When should a business replace its computers?
Replace business laptops and desktops on a four-year cycle: past that point the lost productivity, rising support hours and security exposure of an out-of-warranty machine cost more each year than the replacement would. 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.
What does slow hardware actually cost per employee?
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.
What is the hidden human cost of old machines?
The hidden cost is attrition and morale. People judge how seriously an employer takes their work partly by the tools they are given, and a machine that takes four minutes to boot is a daily reminder. 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.
Why is old hardware a security risk?
Old hardware is a security risk because it stops receiving firmware and operating system updates, and machines that cannot run a supported OS cannot be patched at all. 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.
Why is four years the right 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.
| Cost line | New machine (year 1 to 3) | Ageing machine (year 5 onward) |
|---|---|---|
| Lost time | Minimal | 20 to 40 minutes a day on boots, freezes and waits |
| Support hours | Rare | Several tickets a year, each one billable or in-house time |
| Warranty | Covered | Out of warranty; a failed board means replacement anyway |
| Security | Fully patchable | May not run a supported OS, so cannot be fully patched |
| Downtime risk | Low | Failure is unplanned, and always at the worst moment |
Should you lease or buy business computers?
Lease when predictable monthly operating cost and automatic refresh matter more than owning the asset; buy when you have the capital and intend to keep machines for their full useful life. 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 should you do with retired computers?
Have retired machines securely wiped with a certificate of destruction before they leave your control. Then donate or recycle them through an e-waste provider, because a discarded drive is a reportable POPIA breach waiting to happen. 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.