Unlike carpentry, the quality of our tools (keyboard and monitor, specifically) don't affect the quality of our output.
I think in many cases, people hide the fact that they're not competent with high-cost professional tools, because laymen use it as a proxy for talent that they cannot evaluate.
I think that's also why many exceptional programmers just use a 5-year old laptop -- they don't need to compensate.
A day-trader having 12 monitors mounted on the wall doesn't make him profitable.
I still use my 11 year old Thinkpad together with my newer Thinkpad. I use both laptops alternately. My productivity does not increase when i use the newer one.
That's said my extra 20 inch monitor helps me to visualize.
I think in many cases, people hide the fact that they're not competent with high-cost professional tools, because laymen use it as a proxy for talent that they cannot evaluate.
I think that's also why many exceptional programmers just use a 5-year old laptop -- they don't need to compensate.
A day-trader having 12 monitors mounted on the wall doesn't make him profitable.