You didnt. And some others as well. But plenty, especially professionals, still do. Not to mention that nearly all laptops except Apple & Microsofts (which are in minority) are upgradeable to some degree.
Plus I think we got to a point where those upgrades are not totally necessary unless you work with cutting edge software, my MacBook Pro from 2013 still works perfectly, and my windows HP from 2014 too... I'm a developer and those two laptops work almost like the first day I bought them without any upgrade, some years ago even Microsoft Office's newest version would slow computers...
I have a Thinkpad from 2011 so i know what you mean. However i would argue 2013 and 2014 are not old enough to worry yet. Most better laptops already were > Sandy Bridge and had 8 or 16GB of RAM. Most also already equipped with a SSD.
If you look at my 2011 Thinkpad however, it was shipped with 4GB of RAM and a 512 GB analog disc. Spending only like $200 extra it turned into a 512GB SSD + 16GB RAM + new battery beast which outperformed my 2014 MBP for nearly all of my development tasks.
So i guess it depends on how you look at products. I tend to buy things i know i wont have to replace anytime soon.
I have a thinkpad (x1 carbon) and it's definitely not upgradeable :-)
The people who will buy a phone dock are probably also the same people that value ultra-lightweight devices, so I don't think you're in the same bracket as them
Good point, the reason i am not on a X1 yet (even thought its so fucking sexy) is that i depend on good battery life and can not buy something without replaceable battery. However this already disqualifies me as general consument i guess.
My five year love affair with MacBook Pros ended after the second time in two weeks I spilled liquid on one. I went out and dropped $2k on a desktop and a desk to put it on. I'm sorely tempted to switch to a Mac Mini for my work machine.
Written from my Thinkpad :)