I think the difference here is that the first few comments are referring to PCs, i.e. "Personal Computers". Everybody has a story of wildly expensive equipment

I think the difference here is that the first few comments are referring to PCs, i.e. "Personal Computers". Everybody has a story of wildly expensive equipment that their employer purchased. Or worse, spending tens of millions on something like a data warehouse or ERP system and then limiting compensation for the individuals tasked with extracting value from those systems to $90-120,000. But now we're way off topic...