The 5-Year Itch
We regularly encounter businesses running 6 or 7-year-old laptops, proudly declaring they're "getting value" from their investment. "It still works," they say with the confidence of someone who hasn't calculated the actual cost of that decision.
Does it still work though? Let's look at what "working" actually means when hardware ages past its usefulness.
The Productivity Math
Old hardware is slow hardware. SSDs degrade over time. RAM that was generous in 2019 is constrained in 2026. Processors that handled 2019's software struggle with 2026's expectations. The result? Waiting.
If an employee waits an average of 5 minutes per day for booting, opening applications, switching between programs, or waiting for a frozen Excel sheet to respond:
- 5 minutes × 5 days = 25 minutes per week
- 25 minutes × 48 working weeks = 20 hours per year
That's half a work week lost annually to loading bars. Per employee. Now multiply by their hourly cost. An employee earning R40 per hour is costing you R800 per year just in waiting time. An employee earning R150 per hour (your senior staff, your managers) is costing you R3,000 per year.
A new laptop costs R15,000-R25,000 and lasts 4-5 years. The "free" old laptop is not free.
The Frustration Tax
Numbers aside, there's the human element. Staff working on slow, frustrating equipment get demotivated. They feel undervalued. "The company won't even give me a working computer" is not the message you want sending. This affects retention, job satisfaction, and the quality of work produced.
When a talented employee leaves for a competitor, the replacement cost is typically 50-200% of their annual salary. If inadequate equipment contributed to that decision, you've lost far more than you saved on a laptop.
The Security Nightmare
Old hardware often cannot run current software. Many 6-year-old PCs cannot run Windows 11 due to TPM 2.0 and processor requirements. Windows 10 reached end-of-life in October 2025. After that date, no more security updates.
Using a 7-year-old PC in 2026 is like leaving your front door open because the lock is rusty. Sure, the door closes, but it's not actually protecting anything. Any new vulnerability discovered will never be patched on that machine. It becomes a permanent security hole in your network.
Cyber insurance providers are increasingly asking about endpoint security as part of their underwriting. "Are all devices running supported operating systems?" If the answer is no, expect higher premiums or declined coverage.
The 4-Year Refresh Cycle
Industry best practice is a 4-year refresh cycle for laptops and desktops. This provides:
- Hardware still under extended warranty or reasonably reliable
- Current specifications that handle modern software
- Supported operating systems with security updates
- Resale value for outgoing equipment (yes, there is a market for 4-year-old business laptops)
Budget R5,000-R7,000 per user per year for hardware. This smooths out the expense instead of having a massive bill every 5 years when everything breaks simultaneously.
Leasing vs Buying
For businesses that can't afford large capital outlays, device leasing (through programs like Dell Financial Services or Microsoft Modern Workspace) spreads the cost monthly and typically includes automatic refresh at end of term.
You pay slightly more over the lifecycle, but you always have current hardware, never deal with disposal, and can expense rather than capitalise the cost. For growing businesses, this predictability is often worth the premium.
What About That Old Hardware?
Don't throw it away unwiped. Hard drives contain years of company data. Either have drives professionally erased (with certificates of destruction) or physically destroyed before recycling. A R50 data destruction certificate is cheap compared to a breach notification.
Many IT recyclers will collect old equipment for free, refurbish what's viable, and recycle what isn't. Ask your IT provider for recommendations. When you are ready to refresh, our hardware and software procurement service sources business-grade machines at partner pricing, with deployment and disposal handled for you.