I mean, there’s a 16in mbp now that is almost identical.

Mine finally died so I'm going to have to get a new one, but I've always felt like the 16in have never been nearly what I wanted compared to the 17in. From the discrete GPU to the ports offered to the weight it is all just not quite what I want compared to the 17in.

You've always been able to get the 15" with discrete graphics. There was a brief period where the 17" could be configured with slightly more VRAM, but regardless of how much you spent, the GPUs in those computers still sucked.

The 16" was first released in 2019, and has always had both integrated and discrete GPUs. I do think the connectivity configuration is a little restrictive and one dimensional, but there's no way you could convince me to use a 17" 2011, what with it being limited to USB 2.0 and FW800 (no thunderbolt!). Thankfully this point is moot, because the 2021 16" MBP has really great connectivity.

I'm confused by your comment about weight -- you actually want a heavier computer? The 2021 16" is 30% lighter than the 17" and smaller in all three dimensions. The 2021 16" MBP GPU is light years ahead of even the previous generation 16", let alone the 17" from 2011.