tl;dr: I am trying to talk myself out of buying a Pro Display XDR, which is a 32″ computer monitor for professionals that I don’t technically need, but very much want.
Loving the tools you use makes it more likely that you will use the tools, and that makes it more likely you will finally write the novel you see in your head, or write the program you’ve been putting off developing. The tool itself does not make you more productive. Your desire to use the tool makes you more productive.
My father-in-law is not a carpenter, but he sure does love his saws and his drills, and so he finds excuses to make things out of wood.
Similarly, I am a designer, and I value high-accuracy monitors and televisions with colour gamuts and brightness curves that are close matches to reality (and the artistic intent of others). I currently use two Studio Displays. I would like to upgrade one of them to a Pro Display XDR. It’s bigger (32″ instead of 27″), brighter (real 1600 nit HDR instead of the 600 nit Studio Display), and much more colour accurate (10 bit instead of 8 bit). It is also eye-wateringly expensive, and made for people who make TV shows and movies. As an interface and graphic designer, I am not technically part of its market.
And yet, I want one anyway. Mostly because I think I’ll like staring at it even more than I like my Studio Displays.
Look, if you want to create something important — something that takes time and energy to do well, like a novel or a software application — you must love the process. A writer must love writing. A software developer must love programming.
And if you were to do that job full time, and immerse yourself in that process with no interruptions, you’ll quickly learn what Adam Mastroianni talks about when he writes about unpacking people’s jobs:
… people spend so much time doing their jobs. Hours! Every day! It’s 2pm on a Tuesday and you’re doing your job, and now it’s 3:47pm and you’re still doing it. There’s no amount of willpower that can carry you through a lifetime of Tuesday afternoons. Whatever you’re supposed to be doing in those hours, you’d better want to do it.
Of course, it’s never quite so simple. It’s easier to write if you are inherently a creative person who likes creating worlds and living in them; a good writer (particularly of fiction) is probably also a daydreamer. A great programmer is probably enthusiastic about the visual aesthetics of their work; they may not be a designer, but they would know the difference between an unusable garbage design and something intuitive. These skills — creative world building or a sense of visual taste — can be developed over time.
But first, a writer must want to write, and a programmer must want to program.
This is all true and extremely important. What we don’t talk about in the same fashion is that people who do those jobs for a living ought to like the sound their keyboards make.
Of course, the keyboard doesn’t matter, but it also does. That’s why people like Jon Gruber write with a 1990 Apple Extended Keyboard II, and have multiple spares ready to go for when their favourite discontinued keyboard bites the dust. It’s why George RR Martin still writes in DOS. It’s why so many designers on YouTube own a Pro Display XDR, which is not a screen they technically need, since they are not working in a film or television studio. (Remember my tl;dr. I also do not need this display.)
For Jon Gruber, any keyboard would work, but only one will do.
For me, any monitor will work, but only extremely nice ones with excellent colour accuracy and little to no eyestrain will do.
The tools don’t matter, but you have to like love the tools you use. Nobody wants to use a wooden shovel for snow removal if the shovel gives them splinters. If you’re using these tools all day, every day, you’re not looking for a tool that will magically make you more productive. You’re looking for a tool that makes you want to do the work.
Because it’s 3:47 on a Tuesday afternoon, or 10:30 on a Friday night, and you’re still working on that passion project.
Just a quick aside: I am aware that the Pro Display XDR uses outdated display tech, but show me another 32″ 6K monitor with support for real HDR and the same colour accuracy. It might be outdated, but only on a tech spec, and not in objective reality.
One more thought: writing this hasn’t assuaged me of my gear lust.