Well, because you'd be potentially looking at it and using it for hours almost every day for years as a professional?

For me something I spend my time that much should look nice. That combined with the parts inside is perfection, which is the M1 MBP for me.

How much are you actually looking at a laptop's aesthetics versus looking at the information displayed on a screen though?

Does it really matter to you to have something pretty sitting on your desk while you work? That seems really weird to me. Personally I couldn't care less. Especially in the context of a professional work laptop which is a machine that goes onto the corner of my desk and I plug a bunch of other things into and basically ignore forever past that point.

Of course I care if I have something pretty on my desk. I care about aesthetics of everything around me that I interact with/see/experience on my daily life, especially if it's something literally designed for me to look at for hours every day, like a computer.

Listen to this person, they're a professional

This is like asking why should you care about a creaky chair? It works as a chair regardless and you don’t even see it when you are sitting on it. Who cares about sticky castors when you are at your desk for hours at a time?

This. I don't care about ripped or dirty clothes since their function is to warm me and I don't see them when I wear them anyways.