There are a lot of features on devices, computers especially that are meant for developers, the average software engineer looks at a laptop a lot differently than the average buyer. You get a rough idea of the purpose behind the purchase of a laptop when you hear a person talk about the specifications they want on the laptop.
There are those who purchase laptops to play games (for which gamer's laptops exist), there are those who just want something light and pretty that can be used to watch movies or do some mundane activities, there are those who need a laptop to have power to run some very demanding applications and instructions. You find that some laptops are built for a certain class of people, if you hand out said laptop to a person outside of the target audience you'll just be wasting the potential of the laptop in question.
Up until I started programming I thought the notepad app on windows was just something you scribble in when you don't want to use Microsoft office. Turns out the notepad a script editor for code that can be used to build websites and other utilities. It drives home the point that when the purpose of something is unknown abuse is inevitable.
When purchasing devices you have to approach them with an engineer's mindset, you're looking of power and reliability, depending on what you're doing you might need it to render high quality graphics. I don't believe one should cut cost on tools, they're worth their weight in gold.