This is my small company. We used to buy cheap computers (like even from Best Buy or Wal-Mart...the then CEO was super cheap), but then we (I) always had to deal with bloatware and just crappy computers that wouldn't last a year before I started getting complaints that they were slow or just acting up all the time. When he left, I started buying business-line computers directly from the OEMs. They're not necessarily cheap. The Dell and sometimes HP laptops we buy average about $1500. Even before the pandemic and inflation that was true.

On the other hand, I also support a handful of Apple users, mainly in the Marketing/Communications team, and all but one have M1 Macbook Airs. They cost like $800. And they're amazing. I bought a Mac Studio for our web designer/video & graphics editor and it only cost like $2000, I think. It too is a beast.

When I worked at a small MSP, some of the C-suites and biz owners I supported wanted powerful Windows laptops. Rarely for any work-related reason; they just wanted something better than the "peons." They sometimes paid around $2000 for them. And like you mentioned, they were often still shit.