It is also a nonsensical notion that by "professional" people mean
"hard to figure out" that is again exactly the opposite of what
professionals want out of hardware or software. They have less
patience for confusing interfaces and clumsy implementations than
anyone.
No, this is opposite of what I have heard for years on the LUG. I've heard plenty of the emagic elite making comments to the affect "If you complain about Logic being too complicated, obtuse, or difficult to use then you are forgetting this is a 'pro' application" - as if 'pro' is an excuse to not make it simple and straight forward.
I've had the impression for years, that some of the non-moderated elite have mastered the program and become accustomed to its quirks, and then can't see past those limitations. For example, I argued for "multiple undo's" about three times, and each time, the beta testers would argue that its not necessary even though every other modern program has that.
It would be like in the 1800's, if you say "Hey, I think the most expensive houses should have indoor plumbing and bathrooms" and these guys say "well, its not really any trouble to light a candle and walk a hundred paces in the middle of the night to the outhouse. Why should the house builder go to all that trouble just for the occasional convenience of someone?".
And I disagree with your whole premise that people somehow know they need the most expensive $3k mac to run the $1k program although there is no notifacation of that - and then they cheat the system by being penny-pinching and buy a cheap mac. Well, as we have seen on this list, there are no cheap macs. There are only apple macs and they are expensive. And if there is any message from apple, its the message that anyone can produce music, movies, photos, desktop publishing, etc from any mac - even an imac.
I don't think many people can afford to blow $2k-$3k a year on the newest mac - except very succesful pros. Anyone else would be wasting money if they can't get more use out of their premium computers. And what about all those software authorizations? In addition to being a hassle, I wonder if the various companies will tire of supplying new numbers continually.