If you sit at a desk all day, a good chair is absolutely worth the money. Desk workers are prone to get back problems from sitting all day long. Programmers more so, because we try to get "in the zone" -- and once we're there, we don't get up or move around much.

A high-end chair will probably last for ten years, so you're talking maybe $100 per year. Compare that to the cost of regular massage, or chiropractic, or back surgery, and it's clearly a good return-on-investment.

But the Aeron isn't the only good chair around. I learned this back in 2006 when I was planning on buying an Aeron too. I stopped by a brick-and-mortar HealthyBack store (http://www.healthyback.com) to try out the Aeron, but I tried out the competition too. I wound up buying a Nightingale CXO chair instead. It wasn't as trendy, but it fit my body frame a lot better than the ones people usually mention online. It's important to do this comparison shopping in person, because our bodies are each very different and you need a chair that feels right for you.