[ttfkam]

Because the hardware is very rarely the most expensive part of a business, especially in tech. Software developers are paid 50-100x what a laptop costs per year. And if the employee leaves, the laptop goes to a new one. In the meantime, those 2yo laptops the devs had often get passed on to HR, sales, etc. It's not like they get tossed out with the trash.

If getting new hardware makes an employee happy and/or allows them to get a job done even slightly faster, it's basically free to the company, so why not?

A personal machine is a very different cost/benefit calculation to a work box.