A developer's primary tool is their intellect. Using an expensive Macbook or a particular programming language won't magically make a lousy developer into a good developer.

Note that all the hardware and software that were used to create the original internet or Unix or Emacs (dumb 80x24 CRT terminals hooked up to mainframes or mini-computers running low-level languages) were shitty tools by today's standards, yet amazing things were done with them by smart people.

Try doing modern development with those old tools.Let's see if you are as productive as you think.

It's insane to think that modern tooling doesn't affect results at all.

What? For about $200 bucks you can buy an refurbished or pre-owned decent i5 desktop system. More than enough for JavaScript webdev. Heck, I guess I could use Raspberry PI and Vim for that

I get exactly the same results on an old thinkpad as on the newest macbook.