To ask my employer for a better laptop?

[7rhrhiu]

I started in a new job a few months ago, and since starting I've had issues with my computer crashing. It only happens with one particular application, but using that application is probably 95% of my job. It will crash multiple times a day, probably around 2 times an hour on average. I save as I go, but even losing less than 5 minutes of work here and there adds up.

I've mentioned it to my manager and he said it's a known issue, but I never had the issue in my old job which used the same application and would run perfectly, so I think it's not the software but the laptop not being powerful (?) enough. I've spoken to IT and they didn't really say much.

I'm getting so fed up of it freezing and crashing, it's impacting my productivity as when it crashes I have to reopen everything, and then trace back everything I've done to check what I've lost so I can redo it.

WIBU to ask if I can be given a better laptop that doesn't crash all the time?

Are you on probation still? If so, when you have the meeting to decide whether you will stay or not, can you make having a new laptop one of the conditions of you staying? Emphasise you love the job but are simply unable to proceed without a decent. Laptop.

It would then be a lot easier for them to rtt we place the laptop than readvertise for the position.

I have bad memories of crappy work laptops , mine was about 3rd hand and had a knackered battery meaning it had to be plugged in to use it . A lot of the places I worked had no or very limited sockets .

Can you use a colleagues laptop to see if the app has the same issues = app problem, if not then laptop problem .

Not unreasonable at all. The question is who would authorise you getting a better laptop - it's possible your line manager thinks it's IT who decide what laptop you get, and IT think it's up to your department. Ask "who do I need to ask in order to get a better laptop?" rather than just saying it's not working well, so that they have to respond - whether that's "me", somebody else, or "I haven't a clue". If the latter, ask both line manager and IT, and if neither knows, push them to find out.

I’ve had this. I ended up creating a spreadsheet and recorded every single time there was an issue and how much time was lost rebooting etc.

After a week or so I shared it with my line management who were appalled and kicked some arses in IT and got me a new laptop a couple of weeks later. Turns out I had a second hand laptop that was under-specced for the software we were supposed to run, despite IT denying it every time I called them.

Not unreasonable in the slightest.
It is your manager’s job to ensure you are properly equipped.
How you go about getting what you need when the manager is not supporting you, at the first sign of a problem, is a different matter, I like the end of probation request idea mentioned above and the documenting of the issue, showing how it adds up in lost productivity.

hmmmm, known issue sounds like it’s not the laptop but whatever it’s connecting to to run the software is the problem, so replacing the laptop may well not resolve anything. It also implies that others are reporting it too. Is that the case?