That frankly sucks man. I view my computer as an extension of myself and not something my employer dictates. I have put SSDs, memory and extra monitors in all employer supplied equipment (and removed them when I left). If that isn't possible, I just use my own laptop / machines. As a scientist, your condition probably won't change on its own, you will always be 4 years behind, which is on the painful end of the curve for using current generation software.

If you can't upgrade your machines, then yes, downgrade your software so it runs at a reasonable speed. There has been a trend, and this is an extreme example, of people using DOS software like wordperfect and turbo c++ in an emulator on modern hardware to get blazingly fast full keyboard navigated apps.