Laptop lifecycle policy template: refresh by evidence, not a fixed age

How to use this template

The sections below are written as policy text. Copy them into your own document, replace anything in square brackets with your organization's values, and delete what does not apply. Each section opens with a line on why it is there.

Gartner, in a September 2026 research summary on recommended device lifespans, says rising costs, memory constraints and AI PC evolution are disrupting traditional device life cycle strategies, and it recommends multitiered policies. This template sets an expected life per device class as the point of review, and decides replacement from at least one more signal.

1. Purpose and scope

Scope decides which devices the rules bind. Name the device types and the ownership models, and say plainly what is out.

• Purpose. This policy sets how [Organization] decides whether a laptop or desktop is kept, moved to another user, replaced with a different class or replaced like for like.
• Scope. It covers every Windows laptop and desktop owned or leased by [Organization] and managed in [Intune or Configuration Manager], including shared and kiosk devices. Phones, tablets, servers and personally owned devices are out of scope.
• Principle. Age starts a review. Replacement is decided from the device's age against its class life together with at least one other signal from section 3.

2. Device classes and expected life

Classes are what make the policy multitiered. Assign each device to a class by its hardware and the applications its user runs, and set an expected life per class. The values below are our defaults; check them against your own repair records.

• Each managed device is assigned one class in [the asset register or an Intune device category] at purchase, and the class is checked again whenever the device changes hands.
• Expected life is the age at which the device is reviewed under section 3. Reaching it does not by itself make a device due for replacement.
• [IT] may change a class life once a year, with the change and the evidence for it recorded in the policy log.

3. Refresh triggers

This section decides outcomes. Age against class life opens the review, and replacement needs a second signal from the device itself, taken from Microsoft's Endpoint analytics and Advanced Analytics reports.

• Review trigger. A device is reviewed when its age, from purchase date or, where that is missing, enrollment date, reaches the expected life of its class.
• Replacement trigger. A reviewed device is replaced when at least one more signal agrees. Reliability counts when crashes, blue screens or unexpected restarts in the last 90 days reach [threshold]. Measured performance counts when startup time, or the share of usage time with CPU above 50 percent or RAM above 75 percent averaged over 14 days, reaches [threshold]. Windows 11 readiness counts when the device cannot take Windows 11.
• Repair first. A laptop whose battery holds less than 60 percent of its design capacity, or that boots from a hard disk, is assessed for a battery or solid-state drive before it is assessed for replacement.
• Early replacement. A device inside its class life may be replaced early when two or more signals agree, with the reason recorded.
• Past life with no signal. A device past its class life with no other signal stays in service and is reviewed again in [six] months.

4. Redeploy rule

A healthy device that is more machine than its user needs can fill a due seat elsewhere and avoid a purchase. Our redeploy guide covers how to build the pool.

• Before a replacement is ordered for a due seat, [IT] checks the redeploy pool for a healthy device of the class that seat needs, at the same site or within [region].
• A device enters the pool when it has no reliability or performance signal, can take Windows 11, and its current user has run no application that needs its class in the last 180 days.
• Pool devices are reimaged with [Autopilot or the standard task sequence] and get a battery, drive or memory refurbishment where section 3 calls for one.
• Savings from a redeploy are recorded once the move is complete and procurement confirms that the purchase order was never raised.

5. Right-size rule

Like-for-like replacement repeats the original purchase whether or not the user still needs it. This rule sets the replacement class from what the user runs today.

• When a device is replaced, the replacement class is set from the applications and GPU use recorded for its user in the last 180 days. The class of the outgoing device is the starting point for that check.
• A user whose evidence shows heavier work than the class supports, such as daily RAM spikes on a Knowledge Worker laptop, moves up a class at the next replacement.
• Users licensed for engineering or design applications with occasional heavy use are confirmed with their manager before any step down, because a 14-day performance average can miss work that runs twice a quarter.
• Copilot+ PCs and other AI PCs are assigned as a class on evidence that the role needs on-device AI. Microsoft Copilot itself has no device hardware requirement, as our Copilot+ PC guide explains.

6. Operating system and Windows 10 ESU rule

Windows 10 left support on 14 October 2025. Microsoft Learn prices commercial Extended Security Updates at $61 per device for year one, doubling each year for up to three years. ESU is cumulative, so a device enrolling during year two, 2026-10-14 to 2027-10-12, pays $183, and year three costs $244 more. Commercial coverage ends on 10 October 2028. On the Windows 11 side, Microsoft's lifecycle page for Enterprise and Education lists version 23H2 ending on 11 November 2026, 24H2 on 13 October 2027 and 25H2 on 11 October 2028.

• Every device in scope runs a Windows 11 version inside its servicing dates on Microsoft's lifecycle page, and [IT] moves devices off a version at least [90] days before its end date.
• Windows 10 devices that can take Windows 11 are upgraded in place. The operating system alone is never the reason to replace one.
• Devices that cannot take Windows 11 are replaced in the current quarter or enrolled in ESU until a planned replacement quarter, at the cumulative commercial rate, currently $183 per device for years one and two.
• ESU is bought per device and per year for the listed devices only, and keeping any device on ESU past [the end of year two] needs approval under section 7.
• Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 stay on Version 2608 with security updates only until 10 October 2028.

7. Exceptions and approvals

Exceptions are where a policy leaks budget. Keep the list short, and give each exception an approver and an end date.

• Requests to replace a device outside sections 3 to 6 go through [the service desk] with the business reason, approved by [the head of IT operations] for one device or by [finance] for ten or more.
• Accessibility needs, medical accommodations and legal holds take precedence over this policy and are approved by [HR or legal], with the device class set to fit the need.
• Every exception has an end date no more than [12] months out and appears in the quarterly review under section 9.
• Devices lost, stolen or damaged beyond repair are replaced at once, in the class the user's evidence supports.

8. Data and evidence used

Name the sources so an auditor can trace each decision back to a record. The table lists the sources we use, by platform.

• Evidence is taken from the management platform on the day of the review and kept with the decision for [three] years.
• User names and email addresses are left out of any export that leaves [IT], because a verdict needs only the device identifier.

9. Review cadence

Phasing matters more while prices rise. Gartner and IDC both forecast 2026 PC prices about 17 percent above 2025, and buying by quarter gives procurement room to negotiate the later orders.

• Quarterly: [IT] reviews every device that has reached its class life or carries a signal, and procurement receives the replace and right-size list by class for the next quarter.
• Twice a year: finance and IT compare replacements made against the plan, and record purchases deferred by keep and right-size decisions as identified savings until the budget confirms them.
• Once a year: the owners review class lives, signal thresholds and the exception list, and record each change with its reason.

10. Owners

Put a named person, by role, against each team below.

• IT, through the endpoint team, assigns classes, runs the quarterly review, keeps the evidence and carries out redeploys and replacements.
• Finance approves the refresh budget from the replace and right-size list and signs off identified savings.
• Procurement orders by class from the quarterly list and confirms which purchase orders were never raised because of a keep or redeploy decision.
• The service desk records reliability tickets against the device and takes exception requests.

Putting the policy to work

The first quarterly review takes the most work, because the evidence has never been pulled together. Our verdict model applies the same triggers with default weights, and the sample report shows what a review produces on a fictional 7,400-device fleet. The initial report runs the first review on your own fleet from an export, and the readout is a good place to agree the class lives and thresholds you write into sections 2 and 3.

Common questions