Most device budgets start with the same formula: expected headcount times the price of a laptop, plus a contingency that feels responsible. It produces a number fast, and it misses by a fairly predictable amount every year.
For 2027 the miss will be larger than usual. The laptop price in last year's spreadsheet is out of date, and the costs that never made it onto the sheet, such as return shipping and the devices that don't come back, are still missing.
Companies should budget 2027 hardware at current quotes, since analysts expect PC prices, Macs included, to stay elevated through 2027. Add the costs that rarely make the plan: provisioning, shipping in both directions, storage, replacement of unrecovered devices, and disposition. Then budget recovery and redeployment explicitly, as purchases you avoid by reissuing devices you already own.
In February 2026, Gartner forecast that average PC prices would rise 17% compared with 2025, driven by a memory shortage expected to push combined DRAM and SSD prices up roughly 130% by the end of 2026. According to IDC, that shortage is not expected to ease fundamentally before early 2028, and manufacturers are preparing further price increases for 2027.
After third-quarter shipments fell 20.1% year over year, IDC's Jitesh Ubrani said that "prices will remain elevated." Channels may run temporary promotions to clear inventory, but IDC does not expect a return to year-earlier prices.
Buyers are already adjusting. Gartner expects average PC lifespans for enterprise buyers to extend by about 15% by the end of 2026, as companies keep devices in service longer instead of paying the new prices.
If the hardware line is last year's unit cost multiplied by next year's headcount, it is already short. Build the unit price from current quotes for the configurations you actually buy and add an allowance for further increases.
At higher prices, every device you recover and reissue is worth more.
A returned laptop that passes inspection and gets wiped and reissued replaces a purchase at 2027 prices. Budget expected redeployments explicitly and subtract them from new purchases. That number depends on devices actually coming back, so a dependable remote offboarding and laptop recovery process belongs in the budget conversation as much as in IT's offboarding checklist.
Keeping devices longer is a sensible response to higher prices, but a blanket refresh freeze usually costs more than it saves. Machines with adequate specs can often run another year, especially after refurbishment. Machines that are failing or out of security support should still be replaced.
Procurement controls acquisition economics: unit prices and vendor terms. IT controls most of what happens after a device ships, including how long it stays in use, whether it comes back when someone leaves, and whether it gets reissued or sits on a shelf. A lower unit price doesn't guarantee a lower lifecycle cost, and in a year like 2027 the second set of decisions can move the budget as much as the first.
We call the discipline of managing both sides together Endpoint Value Management: getting the most financial, operational, productivity, and security value from every endpoint across its lifecycle, from procurement through final disposition. For budget planning, the most useful measure it adds is procurement spend avoided: the number of new purchases replaced by redeployed devices, multiplied by the current unit price. It gives IT and Procurement one figure to plan around, and it grows when prices rise. It also keeps the trade-offs visible: a deferred refresh saves on hardware, but a failing laptop costs the employee productive hours.
Before forecasting, establish what last year actually cost:
At 2027 replacement prices, the third figure is the one most likely to change the conversation with Finance.
Outbound shipping gets budgeted as part of onboarding. Return shipping often doesn't, though it can be the costlier leg, since packaging has to reach a home address before anything comes back.
If your recovery rate is below 100%, the shortfall is a recurring cost, and it grew along with device prices. Budget it as replacement hardware rather than absorbing it as a series of one-off surprises. Once it's on the sheet, someone will want to reduce it.
Spare stock and machines on legal hold take space, and that space costs money. So do returned devices waiting to be processed, including the ones that have waited long enough that nobody remembers whose they were. Intentional storage, such as a legal hold or stock for planned hires, preserves value. A processing backlog ties up capital in devices that could be reissued.
Data sanitization and responsible recycling cost money per device. Disposition can also be net positive when residual value is recovered through resale or buy-back, so budget it as a line with two sides. Our IT asset disposition guide covers the options.
A company that grows from 200 to 250 people looks like 50 devices. In practice it's closer to:
Total device movements can easily reach double the net headcount change, so a budget built on the net number comes up short year after year.
It takes longer than multiplying headcount by price, and the result is much closer to what you'll actually spend.
Analysts don't expect them to. IDC does not expect the memory shortage behind 2026's price increases to ease fundamentally before early 2028, and says manufacturers are preparing further increases for 2027. Temporary promotions are possible, but IDC does not expect a return to earlier prices.
Delay selectively rather than across the board. Extending the life of healthy devices saves money, but running failing or unsupported machines adds support cost and security risk. Decide device by device, based on condition and the work the person does on it.
Every laptop recovered from a departing employee can be wiped and reissued instead of bought new. When new devices cost more, each recovered device avoids a larger purchase, and each unrecovered one is a larger loss.
Remota provides the operational infrastructure to manage the full device lifecycle. We recover, sanitize to NIST SP 800-88, repair, and redeploy laptops and workstation equipment for distributed teams, so more of next year's demand can be met with hardware you already own. Each customer has an assigned customer lead who knows their program and steps in when something needs attention. Talk to us while you're building the 2027 plan.
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