Hi ThinkPad community, I just wanted to share this amazing amazing thing that brigthened my day. I hope this feel-good story also brightens your day too

I recently started a new job for a company that gives ThinkPads to all their employees. But since I started in Q4 last year I was given the “old” E14 gen4 model and the head of IT told me it was a shame I started before they got the new gen5 in stock so I had to stick with the old gen4 for at least 2 years before applying for a new laptop.

I told him it was alright, I really had no need for the newest hardware to do my job, but he told me that if they had some new spares by February he could put some strings and get me upgraded to a new one. I thanked him and told him not to worry about it.

Fast forward to this month and he let me know there were some brand new E14 gen5 in stock if I wanted to upgrade, I replied it wasn’t really necessary but he insisted I “really really” wanted it. I decided to agree with him and submited a ticket requesting the new laptop.

Next day I got the new gen5 laptop and signed the paperwork for the handover of the old gen4.

"Now, since this is old stock it will be sent for recycling, however, since you were the last user you have first priority on buying it from the company

wink wink

How much would that be?

Well, after depreciation, tax deductions and (some finance gibberish I don’t understand) … about €200

I sent the request to the finance department as fast as I could and yesterday I got the confirmation that the amount would be deducted from my next paycheck.

edit: here are the specs

Intel i7-1255U / Iris Xe / 40 Gb RAM / 500 Gb SSD

  • breadsmasher@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    11 months ago

    Is it a big company you work for?

    I asked for my laptop to be wiped, clean OS installed etc. They just swapped me for an upgraded, newer they had come in. My previous one, which wasn’t itself old, would go out to the next person who needed one.

    Its a very small company however

    • lenathaw@lemmy.mlOP
      3·
      11 months ago

      very big company, I was told they go through hundreds of laptops each quarter. Seems like keeping them in stock is more costly than selling them to the employees or sending them for recycling

      • tiramichu@lemm.ee
        4·
        11 months ago

        I had the opposite experience.

        When I worked for a smaller company I was able to buy multiple developer-spec macbooks for just a couple hundred apiece.

        Now I work for an enormous company and they absolutely will not let any employee keep old machines at all.

        I’m sad about that :(

        But happy for you ^^

  • gravitas_deficiencyEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    lol yeah I’ve gotten old work machines using this strategy before. If the hardware is solid, it can be a really great way to get a 1-2 generations old laptop for almost nothing.