I understand your point but I can't see a decade old laptop to be the right tool for the job unless you really don't use photos, videos, imag editing of any sort (adobe suite), office, etc. and your job is just on the terminal.
Of course there are (obsolete) alternatives to all these commercial "ecosystem" sofwares. I feel that some people don't upgrade (latops, phones) under the excuse that "it works for me, is the right tool for the job". Or worse: are simply afraid of learning new things and using new software.
I have a feeling that many reader feel like not updating the hardware is a sort of protest against big companies. It isn't as Apple is continuously selling more phones and laptops. My guess is that the younger audience wants to be updated, the older not so much.
This is entirely fine for a subset of people but not fine if you want to be competitive in the IT business.
If you do commercial work you need to be up to date and in line with your team and company demands. If time is important, a faster processor and software optimised for it, can save you many hours. This to me is worth fare more than the price of the hardware.
Of course there will be exceptions of coders being as efficient or more efficient with basic software and older hardware but why limit yourself?