Seems more like double the average

$5k in two weeks is $130k a year, you make ~$104k a year with some currency conversion. They’re not incredibly far apart.

In a world where you pay no taxes sure, in the real world it's closer to $160k a year and almost certainly more for someone living in Europe. Even if your math was correct, 30k a year at that income level is massive, that's an extra $1000 per pay period, definitely a brow-raising sum the first time you see that boost.

I mentioned how many hours a low paid 1099 contractor in Atlanta would have to work to pay for this. If I were a 1099 contractor, this would be a business expense - therefore pretax.

But if my parents - a teacher and a factory worker could afford it in 1992, are you really saying that a developer couldn’t?

I live in Atlanta - almost as far from the west coast of the US that you can get and salaries are much lower than the west coast. They pay developers with 3-5 years of experience $65/hour on a 1099 (Corp to Corp) basis. Since this would be a tax deductible company expense, that would be less than two weeks working.

I mean I could technically afford it in the sense that I have enough money in the bank, but it's simply not justifiable. In 1992 hardware was expensive but the competition was fairly limited and Apple, even as recently as say 6-7 years ago with the iphone and macbook pro produced products were the premium was actually worth it.

But now? I can buy a 1.5k desktop machine, throw linux and windows on it and I am a perfectly happy camper (and very happer developer). I can buy a 400$ phone and I hardly notice any difference in quality. I don't see, in the context of alternatives, why apple is seemingly raising prices at will and that makes me feel duped, regardless of what I earn.

And if all you need is the power of a $1500 PC, you aren’t the target market for the Mac Pro. Apple has plenty other Macs that would meet your needs.

If you can’t “justify” the need for a Mac Pro - (and neither can I) you aren’t the target market.