Yes, not all requests are reasonable(you need a color-calibrated monitor that covers at least 99% of aRGB to write code, why?)
Funny that you mention that - the guy running the web side of the house recently talked the boss into MacBooks for all of the web staff, along with a bunch of extended gamut displays. We do no OS X or iOS development whatsoever, nothing that involves having to ensure what's on the display is the same as on the printed page, and everyone else (the vast majority of our staff) works exclusively with MS tools on MS infrastructure, and our IT guy has been fighting for years to get something better than the T1 back to the home office. I don't get it.
At least we're allowed to have as many displays as our desktops will allow.