It’s hard to believe how much the cost of hardware has changed the day-to-day dynamic of IT.

Most of us remember the COVID era hardware scramble. Laptops were backordered for weeks (sometimes months), docking stations were basically a myth, and anything “normal” to buy suddenly felt like a lottery. At the time, it made sense. The world hit pause, supply chains stalled, shipping got messy, and we all assumed it would eventually level out. And in many ways, it did.

But what we’re dealing with now feels different.

Today, the pressure isn’t just “supply chain problems.” It’s demand at a scale that reshapes the market — especially with how many data centers are being built (or planned) across the country. Hardware is being purchased before some of these facilities are even ready to power it on. That kind of demand changes everything downstream.

For anyone doing IT planning, especially for small and mid-sized businesses, it has made scoping projects harder — particularly server replacements and upgrades. A project that used to be straightforward now comes with a bigger question mark: Will the hardware be available when we need it, and will it still cost the same by the time we’re ready to order?

Two areas in particular have been hitting budgets harder than expected:

  • Memory (RAM): Pricing has climbed enough that it can noticeably change a build.
  • Storage (hard drives / SSDs): Also trending upward, especially for larger capacities and enterprise-grade options.

And when you’re trying to put together a clean, predictable scope for a client — one that includes quotes, timelines, and expectations — those swings create friction. Nobody likes reworking a project plan because pricing shifted between “approved” and “ordered.”

The takeaway: hardware planning now requires more flexibility than it used to. Quotes may need shorter approval windows, projects may need earlier purchasing, and clients may need to expect that infrastructure costs can shift faster than they did a few years ago.

IT hasn’t just gotten more complex because of software and security. Sometimes, it’s the simple stuff — like RAM and hard drives — that ends up changing the whole game.