1. PC laptops may gain higher performance by using desktop CPUs or RAM. They pay for it in battery life. It works for you depending on whether you use your machine as a laptop or if you use it as a portable desktop.

2. You neglect other component improvements:

a. GPU performance has continued to climb. I got a 2016 MBP with the 460 GPU and it’s a much larger performance increase over prior GPUs than the Skylake represents over prior CPUs.

b. SSD performance is dramatically faster. In fact, it’s pretty much class-leading at this point.

c. I/O performance. Thunderbolt 3 is a solid improvement, and the USB-C form factor means Apple has finally been able to use mainstream connectors and you can do things like hook up to a 5K monitor and actually charge through that same connection.

d. Screen performance. The 2016 15″ has a larger color gamut — i.e. a wider range of colors are displayed — and it’s 50% brighter. In a sunny office, the brightness difference is amazing.

I’m also skeptical of the “slipping back 4.4%” claim. I’m seeing CPU speed performance improvements of 25% or more compared to my 2012 MBP. (Both machines with the build-to-order CPU and GPU upgrades.)

3. It is discouraging to still be limited to 16 GB of RAM, which was the max back in 2012. On the other hand, MacOS has adopted RAM compression since then which helps a lot. Still, if I could change one thing about the 2016 MBP, it would be to allow up to 64 GB of RAM. As you mention in the article, Intel simply hasn’t been delivering improvements in mobile chips lately, and the RAM limit is also due to that.

Last, this all leaves me wondering if Apple might not build the next MacBook with its own ARM chip, followed by the MacBook Pro in a couple of years. Apple’s been increasing its performance advantage in the phone space because of their ARM prowess, so it seems reasonable that they might stage a second CPU revolution and declare their independence from Intel, as they did with the PowerPC before.

http://www.designboom.com/technology/hartmut-esslingers-early-apple-computer-and-tablet-designs/

Small correction to an otherwise enjoyable tour down memory lane. The 130XE was 128 KB vs 128 MB.

I never would have bought this 6S when I upgraded from my 5 if I knew the SE was going to be released. It’s not about specs or cost. I just prefer the form factor.

I tend to buy outright and hold onto a phone for a few years (math appears to be hard for most people), we used to buy Apple products because they lasted. Hopefully there will be an update to the SE come 7s/8 timeframe when I am interested in upgrading again.