I suspect the answer is in the org structure of these large companies. There are PM/s for the Spectre line of products, another for Pavilion, another for Zboo

I suspect the answer is in the org structure of these large companies. There are PM/s for the Spectre line of products, another for Pavilion, another for Zbook, Envy, Workstation etc. The PMs report to separate corporate silos with individual directors who have to show annual growth for their group otherwise 'no bonus for you'. So each group ends up segmenting their respective market in every way possible to try to maximize profit. That how you end up with every possible combination of (display x cpu x memory x SSD x GPU x form factor) at every possible price point to be sold this quarter. Not to mention old inventory that needs to clear out. The corporate website is run by yet another internal web group that collects product info from the various silos and outsources the actual web design in a waterfall software development model to an outsourcing company in India. Meanwhile the top VP just cannot cut through the process and complexity of what he is managing and limits himself to pounding his fist on the table when quarterly profits are in danger while plotting his next move up the corporate ladder by jumping ship at the right opportunity.