[ghusto]

I'm guessing the "many people [you] know" are category 2. Many people are in category 3, because most of the world is category 3.

[dmaa]

Of course everyone cares about looks. But the original poster says 'above other considerations'. For example I'd take an ugly noiseless laptop over a slick one with fans. Also, very often, looks go hand in hand with build quality.