Spent the last 3 months getting requirements for computer upgrades. After that picked out some decent laptops. (Thinkpad L and T series)
Nothing fancy, but I'm just tired of diagnosing problems with previous sysadmin purchased Vostro laptops.
After getting quotes from multiple vendors, finally got everything and sent the CEO to confirm. Guess fucking what... It got fucking denied.
"Look for cheaper laptops and replace only whats critical"
Employees are rocking 7 year old laptops with 128G SSDs! The bloody things can't even run Win 11! The whole upgrade costs less than their single "teambuilding"! I hate this these cheapskates so fucking much...
Basically, make a "business argument" for the upgrades. CEO's are generally business bros with limited practical experience. They understand sales and people pleasing/kiss assing. So the right argument is usually how it will increase sales and make their employees more productive and happier.
Unfortunately with the current equipment being 7 years old, "anything is better than the shit we currently have". With win10 being put to pasture, your company needs to do a full replacement. So buy the cheaper ones that the CEO wants, then work on convincing him to buy the higher end ones when the cheap shit dies in the next 2-4 years.
Phrase it like "Due to the urgency of our upgrade needs and budgetary constraints, I understand why we need to buy lower quality equipment. This equipment has a life expectancy of 2-4 years. I recommend when these lower quality models need replacement we go with a higher quality model and a life expectancy of 5-7 years. This will in the long term reduce our expected cost by $xxxx/year.