Unless you're paying Apple for it :^). Hope you like 12x markup to go with your 1TB SSD :^)
I’m talking about the typical computer you’re going to find in a big box store or the default configuration on a website.
Yes you can add an SSD yourself for that price but the markup for configuring it at purchase is considerably more than $100. I’m not talking just Apple when it comes to this, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Microsoft, and just about everyone else do it too. RAM is even worse now that many (most?) laptops have it soldered in, so there is no DIY upgrade after you buy.
And the point about gaming setups is very relevant because you can get consumer hardware (aka cheap), instead of being forced into "workstation/server" which carries a huge markup.
You can get 128GB RAM and stupid amounts of ssd storage for cheap with consumer hardware.
The hardware hasn't stagnated at all. I think you're problem is simply with pre-built markups?
Also if you want a laptop, the markups for upgrading said memory and storage are actually pretty significant and may not be worthwhile. Upgrading laptops is quickly becoming difficult to impossible. Yes I know about Framework, but they are not ever going to be mainstream for a number of reasons.
From the cursory look to an e-shop, it seems to me that majority of notebooks have soldered-in memory, but also one SIDIMM slot for expansion. Just the very low-end ones (and Apple) have no SODIMM slot.
And 16 GB is definitely the most populous category of notebooks.
I think you can get a 2TB ssd for like a 100 bucks nowadays. They are dirt cheap.