How worried should US people be about "tariffs"? Should I invest in upgrading my equipment ASAP?

I thrift for a fair number of things so, I'm not that affected. 86% of the things in my apartment are through thrifting. The only things I know I'm going to probably wrestle with at times is groceries and newer things I would actually need like some appliance or something breaks down. It depends.

I determined that it would be an issue and upgraded. I've needed to anyway

If you buy used stuff already, you won't run into tarriffed goods for a while after they are implemented. Not sure what thats worth though.

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.

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.

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.

When has he ever followed through on a promise?

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.

Basically plan to pinch pennies for at least the next four years.

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.

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.

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.

If you were thinking about upgrading anyway, I say do it right now. I personally just bought a new PC and projector/home theater because the ones I had were already old and on the way out. I also plan on buying a new washer/dryer set and brakes for my car, all before 1/20/25, but again, all those things needed replacing anyway.

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.

It's worth getting familiar with how tarrifs impact the economy in general. This is a good overview in my opinion.

I was in the same position as you, except in regards to buying replacement automobile. My current car will not last another 2 to 4 years, or however long it would take for automobile prices to come back down after a major spike. I am looking back over the COVID period and using that as a predictor of what could happen in the next two years.

AND it is is not pretty. Cars are already way too expensive as it is and adding another 10% to 20% puts buying a car outside of what I am willing to do. Could I make my car last longer? Not without putting a short block in it, which is a $6000 proposition and the car might be worth $7k if it was in mint condition, which it is not. Even if I did replace the engine, it would start having the myriad of "old car problems" over the next few years and just how expensive will parts be?

What are interest rates going to be?

So instead of waiting another 6 months, where I would have enough to pretty much pay cash, I went ahead and bought a car this past Wednesday, but with a lot more financing than I really wanted to do. But with good credit, I got a sub 6% rate, I'll just pay it off faster so I don't take a bath on the interest.

Now I have a car, 2019 Camry Hybrid, with 30,000 miles on it that I feel will easily last the next 4 years without much more than maintenance. I kept my old car, I have a teen driver that needs it, and will keep it till he goes to university next August. I'll keep an eye on the used car market and when I can sell it for a good price, I will. Then use that money to pay off my current car, saving that interest.

Or I might just sell everything, go buy a boat and explore the south Pacific the next 4 years... Who knows.

Hopefully the rest of the world will benefit from the lack of US buying

Used stuff always exists and good investments would probably beat the return on buying better stuff now

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.

I moved forward on a car purchase because modern cars contain lots of fancy electronics that could and probably will be impacted by tariffs.

I’m not saying you should buy a car that you weren’t otherwise planning to buy, but if you need something in the electronics area, moving it up a few months might not be a terrible idea.

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%.

I am not in the US, and I have no idea of how Trumps tariffs will work, but in general I would suggest that you look at what would get you the best bang for the buck now so you can power through the next four years.

Here is a bit of an unusual suggestion, if your computer fails and you are low on funds, look into getting a Raspberry pi 4, then you have a computer you can connect to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, so you can browse the internet and do some work at least.

In life it's generally safe assumption that the vast majority of things we worry about never happen or if they do it won't be as bad as we thought.