If you spend $35k and just idle the machine or just check e-mail you've burnt the money. If it's your work machine and you've got a $100/hr billable rate it's paid for in a little over a month. Three months at a $50/hr rate.

If you bought the $35k Mac Pro in 2023 when it was released and have a $50/hr rate it's been paid off for about 30 months. So as of today those owners probably aren't too broken hearted. They'll likely get at least another three years out of them.

People buying $35k Mac Pros probably paid them off after a single contract. So they've just been making money rather than costing money.

>If it's your work machine and you've got a $100/hr billable rate it's paid for in a little over a month.

Are you working 996 weeks or something?

At standard 40h work-week the math works out to 8.75 weeks to "pay for itself".