$500 laptops are good enough until they have to call over a tech consultant (me) to work through some issues once every 3 months. At trip charge of $65 each, they aren't saving money with a $500 laptop - and then the battery gives out 2.5 years later.

This isn't theoretical, it happens all the time. I worked with a person who had a 10 year old MacBook Air - it still worked and held a charge! They got their money's worth.