Should I swap the HDD for an SSD?

If you can get the SSD cheap enough, maybe - just make sure you remove it if you retire the system if it’s still reasonably new.

I’m the family sysadmin, and there’s 3 machines which will not run Win11, so I’m having them replaced ASAP- but not at the pace I'd like (2023-2024 target, 2022 dream window). 15-p263nr - going to erase the HD and scrap it when we do the major upgrades due to the awful CPU, HP gaming desktop (borderline due to the R5 2400G CPU, since it has a RX 580 and a TPM module. Yep… :/), Lenovo Y700-17ISK*. At this point, I’m considering them “maintenance mode” machines where I’m keeping them alive as well as I can, but no I’m not going to run out and do a major repair like a battery or HD upgrade. It doesn’t make sense to get rid of them yet, but on the other hand it needs to be done like it or not.
*Technically this HAS a 128GB boot SSD, but yeah I’m not letting it go again. This laptop was not my decision, as I was not consulted. I’ve made my position on this very, very, very clear just in case said person goes behind me again.

Tread carefully. If you can afford to burn the money (or can install an NVMe SSD), why not? It’ll make it run better for the final years before it has to be replaced, but on the other hand you can use that money to cover a whole system replacement, or at least a used 8th gen business class laptop being sold as surplus and then buy an NVMe SSD for similar money, and have Win11 support and NVMe support. Personally, I’d rather have the Win11 ready laptop even if you wait until next year.