It's a bit frustrating to do work for someone, that tries to pay as little as possible, and they have unrealistic expectations, because they don't really have a huge grasp on the technology.
This is one of the most difficult aspects of my work in IT. I've bounced between corporate jobs (publicly & privately-owned) & freelance and finding customers who have both the available budget to spend AND the willingness to use it can be pretty tricky. Many companies don't realize how much money they're losing by having people sit around on old, slow equipment all day. The standard argument is that the paychecks are already an allocated part of the business budget, whereas replacement equipment is not, but
the money all comes from the same pool, no matter how you divide it up, and paying people to sit around waiting for slow-booting & slow-running computers all day long will eventually eat into the bottom line.
A big part of my job is doing Powerpoint presentations to convince people to buy stuff they need. "Affording it" is a lame excuses for a business, because every minute that someone is on the clock is another dollar for a paycheck, electricity, lighting, computers, equipment, etc. I try to avoid cheapskates (and crazy customers) for exactly that reason. The best customers are the ones who have a budget & are willing to use it because they know it affects their bottom line & helps them stay competitive. I've had to fire customers in the past because the frustration level got to the point where it was just too high & it was like pulling teeth to get any work approved.
We can talk cash flow & capital expenses & whatnot all day long, but the bottom line is that nearly every company in today's modern world is affected and/or driven by computers, and the better your computer game is, the better your company is. I recently did a job for a client where they outfitted their new office with brand-new computers, setup on a five-year migration plan, with ergonomic everything - chairs, monitor mounts, keyboards, etc. They realized that their human assets was where their gold really lies & invested accordingly. Nothing insane, but you can get a 27" 1080p LED monitor for like $150 these days, along with a good keyboard & mouse, adjustable monitor mounts, and ergonomic chairs, and create a MUCH better working experience for the users than 90% of the companies out there, which in turn pays off because happy workers work harder, partially because their work environment is better, and I'd say mostly because they feel cared about & valued by their company.
Managing customer expectations is one of the biggest parts of my job as well. And sometimes you get customers exactly like you ran into...they're cheap, they don't really understand what they want, aren't willing to learn, and don't clearly see (or want to see) how it's affecting their business, and have unrealistic expectations as a result. You can do things like Option #1 (buy a new replacement laptop for $399) or Option #2 (upgrade their current model, along with an SSD, to make the upgrade worth it), or Option #3 (do the free Win10 upgrade with no hardware upgrades & suffer), and then they're shocked that the option they chose is terrible.
One of my mentors taught me an extremely valuable lesson, which is that I really only have just 2 jobs in the world of IT:
1. Make recommendations
2. Implement the desired option
This was really hard for me for many years because it drove me NUTS when people picked option #3 - the bare minimum - and then complained about it in shock when the rollout occurred. This is why I'm such a big fan of CYA communication now...I always keep an email paper trail with all stakeholders on it, with clear explanations, limited bullet points, and visual graphics to help aid the communication of the core ideas in whatever project I'm working on. The choices often boil down to just 4 routes:
1. Do nothing & continue as-is
2. Do it right & solve the problem
3. Do it cheap & solve the problem in a bare-minimum way
4. Do it in the worst way possible & then be surprised when things don't work great
It's absolutely incredible how many companies will go with option #4 above. Sometimes it's a budgeting issue & they have to go with option #1 & just put the project on pause for the time being. Sometimes the stars align & you get everything you want to do the job perfect & it comes out amazing & is delivered on-time & on-budget & everyone's happy. Sometimes they have to go with option #3 & just get out of a pinch & that's the situation based on the available resources. And sometimes you get stuck in the situation you've found yourself in, where they're not willing to invest in their own business & are upset with the results you gave them, when they knew, going in, that the results were going to be sub-par. Which is why I keep my CYA documents via email, with multiple people in the email chain, with clear explanations using easy visuals as much as possible.
It can be a pain sometimes. On the flip side, people pay me to play with computers, which is what I do for free at home anyway, so that kind of makes up for the hassles, lol.