Why was technology so uniform in the 24th century?

[Nightdiamond]

People think that replicators are magic. They require both energy and raw materials to run. You don't get any more out of them than you put into them.

Nope, true, they're not magical devices, but certain episodes say they are more than capable of providing a person's personal needs for a lifetime.

In a number of episodes when a person was found or left on a planet, they were given a portable replicator, about the size of a backpack. It was stated that it would provide for all their basic needs pretty much for a lifetime.

Shouldn't one warp engine be enough to power a replicator for a thousand years? Trek's always been terrible at comprehending the sheer power it wields (like antimatter warheads on photon torpedoes, which should be unimaginably destructive, yet in practice cause less damage than current day weapons)

Exactly. There have been episodes where a ship or facility has been abandoned or adrift for decades or centuries, and the systems are still running like in Relics where they found Scotty, or Booby Trap.

Re; phonton torpedoes...I just noticed that..a lot of times they seem to just punch through a ship's hull or when they do explode, it seems quicker and less massive than what you'd expect from something like an antimatter explosion-even nuclear explosions seem to have much larger effects.