My comment was about my own use cases. As for students, I think repairability is even more important for them.
Sometimes laptops are stolen or destroyed completely like dropped into the sea, for that they need to backup data.
But I think these cases are rare. Displays, hinges, and motherboards fail way more often, IMO. It’s nice to be able to recover data by moving SSD from the broken laptop into a USB3 enclosure, these enclosures are sold for $20-40. Another good option is getting another laptop based on the same chipset, and simply replacing the disk. None of these options are available for laptops with soldered SSDs.
Sometimes laptops are stolen or destroyed completely like dropped into the sea, for that they need to backup data.
But I think these cases are rare. Displays, hinges, and motherboards fail way more often, IMO. It’s nice to be able to recover data by moving SSD from the broken laptop into a USB3 enclosure, these enclosures are sold for $20-40. Another good option is getting another laptop based on the same chipset, and simply replacing the disk. None of these options are available for laptops with soldered SSDs.