I completely agree with all your points, but would add that we also didn't have the CAD tools to make big stuff, the 6502 was built by cutting litho to make tra

I completely agree with all your points, but would add that we also didn't have the CAD tools to make big stuff, the 6502 was built by cutting litho to make transistors (actually physically cutting different coloured transparent tape and sticking it to a transparent sheet), nowadays I could knock out all fully timed 6502 in a few days with the right tools. Building something the size of a Cray on paper was an amazing achievement