The M1 MBA and MBP replaced the entry-level Intel models that also had only two TB3 ports and up to 16GB of RAM, so no reduction there. However, the previous Intel models could support 2 external displays, so it is true that they lost that capability.
The M1 mini loses TB3 ports compared to the i3 it 'replaces' and loses a supported external display.
The M1 iMac loses between 2 and 4 USB3 ports compared to the 21.5" and loses a supported external display.
Overall, the M1 Macs have reduced/worse I/O. The machines that had minimal I/O initially are the least affected - but they are still affected.
I also wouldn't say that the capabilities were deliberately "gimped";
I'm not necessarily saying the changes were a deliberate design goal. But they were apparently an acceptable trade-off for Apple.
All I'm saying is, let's get back to what we had (or have, for those of us with Intel models still) before worrying about ridiculous core counts. This applies to more than I/O - the memory limit is quite low too - the i3 mini supported 4x what the m1 mini supports.
Again - I understand they're entry level machines. But so were the machines they replaced, and they're still worse-off in various ways.
So why are they finding it so difficult to implement display support? Even ancient QuickDraw Macs seemed to work well with multiple screens.
Again, I didn't say it was a difficulty for them. I'm talking about what is being shipped, vs what it replaced, not the reasons. It could be deliberate, to differentiate from future pro models. It could be about engineering priorities. It could be about the time requires to scale out various aspects of a SoC.
I don't care really what the reason is.
One company has got an 80 core ARM chip running already.
Great. Good for them. But do you
really think "80 cores" is the most important milestone apple should be aiming for next, when their current M1 has worse external display support than a i3 Intel from 3 years ago?