The Sulaco might not necessarily need holographic displays, but the interfaces are quite clearly retro (as are those of the Nostromo personnel files being splashed up on view behind Ripley at Gateway). The APC's command centre, however, would have clearly benefited from something along those lines... Just as the therapeutic room aboard Gateway station would: Why is it using giant flat projectors when it could simply envelope a patient in the illusion of being inside an actual peaceful location?
And, again, the device for monitoring dreams would have been
very useful. And if the scene between David 8 and Weyland really was meant to be inferred as allowing for two-way interaction
while dreaming, why is Ripley not being at least psychologically treated that way, instead of being fobbed off with sleeping medication?
Also, shouldn't at least
Burke have been interested in seeing what she was dreaming about? On the one hand, he's apparently representing her at the hearing, which means he'd at least be obligated to gather what evidence he can to defend her. On the other, we eventually find out he's corrupt enough to send colonists out to the derelict's co-ordinates, purely out of curiosity! So, he's got
double the reason to find out what Ripley's dreams are about; for gathering useful data, if nothing else.
Considering all of that, I know Ridley Scott clearly wasn't taking any of these ramifications into account, but it almost makes a mockery of the Jordans being sent out... Gather Ripley's dream data and bypass the whole curiosity thing completely: Send out a properly equipped Weyland-Yutani expedition (or at least detour something already out in that neck of the woods). He'd be able to make a case for doing so with that sort of information.
As for holographic displays, Hadley's Hope could have definitely benefited from one. They've got a giant table apparently dedicated to nothing
but mapping.
Slowly labouring through 2D blueprints seems an awfully inefficient way of doing so when you could just punch up a 3D map you can twist and turn around any way you please to. I mean, we could fan-wank an explanation along the lines of the 'holography station' having mysteriously malfunctioned, but it seems weird they didn't just have a back-up laying around instead of having this ominously huge machine just sitting in the middle of the room all the time for the purpose of 2D mapping presentation.
I also remember, back when '
Prometheus' was being released, pointing out that the Auriga's utter lack of any of this technology makes it even stranger (especially medical scans and interfaces). The Nostromo-is-old theory works, sure. You can apply that to the prison planet, too. But Gateway Station is busy and being near Earth would make it especially easy to keep updated, while Hudson's proudly banging on about how the Sulaco's stuff is "state of the bad-ass art" - all of which are long after the Nostromo's encounter. Then we see this super-secret military research ship, even further into the future and, well... Definite inconsistencies.
So, yes, there's an obvious case to be made about Nostomo and Fury comparisons. Not so much when you make them with the Sulaco, Gateway and Auriga.