I know there's been a lot of advances in technology in the last half-century, but the laws of physics haven't changed much during that time either. Can anyone do a comparison for me on the key parameters: such as payload, reliability, efficiency, prep time, cost? I realize reusability of key components is a big plus, but I've never seen it broken down for me in a convincing fashion. Has anyone actually done the cost/benefit analysis accounting here?

Being able to use a major component over and over must certainly be advantageous, but designing something that will only be used once must be a lot simpler and cheaper than designing it so it can be used multiple times. And that doesn't even count the costs of refurbishing and testing the item for each re-use.

Remember, the major selling point for the space shuttle was its re-usability in multiple missions, but its eventual cost of refurbishing and recommissioning was one of the major reasons it was eventually abandoned.