Of course not. It really boils down to this: some people like for their possessions to be beautiful, and others don't care. Neither group can see things from the viewpoint of the other, hence this ongoing pointless flamery.

It has nothing to do with impressing girls or anyone else. It's a personal preference. I'm particular; I like for my things to look a certain way. All of us have our own proclivities, so why don't we all just shut the hell up about this already? How does it harm Matt Maroon if I "spend too much" for an Apple product? Just tell yourself that I'm a moron and move on.

I knew a guy who was a graphic artist for a game company and they worked in a fantastically beautiful room, soft lighting, Star Wars movies playing in the background. Everything was made to inspire the artists to do better work. I wonder if Apple doesn't make the environment pretty do inspire programmers too.

Yes.

Elegance begets elegance. For me, it's a lot easier to write good code when my surroundings are to my liking. It's the same reason why I set the desktop as I like it, wear comfortable headphones, and keep my system well organized and "clean."

Given that I typically spend at least 10 hours a day on my computer and use it to make my living, I consider it worth a few extra hundred dollars amortized over the life of the machine to make my life that much more pleasant.

I've never understood why some people are so puzzled or, worse, offended by that idea.

Perhaps the aesthetics of the OS do.