this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026

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261

Entry level PCs costing less than $500 ‘will disappear by 2028’, research firm predicts (www.videogameschronicle.com)

submitted 18 hours ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca

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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 7 minutes ago* (last edited 3 minutes ago)

It's not actually the "older hardware" that's responsible for security vulnerabilities, it's Microsoft chosing to end support for Windows 10.

That "older" hardware capable of running Windows 10 is more than capable of running any Linux distro which will keep on getting security updates for a long while (and you can just upgrade it again if that stops as Linux is nowhere as hardware demanding as Windows, especially the latest, Electron + AI, Windows).

For people who just use their PC for Office software, e-mail and browsing - who are the ones getting entry level PCs - hardware has been more than powerfull enough for 2 decades, and it's only Windows bloatware having grown to use the available computing power that has forced people to upgrade the hardware.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Saving for my kids college went out the window.

Saving for my kids computers now

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Does anyone know how difficult it is to swap keyboards on ThinkPads? I wanna get one used but the problem is, most of them don't have US keyboards since I live in Japan.

[–] chonomaiwokurae@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

I haven't tried it myself, but at least iFixit has a bunch of guides: https://www.ifixit.com/Search?query=thinkpad+keyboard&doctype=guide

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

Sweet, thank you!

[–] Blemgo@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

My old work place used to buy refurbushed ThinkPads, and they slid rather easily by sliding a switch. I have one of the more recent models (also refurbished) at home as well, I'll try to see if it's still the same.

[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

That would be super helpful. I was under the impression that the recent ones aren't swappable, it would be great if I could replace my surface with an actual laptop soon.

[–] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 20 points 6 hours ago

Only due to basically one reason - oligopolies.

[–] ColdWater@lemmy.ca 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Got myself a GTX 1660 for 460$ 5 months ago and I thought I paid too much for it, but now I'm glad I bought it

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Well you probably overpaid slightly, and refurbished are about half the price, but prices are only going up so the best time to buy anything is going to always be months ago.

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 16 points 10 hours ago

I predict this research firm will not exist by 2030

[–] Ghostie@lemmy.zip 19 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Before I’d say building your own can be more cost effective, but I can’t even say that now with those RAM and GPU prices.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 11 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I hope that they just fail in their half-assed attempts and the prices fall again.

[–] Ghostie@lemmy.zip 11 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Me too or supply rises to met demand with new companies, which can also lower the price. But I mostly want AI to fail.

[–] wuffah@lemmy.world 112 points 17 hours ago (5 children)

The new entry-level PC will be a cloud-based thin client subsidized by collecting every bit of data it can about you directly on a Microslop server where you will have zero user choice.

[–] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 14 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I'm this close to just quitting society and becoming Amish or something. Technology is just getting worse and worse. Maybe I could be Amish but instead of being locked in the 1800s I just stay in like 2007 when technology was fun

[–] BigJohnnyHines@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 hours ago

Frutiger Amish

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 hours ago

Lmao, no.

They don’t want users using this, it would be a mess. M$ would need to provide consumer facing OS support if they ever tried it, which is something they’ve vehemently refused to do for decades. It would also lead to their OS being blamed as the problem when the internet is having issues. Not to mention the consumer market isn’t really where they get their revenue from when it comes to OS sales.

They want enterprise subscriptions. End of story. Enterprise subs mean there’s an enterprise IT team involved, to at least a bare minimum extent.

They aren’t likely to want end users on this pretty much ever. It’s virtually all downside for them.

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 hours ago

I will go back to MB of ram from a new company that wants to fill the gap at any cost and will not be surprised if that happens.

I ain't fuckin doin it

[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 60 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah, I think one of the reasons the AI bubble hasn't popped yet is because it's being weaponized to remove consumer hardware from the market entirely. These companies want as much processing done on the cloud as possible so that they can control, monitor and mine data from every user.

[–] CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

When you say cloud... I don't think people understand it is just a huge data centers. There are 288 in Canada, and ¼ of them are in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 17 points 15 hours ago

Don't forget the rentseeking.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

We can't even get reliable broadband across the full US yet (Hughesnet still somehow has customers), i don't see consumer-VDI being especially popular any time soon.

[–] pivot_root@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

They don't care. It's a cost-benefit analysis.

If 5% of users can't access a VDI because of poor internet connectivity but it means the remaining 95% create an extra 10% of annual profit, they will just tell that 5% to get fucked. Individuals don't matter to them; only aggregates do.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 13 points 15 hours ago

They don’t need to stream you a desktop

They just make all their UIs browser based, all the storage cloud based

The own everything, they rent it to you, and you can be cut off if you refuse to be exploited.

Capital’s wet fucking dream

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[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 67 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Along with anything else costing less than $500.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 minute ago

Well, if the USD loses it's reserve currency status, even $1000 or $2000 are perfectly possible in 2 years.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 2 points 2 hours ago

Damn that joke becomes less and less funny each year

[–] YoiksAndAway@piefed.zip 10 points 16 hours ago

Adjusting for inflation, a $10 banana in 2003 would cost about $17.50 today. Probably a lot worse if tariffs are factored in.

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Mac mini starts at $499 and has gone on sale for $479.

It’s not really for gaming, but for $500, neither is the Windows box. And the laptop is a lie, even with those bezels.

But let’s be real, you can get a decent PC for way less than $500! It won’t compete with the Mac, but it may yet be better for light gaming.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago

AMD based mini-pcs with something like 680M or 780M are around 500. But they are out of stock lately.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

Light gaming, like Pong, or Breakout. Time to rediscover the classics!

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 1 points 1 hour ago

Even a lot of modern indie titles will play on a low-spec PC.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 5 points 13 hours ago

For £500 you are doing a lot more than pong. I am kinda curious how far back you have to go at different price points to play the majority of games from that era. Pretty sure £500 is still doing a lot of games 10+ years old.

Retro gaming on a Pi comes in at £50 or so, depends on which one you get though as more RAM does cost more. Downside here is ARM might limit your options a bit for some things not quite so old but it probably would otherwise be powerful enough for. Box86 + wine exists but that looks too much like 2010 Linux gaming that I would rather leave in the past. Some open source games could be compiled on it too.

Pi Zero could run a few games too and that is like £15. But your choices are going to be very limited for anything beyond retro gaming. CDDA should compile and technically run, slowly. Got a pinephone which has similar specs and can do it but compiling takes about an hour and I found out the game had loading screens I wasn't even aware of before trying to run it on specs like that.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 16 hours ago

I was restricted to my MacBook Air when I was in hospital, and that has the same specs as a 500USD Mac mini (m4, 16GB RAM). It plays 3D stuff like Valheim at 60FPS! The only issue is the more limited library compared to my Linux and Windows machines.

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[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 17 hours ago (11 children)

New low end laptops have always sucked. I hope more people become open to used and refurbished devices. A 3 year old used business machine kicks the shit out of a new similarly priced POS. New low end laptops are born e waste.

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[–] B0NK3RS@lazysoci.al 17 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Holding on to stuff longer isn't necessarily a bad thing as the pc market was in a very wasteful state before all this. Still sucks though they way things have become :(

[–] RollingZeppelin@piefed.ca 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

That's true, but I'm also dreading the day my ram breaks down or I need more storage.

[–] Dultas@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

I just had to get a replacement drive for my NAS. Cost about half of what I paid for 3 drives 2 years ago.

[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 10 points 16 hours ago

It’s probably all to plan, for controlling the masses. Subvert and destroy education. Control media.

Also. Remove unmonitored access to information (phones only, outside of work). Especially those Linux fuckers who build their own, can’t have that spreading.

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