A 2880x1880 screen, with top of the line CPU with highest build quality at $2199 IS mind-blowing. Those screens don't come cheap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_T220/T221_LCD_monitors
So I'm having issues with the statement that technology continuously improves. In many areas that's just not true.
Stagnating for decades?
Two decades ago (1992), where was your high-resolution LCD monitor?
The link shows a high-res flat panel monitor that was announced for production at $18,000 about a decade ago. Technology improves, price comes down. Call it about a 20% year-over-year cost reduction for the decade.
It may be more accurate to say that technology mainstream technology improves in leaps and surges, rather than "continuously". Sometimes the same technology gets cheaper, sometimes new technology replaces older technology, but next year's is almost always better and/or cheaper than last year's.
That said, I am delighted that the improvement in laptop displays is shifting back to "better" instead of just "cheaper".
Not all areas of tech allow this kind of big jump. For instance, battery life, or spinning disk access times.
So the new display technology is notable in that regard.
It looks like the big difference in price is not the display, but the hard drive.