Those aren't insanely cheap computers - those are top-of-the-line machines - so you can't really design an application to require that kind of hardware to work

Those aren't insanely cheap computers - those are top-of-the-line machines - so you can't really design an application to require that kind of hardware to work effectively and expect the user response to be good. But you're right, that kind of computing power is cheap compared to what you can do with it. If the $1000 in lifetime cost that separates your system from a baseline enables you to be a few percent more productive, it will quickly pay for itself.