files. This is in bytes. These days all hard drives are in gigabytes or terabytes (1000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte). To get your hard drive size, open Windows Explorer, go to This PC (or My Computer if you have a really old OS).

To get more details, you can right-click on the drive. and open Properties. But now you know your hard drive size, 237 GB in this case. (this is rather small, but that's okay for this laptop). If you're planning on storing a lot of videos, big photos, have a lot of applications, etc, you want MINIMUM 500 GB. You can always have external drives as well.

While you've got this open, right-click on This PC (or My Computer). This'll give you a lot of information that can be useful if you're trying to get tech support.

I've underlined in red the two key things. Processor: it can help to know the whole bit (or at least the Intel i# bit) just so you don't buy one that's a bunch older, but processor models are confusing and beyond me. The absolutely important bit is the speed, in gigahertz (GHz). Bigger is faster. The processor speed is how fast your computer can run. In this case the processor is 2.60 GHz, which is just fine for most things.

The other bit is RAM. This is "random-access memory" aka memory, which is easy to confuse for, like how much space you have. No. RAM is basically how fast your computer can open stuff. This laptop has 16 GB RAM. Make sure you note that this is the RAM, because it and the hard drive use the same units.

If you're mostly writing, use spreadsheets, watching streaming, or doing light graphics work 16 GB is fine. If you have a lot of things open at a time or gaming or doing 3d modeling or digital art, get at least 32 GB or it's gonna lag a lot.

In general, if you find your current laptop slow, you want a new one with more RAM and a processor that's at least slightly faster. If you're getting a new computer to use new software, look at the system requirements and exceed them.

I'll show you an example of that. Let's say I wanted to start doing digital art on this computer, using ClipStudio Paint. Generally the easiest way to find the requirements is to search for 'program name system' in your search engine of choice. You can click around their website if you want, but just searching is a lot faster.

That gives me this page

(Clip Studio does not have very heavy requirements).

Under Computer Specs it tells you the processor types and your RAM requirements. You're basically going to be good for the processor, no matter what. That 2 GB minimum of memory is, again, the RAM.

Storage space is how much space on your hard drive it needs.

Actually for comparison, let's look at the current Photoshop requirements.

Photoshop wants LOTS of speed and space, greedy bastard that it is. (The Graphics card bit is somewhat beyond my expertise, sorry)

But now you have your three numbers: hard drive space, RAM (memory) and processor (CPU). Now we're going to find a computer that's better and cheaper than buying new!

We're going to buy ~refurbished~

A refurbished computer is one that was used and then returned and fixed up to sell again. It may have wear on the keyboard or case, but everything inside (aside from the battery) should be like new. (The battery may hold less charge.) A good dealer will note condition. And refurbished means any flaws in the hardware will be fixed. They have gone through individual quality control that new products don't usually.

I've bought four computers refurbished and only had one dud (Windows kept crashing during set-up). The dud has been returned and we're waiting for the new one.

You can buy refurbished computers from the manufacturers (Lenovo, Dell, Apple, etc) or from online computer stores (Best Buy and my favorite Newegg). You want to buy from a reputable store because they'll have warranties offered and a good return policy.

I'm going to show you how to find a refurbished computer on Newegg.

You're going to go to Newegg.com, you're gonna go to computer systems in their menu, and you're gonna find refurbished

Then, down the side there's a ton of checkboxes where you can select your specifications. If there's a brand you prefer, select that (I like Lenovos A LOT - they last a long time and have very few problems, in my experience. Yes, this is a recommendation).

Put in your memory (RAM), put in your hard drive, put in your CPU speed (processor), and any other preferences like monitor size or which version of Windows you want (I don't want Windows 11 any time soon). I generally just do RAM and hard drive and manually check the CPU, but that's a personal preference. Then hit apply and it'll filter down.

I'm going to say right now, if you are getting a laptop and you can afford to get a SSD, do it. SSD is a solid-state drive, vs a normal hard drive (HDD, hard disk-drive). They're less prone to breaking down and they're faster. But they're also more expensive.

Anyway, we have our filtered list of possible laptops. Now what?

Well, now comes the annoying part. Every model of computer can be different - it can have a better or worse display, it can have a crappy keyboard, or whatever. So you find a computer that looks okay, and you then look for reviews.

Here's our first row of results

Let's take a look at the Lenovo, because I like Lenovos and I loathe Dells (they're... fine...). That Thinkpad T460S is the part to Google (search for 'Lenovo Thinkpad T460s reviews'). Good websites that I trust include PCMag, LaptopMag.com, and Notebookcheck.com (which is VERY techie about displays). But every reviewer will probably be getting one with different specs than the thing you're looking at.

Here are key things that will be the same across all of them: keyboard (is it comfortable, etc), battery life, how good is the trackpad/nub mouse (nub mice are immensely superior to trackpads imho), weight, how many and what kind of ports does it have (for USB, an external monitor, etc). Monitors can vary depending on the specs, so you'll have to compare those. Mostly you're making sure it doesn't completely suck.

Let's go back to Newegg and look at the specs of that Lenovo. Newegg makes it easy, with tabs for whatever the seller wants to say, the specs, reviews, and Q&A (which is usually empty).

This is the start of the specs. This is actually a lesser model than the laptop we were getting the specs for. It's okay. What I don't like is that the seller gives very little other info, for example on condition. Here's a Dell with much better information - condition and warranty info.

One thing you'll want to do on Newegg is check the seller's reviews. Like on eBay or Etsy, you have to use some judgement. If you worry about that, going to the manufacturer's online outlet in a safer bet, but you won't quite get as good of deals. But they're still pretty damn good as this random computer on Lenovo's outlet shows.

Okay, so I think I've covered everything. I do recommend having a techie friend either help or double check things if you're not especially techie. But this can save you hundreds of dollars or allow you to get a better computer than you were thinking.

[adafruit]

🎄💾🗓️ Day 2: Retrocomputing Advent Calendar brings us the TRS-80! 🎄💾🗓️

Released in 1977, the TRS-80 (also lovingly called the "Trash-80") was a popular personal computer by Radio Shack and Tandy Corporation. Designed for affordability and approachability, it was one of the first mass-market computers, bringing computers into homes, schools, and small businesses.

Powered by a Zilog Z80 processor running at 1.77 MHz, the TRS-80 Model I came with 4KB of RAM (expandable to 16KB) and an 8KB ROM, preloaded with the Microsoft BASIC programming language. Its black-and-white display supported a resolution of 64x16 characters. It used external cassette tapes for storage, which offered a low-cost solution before floppy drives became more available.

The TRS-80's also had an ecosystem. Radio Shack offered complete setups, monitors, printers, and software - making it easy for beginners. The machine became a favorite for hobbyists and programmers, popularizing early text-based adventure games, educational software, and business applications.

Eventually overtaken by the IBM PC and Apple systems, the TRS-80's legacy lives on!

I had some so-so photos, but these from the Smithsonian are the best I've seen, along with their section on their site -

Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 Microcomputer | Smithsonian Institution

Have TRS-80 memories, or retro computing memories? Post’em up in the comments, or post yours on socialz’ and tag them #retrocomputing #firstcomputer #electronics see you back here tomorrow!

[beardedmrbean]

Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix accused of spiking memory chip prices by 700%

The antitrust lawsuit calls the companies “oligopolists” and accuses them of “concerted anticompetitive behavior.”

An antitrust lawsuit has been filed in California alleging that three chipmakers have engaged in collusion and price-fixing, amid a global shortage of memory chips that is driving up prices for manufacturers and consumers.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (1) against chip giants Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. The 17 named plaintiffs (1) are a mix of individuals and small businesses.

The suit alleges the companies engaged in "concerted anticompetitive behavior," calling the companies "oligopolists" in the DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) market, according to a report from PC Gamer magazine. (2)

It alleges that the chipmakers have been fixing the supply and price of DRAM since 2022, driving the cost of conventional DRAM up by approximately 700%.

According to Wccftech (3), the companies allegedly manipulated prices and supplies by bringing about a coordinated "pivot" to AI-critical High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), using this as justification to limit the production of older memory formats.

Chip shortages drive up costs

The lawsuit comes as memory chips shortages become a growing concern across the tech industry. If you haven't heard about the "RAMpocalypse," or "RAMmageddon" yet, you might not be reading tech or gaming news.

But this global shortage of memory chips could impact more than just those who are tech-inclined. Prices are rising and anyone looking to upgrade their devices might feel the burn. Trade associations say it could also hit the manufacturers of vehicles, medical devices and other goods (4).

Since 2025, the demand for memory chips has driven up costs amid supply shortfalls. Manufacturers are racing to keep up with the demand from the AI boom, but the need for advanced memory chips, such as HBM semiconductors, has meant that manufacturers have shifted resources from producing the chips used in goods such as smartphones, computers and other consumer electronics (5).

PC Gamer found in a January report that a desktop RAM (random access memory) kit that had been priced between $80 and $100 on Amazon for most of 2024 and 2025 had climbed to $364 (6) (at the time of publication, the price sits at $599).

The biggest price increase news might have been from Apple, which raised the price of computers and tablets at the end of June.

"We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," Apple ​said in a statement (7). "We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin ⁠raising prices on a number of products, including today's increases for iPad and Mac."

Lawsuit alleges price fixing

Against the backdrop of soaring prices, the class-action lawsuit against Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, is seeking that the court "remedy the ongoing effects of Defendants' unlawful and anticompetitive conduct, including requiring Defendants to cease coordinated supply restriction and restore competitive conditions in the conventional DRAM market," Polygon reported.

In a statement to Moneywise, Micron denied the allegations, saying in part "[we] compete vigorously, fairly and in compliance with all applicable laws wherever we do business. We will defend ourselves against these claims."

Samsung and SK Hynix did not respond to Moneywise's request for comment in time for publication.

[krjpalmer]

Microcomputing August 1984

Articles on computer languages (including the Macintosh Basic from Apple that never quite reached official release before Bill Gates dealt with it) and a Compaq transportable with a hard disk built in (with a sidebar on how Phoenix Software had created a "clean room BIOS" that would permit truly compatible IBM PC clones from just about anyone) made this issue's cover. Wayne Green was no longer providing an editorial; instead, Eric Grevstad insisted (capable) computers were too expensive, and hoped that $1000 "in my fantasy world" would buy "a really first-rate eight-bit system," working up from there to $3000 buying "mammoth memories, hard disks, multi-user capability and other supermicro features."