Especially considering the M5 iPad pro has WiFi 7.

Sounds like maybe they didn't want to try and fit their new N1 chip this go around so they could re-use some components? MacBook still has the same broadcom chip. Or for a pro differentiating feature when the M5 Pro/Max comes out later. There's a rumored MBP re-design, so I'm guessing we'll see it then along with it having the N1 for WiFi 7.

It is in the new ipad pro as part of the new Apple chipset, so presumably coming to other machines later.

Good chance they'll introduce it with the upcoming M5 Pro/Max; the non-pro/max devices always tended to be a little lower spec all around.

homoconsomator needs bigger numbers even if he acknowledges smaller number is ok.

What do you do on wifi that requires more than 10gb per seconds... on a laptop, you'd fill up the base model ssd in under a minute of download

I run our office IT, and WiFi 7 is just better at managing congestion. We have a floor in a busy building and 5Ghz is chaos. 6E is fine, it's just strangely old for a company like Apple.

Are these custom boards or just mini pcie network cards you could swap out?

This is Apple: the last time they shipped a pcie/replaceable wifi card was thirteen years ago on the Mid-2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro.

Even pre-Apple Silicon, it's been a decade since users could upgrade MacBook's RAM or internal storage.