This is bullshit. Just get the Macbook Pro from 2016 with a decent i5 processor. The 5 in i5 is higher than the 3 in M3. Thus, the i5 is miles better. The i5 also has a beautiful i in the beginning, just like iPhone, iMac, iPod and Ireland. What does that silly M stand for? Microsoft? Additional benefit of the i5: You don’t have to heat your house anymore.

Yes, they can cut costs on the chip and the I/O hardware if I remember correctly. Anyways, these costs are minimal compared to the enormous overall prices of these machines. It just seems like a silly idea to cut costs in an area where even 500$ Windows laptops offer a good functionality.

They do it to „upsell“ you towards M3 Pro. There is no other reason why a powerful chip like M3 should not support 2, 3 or even 4 external displays.