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
EDIT: Thanks a ton for all the helpful replies! I’m glad I’m not being overly paranoid.
Some of you have asked for system specs so here they are for the curious:
System Specs:
- OS: OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
- Mobo: Z590 Aorus Elite AX
- CPU: i7-10700k @ 5.1 Ghz
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3090
- Mem: 32GB DDR4 (forget the speed…3000?)
I want to be clear: I don’t mean to sound too panicked and I’m more than happy to be content with what I have and see my blessings for what they are.
However, as I’m trying to break into being a 3D Blender artist and gamedev professionally, I’m trying to strategize whether standards will significantly increase and leave me behind in the next 5 years or so. (Game industry, not trying to do Hollywood VFX models on my home rig or anything lol)
I don’t game so much these days unfortunately. And if I do, like 5% of my library is particularly demanding. 😂
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.
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.
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.
Oh believe me I’m already there. I just made the jump to start gaming on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed after using it primarily for art and dev, and 99% of what I care about runs beautifully. While the world around us seems in constant chaos…
… we’re living in a great age of open source for those who seek it. :)
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.
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…
When I’m on the lookout I target 5 year old stuff, because companies usually upgrade after 5 years throwing away totally fine things IMO. The only new thing I bought in ages is a big SSD and a low power GPU.
One benefit of buying stuff companies throw out is that the early breakdowns has been weeded out and the stuff is kind of sure to work.
Heh maybe this will push Microsoft to extend support. No one can afford new computers.
Just bought “old shit” 7th gen and 8th gen intel PC’s, complete, for 350, with gtx1080 cards. These are still pretty good. My own pc is a 7th gen intel with a 1060 and it still does everything I want with ease. It never feels slow, except for, of course, the latest games. Which I can now run on the PC’s with the 1080. I wanted to bridge a gap and found these are actually very capable for anything I throw at it.
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.
