I know you would. The problem is, Apple wouldn't. The MBP is by design a computer that (among others) attempts to offer maximal performance while maintaining a particular battery life goal. If a spec results in lower battery life, Apple simply won't do it. And thats why I'm saying that MBP is not a computer for you and any time when it was, is simply because of a coincidental overlap of your needs with that was technically doable back then.
Well, certainly better than Dell would with their throttling base-level (non-configurable) CPU and 2x2 WiFi
Really? Show me one laptop with 32GB RAM that can last at least 7 hours in a third-party battery test. For your information, everyone who really cares about battery is using LPDDR3 these days. Or 15W CPUs. Or skips the HiDPI display. Or all of it.
Right. In another words "I don't care about the engineering part of the equation and how the things actually work, since I want something else". Thats the overall level of maturity expected from a Macrumors poster