Any time I get a new toy, I do try to keep it a shiny as possible for as long as I can, but yeah eventually the battle scars come through and then it's a different story.
Yup, roadie wrap those cables and maintain things well.
My laptop is nine years old and has done more travelling than most people and has been used at the beach, on boats and near a waterfall. It's needed new memory, the spinning drive replacing/upgrading to SSD and a new battery but I've never cared about cosmetic damage. It's also clean, because that's part of maintenance.
Hey treat your stuff however you want. But generally tools are meant to wear out from their intended use. Ususlly, the better you treat your tools the more use you get out of them.
I’m astounded by how shittily people treat their stuff. My tools are also pristine. Just because something is mechanical doesn’t mean it has to be dirty and shitty.
My Thinkpad has survived drops from the countertop, kids standing on it, and the USB-C charge port is wearing out from years of kids fighting over it. It's still running fine, though there's certainly some surface damage.
It's going on 8 years now and still running fine. Sucker refuses to die, and I refuse to replace it until it does.