If you're a programmer, do you like working with a nice computer or a bad one?
I usually actually like working with a somewhat mediocre one, I prefer my computer to have the power and specs of most of the people who will be using what I make, if it works good on mine maybe works good on theirs.
This also lets me treat computers as commodities, essentially disposable. I do not lavish a lot of care on them. Use them, keep them backed up, break them, throw them away.
But then I got this new M1, and I think it is so much better than all the other ones I normally use, including older Macs which I do not consider to have been better than any of the other computers I had. It's so good I want to go buy another one in case my wife is using it and I have to make do with another not as nice computer. To use the lesser computers is irritating to me. I feel less productive without it.
Does the feeling the tool gives you become more important than the task they are intended to perform? If that feeling is you do the task better with the tool than maybe yes.
I have a Thinkpad x220 and modern lenovo laptop. The latter has a metal frame, and is quite nicely built by modern standards; and of course it's far more powerful than the thinkpad, which is from 2011.
But I like the thinkpad way more. It's sturdier, the keyboard has real keys that stick up and not these horrible chiclet macbook-style keys that every single laptop has now, it has the thinkpad nipple, you can remove/replace the battery by flipping two latches, you can access/replace the hard drive/ssd, ram, wifi card etc. By undoing 6 screws or so, and I just prefer the old thinkpad aesthetic.
I never want to "upgrade" to the modern form factor; I think it's worse in every way. When I work on the modern laptop, and then take out my thinkpad for personal computing, I feel relief at how nice it is to type on the thinkpad! It's crazy.
It's very annoying to me that nobody's making laptops like that anymore. I use DWM and other lightweight tools, so the 2011 laptop is snappier than the 2022 one (programmers get worse at their jobs/adbicate any responsibility for performance faster than hardware gets better), but at some point it might be nice to have a faster processor.
"To use the lesser computers is irritating to me. I feel less productive without it."
It might not be just a feeling but real. Waiting for a window to open. Waiting for code to compile. Waiting for a process to finish. Vs not waiting.
I surely did notice the difference, when I aquired a gaming laptop, compared to my disposible laptops before. It was a huge boost for developing while away from the desktop (but now it is broken and I am thinking about getting an M1, too)
The thing is the M1 does actually compile code faster than a 2015 Macbook Pro. I use both, for things like word processing I find they both work equally well.
Notebooks are much less varied in the types of work you do with them. It's mostly pen or pencil to paper kind of work.
I usually actually like working with a somewhat mediocre one, I prefer my computer to have the power and specs of most of the people who will be using what I make, if it works good on mine maybe works good on theirs.
This also lets me treat computers as commodities, essentially disposable. I do not lavish a lot of care on them. Use them, keep them backed up, break them, throw them away.
But then I got this new M1, and I think it is so much better than all the other ones I normally use, including older Macs which I do not consider to have been better than any of the other computers I had. It's so good I want to go buy another one in case my wife is using it and I have to make do with another not as nice computer. To use the lesser computers is irritating to me. I feel less productive without it.
Does the feeling the tool gives you become more important than the task they are intended to perform? If that feeling is you do the task better with the tool than maybe yes.