The point is when one sweats the details, one concludes that making the backboard full-thickness varnished board is an exercise in ego, not focusing on the user. It makes the user's experience worse for no other reason than some arbitrary artist's definition of simplified aesthetic.

... definitely a lesson I think many software engineers should internalize.

>It makes the user's experience worse for no other reason than some arbitrary artist's definition of simplified aesthetic.

sure, no other reason than "less stability". You may or may not need the stability, but sacrificing it so that is 2% easier to carry into a house (which happens maybe, once per 2 years for an especially nomadic person) seems to be the exact kinds of corners management likes to take.

My classic Macs still have handles on their tops, and they were designed to be desktop machines.

A toast to the hardware manufacturer that considers the fact that tangible objects get moved.

That depends. What is the price of exceptionality?

In other words, which percentage of your lifetime earnings would you be willing to give up to not add a plywood backboard (or the software equivalent)? 10%? 50%?

well, in my field, the software equivalent of cutting corners these days are adding skinner box mechanics to a game. in a darker timeline, it would involve making cryptocurrency fronts masqurading as artistic expression.

I'd happily give up 50% to not encourage that. But I am also fortunate in that 50% of a very senior SWE is still a very liveable wage.