Here is a thought - buy a better device to start with
6 year ago working in an MSP/out sourced IT support company, I made sure every laptop/desktop that we delivered had an i5 and 4GB ram minimum, we pushed our customers to get SSD if it was in budget. Talking to the guys still there, they are just putting in more RAM and upgrading SSD on most of those devices as they are still fast enough for the users needs. The policy there is still to get the customer to buy something that is higher spec than the minimum as £100 extra will save hours of waiting on the device effectively saving thousands on staff time and the device will last way longer. Buy cheep, buy twice is true of IT stuff just as it is of anything else.
There are some interesting side effects to this. Apparently staff who leave the customers talk about how much better the IT was where they were and this gets the support company more work. Also staff feel better looked after as they feel their employers have invested in them by buying good equipment.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
