I have also been confounded by the situation.

It is even worse when you are on the secondary market. The company’s product pages are broken. Trying to compare across different release years is way harder.

I assumed the reason for this had to do with the production systems and supply chains. They can get a certain number of x parts at y price from a factory located in a given location. You get enough parts in proximity to each other and you make it a model.

Its one thing for a small company to have enough components to have only a few models but with the volume dell or HP moves, they would need to really invest in suppliers or actually make the components themselves.

I dont imagine the marketing people have come up with all the options, they’re just the ones who have to try to sell want they’re given.