There is a learning curve that everyone goes through, and the first part is usually discovering the hard way that the people you thought were coffee obsessives were right.
That's true, but there's a but.
That is, (at least in my case) you realise that stuff does make a difference, and that a small amount of effort at establishing consistency has a pretty good repayment. What it is, you start off making coffee, and it's good. Only sometimes it's better than others, so you try to find out how to make it so it is consistently enjoyable. The PID that keeps the water temperature constant at the start made the single biggest improvement. While I can see that there is reason for greater obsessiveness, I've reached the point of diminishing returns so I don't see myself ever weighing each shot, or worrying about a dosing grinder, or even buying a better grinder until this one packs up. I judge the coffee I put in by eye and the same with the water, it is really good enough for me. Full confession: I have bought a crack dealer's weight scale for a fiver off eBay, which I used to establish visual representation of volumes, I don't use it on a regular basis.
As far as the portafilter is concerned, I'm not entirely convinced that a bigger holder would retain as much or more heat than the stock one fully up to temperature, but it isn't impossible. People appear to get more aerated over the portafilter basket than the holder, I might well change that if I can find the right size. But the absolute reason I got the bottomless one was that with a 2 spout and the cups I have the bastard machine drinks the coffee as well, if I'm not careful. I thought of a 1 spout but decided it would make tamping too difficult, can't see any drawback with the bottomless one. Another confession, I wipe the seal clean pretty much every shot (or, every other one) to make sure the pressure seal is good and consistent.