I went shopping for a laptop a couple of weeks back. Ended up getting the Microsoft Surface Book - not the manufacturer I expected walking in, but the specs are really good, even just ignoring the tablet aspect:
1. 3000x2000 display, touchscreen
2. 512GB SSD
3. 16GB RAM
4. Incredibly light and thin
5. 10 hour battery life
6. No crapware
Of course you'll pay for all that, but it shows there's definitely improvement happening at the high end - other manufacturers are getting there too, though they've got a way to catch up with MS (the HP Envy and the high-end Lenovos were both a lot nicer than anything I saw 3 years ago). Maybe the improvement isn't trickling down as much as it should, but there's room for it to - honestly I think you're forgetting how much more we used to pay for laptops. Time was when $1000 was a basic model. It's just that these days shops push the budget end a lot more, probably because that's what customers want.
1. 3000x2000 display, touchscreen
2. 512GB SSD
3. 16GB RAM
4. Incredibly light and thin
5. 10 hour battery life
6. No crapware
Of course you'll pay for all that, but it shows there's definitely improvement happening at the high end - other manufacturers are getting there too, though they've got a way to catch up with MS (the HP Envy and the high-end Lenovos were both a lot nicer than anything I saw 3 years ago). Maybe the improvement isn't trickling down as much as it should, but there's room for it to - honestly I think you're forgetting how much more we used to pay for laptops. Time was when $1000 was a basic model. It's just that these days shops push the budget end a lot more, probably because that's what customers want.