Chinese Laptops in Russia Cost 10% More and Are Back to 8 GB of RAM

Laptops imported into Russia from China have risen in price by about 10%. At the same time, they have gotten weaker: because of the memory shortage, many manufacturers are again shipping models with 8 GB of RAM. For 2026, that is very little. Buyers pay more and get less. The backdrop is a shrinking Western lineup. There are noticeably fewer laptops from Apple, HP, Dell and other brands in the country, and Chinese vendors are filling the vacated space on their own terms.

What we know

The data comes from CNews. The article does not disclose the measurement period, the sample of stores or the specific models. So the 10% is best read as a market benchmark, not an exact figure for every shelf. The direction is unambiguous, though: prices are going up and configurations are going down.

The word "again" matters here. 8 GB of RAM had already been disappearing from the mass-market segment, and now it is coming back. A manufacturer facing higher memory module costs cuts capacity to hold the starting price, or at least to keep it from rising even more. The final price tag still goes up.

Why memory became the bottleneck

The article gives the cause briefly: a memory shortage. The global context is well known. Memory chipmakers are shifting capacity toward server DRAM and HBM for AI accelerators, because data centers pay more for them than the consumer electronics market does. Laptop modules end up at the back of the queue. Russia is no exception, but the departure of Western suppliers adds to the global shortage. The market has fewer options, and Chinese brands have less need to compete for buyers.

The result is price pressure from two sides:

• Price: laptops from China are up about 10%.
• Memory: some models have returned to 8 GB of RAM.
• Supply: Apple, HP, Dell and other Western brands have a noticeably smaller presence.
• Not disclosed: the comparison period, model names and sample size.

The practical side matters too. 8 GB is enough for office tasks and a few browser tabs, but it runs out fast when a messenger, a video call and an IDE are open at the same time. Local AI tools struggle with that amount of memory. For Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft sets the bar at 16 GB.

What buyers should do

The first thing to check on the product page is the memory capacity and type. If the memory is soldered to the board, you cannot upgrade the machine later. If there is a SO-DIMM slot, you can buy the base version and add memory separately, keeping in mind that memory itself is getting more expensive right now.

For coding, neural networks, video editing and heavy spreadsheets, it is reasonable to treat 16 GB as the minimum. If your budget does not allow that, it is better to pick a model with a previous-generation processor and a decent amount of memory than a new platform with 8 GB.

Compare prices across several stores and do not go by brand alone: configurations can differ under the same series name. Check the warranty terms on imported batches. If your current laptop is coping, putting off a purchase until memory prices stabilize looks more rational than buying any model at an inflated price.