There's also another way to interpret that. For me for example, I have the same PC for 5 years now, and before that I had the same one for 10 years. Basically, I run it till I really really can't. I can afford replacements more than once every 10 years, but I don't buy it simply cos it's not necessary. But in this situation if I had a similar fondness for valve, I might go ahead and buy it and cut short my not-for-affordability-reasons wait.

I know a lot of people that behave this way with phone purchases.

Ultimately every purchase you make is a vote in support of the company/org you are buying from. Why do you go to one grocery store vs another? One hairdresser vs another?

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the blog and/or comment, but if I don't need groceries, and can list 20+ reasons why I don't need groceries, I'm not going to get groceries anyway just because I like the grocery store very very much.