IT hardware for companies: choosing, buying and retiring it

Buying hardware is not picking a model from a price list

The hardware itself can be ordered in fifteen minutes from any online shop and will often come out cheaper than through us. What turns expensive is everything around it: twenty different models in a company of forty, a laptop with no on-site warranty, a computer that waits a week after delivery to be set up, and a cupboard of old kit nobody will touch because there is data on it. That is what this page is about.

Equipment worth up to 10 000 PLN
expensed at once, no depreciation
One off depreciation in 2026
up to 213 000 PLN for small taxpayers
Handing over old equipment
waste transfer note in BDO before collection
Selection and quote
free, even without an order

The split with neighbouring pages is simple. Which model and what warranty belongs to the maker pages: Lenovo, Dell and HPE. Choosing a server and its life cycle sits with servers for companies. Here it is the purchase itself: what to go by, how to pay for it and what to do with the kit leaving the desk.

Three models instead of twenty

Whatever is cheapest this week is the most expensive purchasing policy a company can have. After two years every computer is different and every one needs handling on its own terms.

  1. One model per role

    Three variants usually cover it: an office station, a mobile machine for people out on the road and a powerful one for designers or developers. Buying for a particular person rather than a role ends with nobody knowing, a year later, what can be handed to whom.

  2. The same charger and dock

    A uniform fleet means the power supply from the meeting room fits every laptop and one spare machine rescues any desk. With twenty models the spares would have to come in twenty kinds, so nobody keeps any and a failure means several days lost.

  3. One system image

    On repeatable hardware, preparing a new station takes an hour rather than a day of hunting for drivers. A new hire sits down to a finished computer on day one instead of working a week on something borrowed.

Standardising does not mean replacing everything at once. We usually settle on three variants and reach them over two or three years, at the pace of natural replacements. The effect shows up first in employee tickets, because a whole category of cases beginning with the words it looks different on mine simply disappears. In construction there is also a register tying devices to a specific site, because hardware from a dismantled site office does not come back on its own.

Buy, lease or pay monthly

The choice is usually made by finance rather than by IT, but the technical consequences are real. Three routes and what actually counts in each.

  1. Buying outright

    Equipment with an initial value up to 10 000 PLN can go straight into costs in the month it is put to use, with no write-down schedule. The threshold counts net for a VAT payer and gross for a business exempt from VAT, so most office laptops fit inside it comfortably.

  2. Operating lease

    The equipment is not yours, so you do not depreciate it and the instalments plus the initial fee go into costs. Good for a larger one off purchase, worse for kit you may want to swap early, because the contract runs its course whether or not the laptop still suits the work.

  3. Hardware on a monthly fee

    The fee covers the device, its warranty and replacement after an agreed period, and the company never deals with selling the old one. It makes sense where headcount genuinely moves. With a stable team it usually works out dearer than buying, and we say so plainly.

We are not tax advisers and each of these figures is worth confirming with your own accountant, because the threshold applies to initial value rather than to the figure on the invoice, and works differently for a business exempt from VAT. Small taxpayers may also write off more expensive assets in one go under de minimis aid, up to 213 000 PLN a year in 2026. We write about IT costs more broadly under cost optimisation.

What happens to the old equipment

The question rarely comes up at the order and returns two years later as a cupboard full of laptops nobody will touch. Retirement has three stages and none can be skipped.

The data goes first

The disk is wiped for good or destroyed, and you receive a record listing the media, the date and the method. This is not paperwork for peace of mind: in a data protection inspection you have to show the deletion was irreversible, not merely that somebody formatted a drive.

Electronic waste has its own rules

Used equipment may not be put out with mixed waste. It has to go to an authorised collector, and the waste transfer note is issued electronically in the BDO system before the physical collection. Paper notes have not counted since 2021, and gaps in the records carry administrative penalties.

Some of it still has value

A three year old office laptop can usually be sold or passed on and recover a fraction of its price. The condition is the same as above: a clean disk and a document first, the money conversation second. In the other order the saving can be the most expensive in the companys history.

We also keep a simple register: what was bought, when and for how much, who holds it now and when the warranty ends. That way replacement is planned ahead rather than ordered in a panic after a failure, which always costs more. Tidying up a departing employees permissions is covered under IT security. We treat warehouse terminals separately in that register, because their replacement date is set not by wear but by the end of support for the system inside.

What we supply

We buy through Polish distribution, on an invoice with the makers warranty. Under each description is a link to the page that goes into detail on that group.

Computers and laptops

Office stations, mobile machines and stronger ones for design work. We choose by role and by how long the hardware has to serve, not by the lowest price in a given week.

Lenovo hardware

Servers and storage

Here what counts is not the hardware but the repair time under warranty, because a server standing still stops the whole company rather than one desk.

Servers for companies

Network equipment

Switches, access points and routers. The choice starts from a network plan and the number of devices rather than from a catalogue, because an access point added at random usually worsens coverage instead of improving it.

Company network

Licences bought with the hardware

A system supplied with a computer is cheaper but stays tied to that machine for good and will not move to the next one. Across a fleet replaced every few years that is a real difference.

Software licences

Backup appliances

File servers and NAS units for local copies, sized by the volume of data and by how many hours the company has to be back at work after a failure.

Synology

Keys and small safeguards

Hardware keys for signing in, privacy filters, cable locks. Cheap things, skipped at the order, and suddenly important once people work away from the office.

YubiKey security keys

What we do not do: we do not race marketplaces on the price of a single laptop and do not pretend we will beat a promotion in a large shop. Our part begins where on-site warranty, a uniform fleet, a station ready on day one and somebody answering the phone when the hardware dies actually matter. For one unit it is usually not worth it, at ten the difference becomes visible.

How a purchase runs

Four steps from the first conversation to hardware on the desk, retirement of the old kit included.

  1. Days 1-3, free

    What you have and what is needed

    We list the current hardware with its age and warranty end, then establish the roles in the company. It often turns out some machines only need an upgrade rather than replacing, and we say so even though we earn less that way.

  2. Within a week

    A quote in two versions

    You get a sensible proposal and a cheaper one, with the difference in warranty and expected working life spelled out. The purchase price and our margin are both visible, because with hardware a hidden commission spoils the conversation for years.

  3. Usually 1-3 weeks

    Preparation and delivery

    The hardware comes to us, gets its system, accounts and software, and reaches the client ready to work. Dates depend on distributor stock and we give them only after checking, never up front.

  4. At handover

    Register and retirement

    New hardware enters the register with its purchase date, holder and warranty end. The old kit we take away, wipe the disks and pass on with the full set of documents, so it does not sit in a cupboard for another two years.

Neighbouring subjects

The pages that come back when hardware purchases are discussed.

Questions about buying IT hardware

Will it not be dearer through you than in an online shop?

For a single laptop often yes, and there is no point hiding it. The difference appears on a larger order, because you gain a warranty repaired at your premises rather than shipped to a service centre, a ready station rather than a box, and one person answerable when the hardware lets you down. If you need one unit and have somebody to set it up, we will say plainly that it is not worth it.

What we supply

Which pays off better, buying or leasing?

Below 10 000 PLN usually buying, because the cost lands at once and you are not tied to a three year contract. Leasing starts to make sense with a bigger single outlay, replacing a whole office at once for instance, or buying a server. The final call belongs to your accountant, we only set out the technical consequences of each route.

Three ways to pay

How quickly will we get the hardware?

Popular office models usually within days, made to order configurations and servers longer, sometimes several weeks. We do not give a date before checking distributor stock, because a promise plucked from the air comes out in the wash anyway. If the hardware is needed yesterday, we say what can be had immediately and how it differs from the intended version.

Do you take the old hardware away?

Yes, and we treat it as part of the order rather than an extra. Disks go for permanent wiping or destruction with a record, and the equipment itself to an authorised electronic waste collector, with the transfer note issued in BDO before collection. Whatever can still be sold we value separately and the amount reduces your bill.

How we retire equipment

Do we have to buy everything from one maker?

No, though within one role it is worth it. Computers of one brand mean shared docks, one service portal and one stock of spares. Nothing prevents the laptops being one brand and the server another, because those are two separate service worlds and two separate warranty agreements.

Why a uniform fleet

Will the Windows licence move to a new computer?

A system bought together with a computer is tied to that machine and does not move to the next one when it is replaced. Licences bought separately, in the business edition, usually can be moved. At purchase the price difference is small, at a fleet refresh three years later it turns into a real sum.

Software licences

What about the warranty when hardware fails?

We raise the case with the maker and chase the repair date, so nobody at your end explains themselves down the phone in a foreign language. With on-site cover an engineer comes to you, with basic warranty you have to reckon with shipping. That is why we propose a higher level of support at purchase for the stations that matter most.

Support levels at the maker

Do you handle purchases without a standing contract?

Yes, we supply hardware to companies that hold no retainer with us. It runs more smoothly under ongoing support, because we know the environment, keep the register current and plan replacements rather than firefight them. The hardware review and the quote are free either way.

IT support on a retainer

Tell us about your infrastructure

The first meeting takes 30 minutes and commits you to nothing. We will tell you straight whether we can help and what we would propose.

Wielkopolska · Poznań · Kalisz · Konin · all of Poland