Basically title. I’m a digital artist in the USA and not rich by any stretch. In fact, somewhat in debt. (Aren’t we all.)
I also try really hard to not be a mindless consumer. I use old equipment as long as I can, repair, refurbish, etc…
All this talk of upcoming tariffs has me worried that, rather than being able to get a day-job at newly opened US manufacturing for electronics or something, I’ll instead be paying +60% more on like everything.
I know tech is a depreciating asset, but should I try to upgrade now to hold out for the next ~5 years or so?
I was considering hunting down a motherboard/cpu/RAM combo for instance.
Are worries about tariffs overblown? Trying to figure out how to prepare as best I can with my meager resources before everything just…keeps getting worse.
I am getting paid for my digital art, it’s not living money though. My spouse has a more stable income that enables me to keep trying.
Thanks in advance. <3
Regardless of whether or not the tariff increases happen, Black Friday sales are going on right now, and depending on what stores are near you (namely Micro Center), you could find some good deals. Just make sure you check price history on anything you’re looking at (if you’re able) to ensure it’s actually a deal.
This is the biggest one. I use Keepa for things, and I’ve heard other people suggest camelcamelcamel. Always check the pricing history first, don’t get sucked into the “Save money!” trap. You’re not saving anything if you wouldn’t have bought the item in the first place.
Unless Trump has a stroke it’s very likely that the cost of electronics will go up significantly. And with corporate price gouging, I would expect they’ll stay higher even if the tariffs are lifted.
It’s black Friday. Probably no time like the present to get things you think you’ll be buying in the next few years anyway.
I’d say that unless you absolutely need to upgrade, don’t do it and set it aside to save the money. Money is going to get very tight soon for a lot of essential goods, so having it ready is a good idea for prep. If you never need to dip into it and manage to save some, then it’s possible that you can upgrade later.
The tariffs will have to be paid by someone, and distributors will not take a hit on account of the idiot pumpkin, so it will be shifted to the end user.
Right now is a pretty good time to upgrade. Both Intel and AMD have shown their hands in the CPU market and I can personally attest to the performance of AMD’s X3D CPUs. Older models with the AM4 socket will become cheaper, and AM4 motherboards are plentiful.
Basically plan to pinch pennies for at least the next four years.
For as much as everyone is saying to buy now out of economic fear, I wouldn’t say they are wrong, but there are several steps that will have to happen first. Tarrifs must be congressional approved first. That means the bill must be presented, debated on, voted on, then signed. I would start to worry a little when we see the bill presented, but even then if he presents some insane ranting that everyone knows will kneecap the economy for the rich, then it won’t go through and I wouldn’t worry. But if he lets his economic hit men write it and it is airtight, targeted, and specifically- then I would be buying my computer parts before the effective date hits for the reasons people are saying.
Tarrifs must be congressional approved first.
Well it’s a good thing that Trump bootlickers control both houses of congress as well as the courts they might be challenged in.
Their majority in the House is historically slim: they can afford to lose only a single vote. Something that is this obviously terrible for the economy will have some trouble there.
Tarrifs must be congressional approved first. That means the bill must be presented, debated on, voted on, then signed.
Unless Congress has already given the president that authority.
In early 2018 President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This law states that the president can raise tariffs on imports that pose a threat to national security. Section 232 allows the President to implement these tariffs without the approval of Congress, following an investigation by the Department of Commerce. The Commerce Department has noted that threats to national security may include “fostering U.S. dependence on unreliable or unsafe imports” or “fundamentally threatening the ability of U.S. domestic industries to satisfy national security needs.”1
There are several reason why a President can impose tariffs without congressional approval. If he wants to do them, all he needs is a pretense, regardless how non-credible, and his own pen. Like the ‘immigration emergency’ that let him loot the military construction budget to build bits of border wall.
You’re assuming that the tariffs exist in a vacuum. They do not.
As soon as vendors feel they can blame Trump/tariffs/whatever and not lose income, they will raise prices. Their costs don’t need to actually go up - and if called out, they can say they’re just responding to the uncertainty or whatever.
Except they’ll jack prices anyway then if the tariffs don’t stick they will say it was a precautionary cushion against potential tariffs while collecting the profits.
That’s the biggest thing. More than anything they want us to keep buying, and they want to maximize profit. The guaranteed thing that will happen is they won’t do anything that will jeopardize profits. So I’m really curious how much was just politicking, because more than anything they want the public to be dumb with their pocketbooks open.
In addition to electronics going up, there’s also the looming End of Life for a lot of older computers because of Windows 10 going end of life/support, and windows 11 having some strict security hardware requirements.
This is going to impact businesses. They are going to gobble up the market. The threat of tariffs has already started some panic buying.
We’re going to see computer prices go up in 2025-2026.
And used compuers price go down, maybe.
Oh yeah there’s going to be a lot of used computers on the market. If you’re Linux-curious you’ll be able to find some good stuff soon.
I have too many already 😅
This is what I was hoping for, exactly! Some kinda nice used hardware trade.
…Except with how things usually work I’m worried that’ll just skyrocket the price/demand of used stuff…
Heh maybe this will push Microsoft to extend support. No one can afford new computers.
I bet they start a trail run of windows 12 subscriptions or something for low end/discount models, rebrand windows s mode. Or they’ll find another way to squeeze more ads into the desktop.
if you need an upgrade, or will within that five years, yea. now is the time to get a reasonable upgrade vs waiting for 5 years for some of the trump stench to fade.
It’s worth getting familiar with how tarrifs impact the economy in general. This is a good overview in my opinion.
I say upgrade. The tariffs he’s most likely to back off on are food and oil. High tech from Asia is last on the list.
If they actually get implemented? There’s a good chance your prices from anything that touches China will increase by most of the listed tariffs. Since it will disproportionately affect China, it’s possible some stuff will eventually pull manufacturing somewhere else, but that isn’t going to happen overnight. Moving manufacturing is not fast and no one else is equipped to just flip a switch and take over for them.
Your income will likely not increase 60%.
Used stuff always exists and good investments would probably beat the return on buying better stuff now
used stuff always exists
True, but if you are expecting scarcity it’s better to buy new now.
I don’t know where you’re from, but here the used car market still hasn’t recovered after the covid chip shortage made new cars impossible to buy. Used cars still cost nearly as much as new ones.
Where would your new purchases come from? If its Mexico or Canada (or probably China), expect prices to rise very soon and get purchases in before 1/20. If the items come from other countries, you probably can wait a bit but if you know you will need something you may want to buy it now, just in case.
Hopefully the rest of the world will benefit from the lack of US buying
In videocards, nV 3060 likely doubled the output nV 1060 had, and CPUs albeit slower rise in numbers too. New hardware can probably last you a good ten years or more if nothing like an entirely new demanding software happens, like if we’d start to train our AIs locally en masse. Years before the war I bought myself all new components and they are still good at digital art and video rendering, even though I know a bit more modern setup can do it 2-4x quicker. It’s just obligatory smoking breaks that I don’t really mind.
