No one is saying if you're being too cheap, that's up to you to decide. What's utterly bizzare is trying to paint Apple's target market as people who overspend

No one is saying if you're being too cheap, that's up to you to decide. What's utterly bizzare is trying to paint Apple's target market as people who overspend when again, they make a $429 phone that will get upgrades for much longer than any phone more expensive or cheaper and it's still faster than competitors that cost double. The M1 Macbook Air is now going for $800 and it outperforms laptops that cost double that. - What's extra weird is that I have to tell someone who's into tools all of this. Do you only buy from Harbor Freight? After all, for all the memes Harbor Freight 100% has non-crap versions of their cheapest stuff that will take some pretty serious beating if you're willing to pay marginally more... But people still spring for Snap-On because they like how many teeth they get to work with, or even the knurling on something they'll hold all day. People spring for a Milwaukee to get a well balanced tool that's nice to handle in tight spaces. I shouldn't have to tell anyone into tools that there's more to an item than it's most pared down utilitarian essence... Also, I don't know which circles you run in that have underperformers being rewarded with fancy toys. Not really a thing around anywhere I've been. Carmack wrote Quake on a $9000 28" 1080p screen in 1995, so I don't think there's much going for linking "prefers a nice setup" to not being productive for the rest of us.