It's a tool most of us use for many thousands of hours a year. Buying a better one, even if it was only a bit easier to use, or a bit faster, makes a lot of sense.

Also, many developers (not all) make a lot of money. Even Sublime's steep 60 bucks, which when I discovered Sublime as a student was crazy to me, is reasonable when compared to our salaries.

I don't think anyone would be surprised if a woodworker said "Yeah my drill works fine but I'm going to spend 60 bucks on a slighly better one; I use it a lot and mine's ergonomics aren't great."