Welcome changes. I like these changes since I run at higher than 2560x1440 resolution (fractional scaling in between 1440p and 2160p), and it won't look as squashed together.
I have 1920*1080 screen and it still takes me a fair amount of tweaking to reduce clutter to something workable.
No thanks, I don't do laptops. Besides, there is no reason why everything needs to be optimized for the small screen - there should be options for varying sizes.