I am really not sure how much of the general population would agree with you. Having a slim laptop that I can drop in my bag and not take up the world of space is great.
I have a laptop that is 25mm in height. It fits my bag perfectly. It could be 30mm and would still fit fine.
We are not talking about making laptops not fit into bags. We are talking about not making laptops 9mm thin when they would work better if they were 18mm thin.
Personally I agree. Maybe I'm a relatively big and strong person but weight has very little impact on me. Sure, if I am trying to one-hand it is nice, but that is a pretty rare scenario for me. If the laptop is in a desk or in a bag weight makes a very, very small difference. However every bit of saved volume is appreciated each time I put it into my backpack.
Although for me there are still bigger priorities than size such as I/O, battery, durability and upgradability. But I'll take extra weight over size any day.
I think it's relevant to take a step back and ask why exactly do people want a laptop to be made of things that can be upgraded or replaced (like the classic maxim "people don't really want to buy a drill, they want to buy a hole).
My assumption is that it comes down to two end goals.
Replaceable parts to me seem primarily just a one way to reduce long-term cost of the device, with the main alternatives being quality manufacturing so that stuff breaks less and lasts longer, or ability to easily and cheaply replace it if it breaks; and improvements in those areas can remove the need for parts to be replaceable.
And upgradeable parts rely on the notion that it might be efficient to not buy a part now, but buy it later when either it is cheaper or a substantially better version is available. IMHO this capacity was very useful some decades earlier, but not it's substantially less relevant because the technological change is different - we're not seeing RAM prices halve every few years, as it used to be in my youth, and if you get a substantially better technology, that often isn't going to be compatible even if you could physically replace the part, because the better component also requires a newer interconnect standard and a better other component, so moving on to next generation requires replacing most of the system anyway, and the practical benefit from a laptop being made of things you can upgrade is reduced to fixing mistakes in initial specification for storage - and that can also be fully met buy just buying the larger option now - like, being "upgradeable" adds significant complexity and cost overhead (just take a look at the modular, open smartphone projects) and instead of a modular device with 1 foobar of storage with a hope you might upgrade to 2 units later, IMHO it's strictly superior to have a comparable cost non-upgradeable device with 2 units storage right away.
And after all, any device can be upgraded by replacing it - all we're talking about is about cost efficiency, how much people are willing to pay up front to purchase an option that a future upgrade might be cheaper because you could keep some parts of the device.
I want the ability to fix my laptop that it can be upgraded is bonus but usually meaningless. Laptops suffer a ton of abuse. Yet are the biggest pains to actually fix anything because everything is either riveted or a jigsaw puzzle to get at. I can usually get a couple of extra years out of a device by just fixing the broken thing. On a laptop that is not nearly as easy.
> all we're talking about is about cost efficiency
I am not buying that argument much here. These are 1500+ dollar devices. On the sub 200 dollar range I get it. But on the higher end we are getting integrated stuff where if the track pad eats itself I have to figure out how to glue it back in if I can get the right part.
To me, the 2 most important replaceable parts are the battery and charging port. Both often barely last 5 years, and at this point modern CPUs will easily be fast enough for 10 years (Haswell is holding up pretty well still). Add in replaceable SSD (because it's a wear component and easy to make replaceable), and you probably double the amount of time before the laptop becomes trash.
The question I’d have is how much you’re willing to give up for being able to do that battery replacement without tools: it’ll cost something in shorter battery life, weight, and size and if it’s something you’re only doing once or twice a decade it is not unreasonable to enjoy mechanically simpler system every day for years and then stop by a shop to buy a replacement and have it installed (or do it at home if you like tinkering).
The angle I would take on this is general repairability: expand the “right to repair” laws, mandate part availability on a long-term, and require everyone to pay for old batteries and parts for recycling so they don’t end up in the general trash stream, even if that means something like baking in a $50 deposit to the price of a new laptop.
I'm fine with needing a Phillips/torx screwdriver and 20 minutes. the problems start when you have screws that are hidden under rubber feet (or that go into plastic so if you unscrew it, you instantly strip the hole), battery adhesive without pull tabs and ribbon cables designed to snap if you look at them wrong.
Some people are focused on a particular parameter out of explicit necessity or personal preference - has to be thin for [reason]. For the others it's a matter of how you frame the question.
Do you want a laptop that's super thin (implicitly not upgradable, expensive to repair)?
Do you want a laptop for which you can replace anything fast and cheap for upgrades or repairs (implicitly thicker)?
I'll bet you the same people might answer "yes" to both because they don't frame the brackets or consequences in their mind, only the immediate benefit. The laptop is thin when they make the choice and only expensive later on if it breaks. But I'd go so far as to say that if all cards were on the table during the decision making process more people would choose to add a few mm if it makes the devices cheaper to buy, to repair, and to upgrade.
1. Do you want a laptop you need to use dongles with?
2. Do you want your laptop where it's more comfortable to type?
3. Do you want your laptop to run cooler and more quiet?
"Better" is a very relative or personal term. What's important is to not forget the other side of the coin no matter what you ask. There's almost always a compromise, don't let your decision be guided by knowing only half of it.
If you can have thin and cool why not? But make sure you don't only consider the former and forget about the latter until you burn your lap.
Loss avoidance is a thing. Most people prefer the option to upgrade even if they never actually use it. They simply don’t value it particularly highly.
We are not talking about making laptops not fit into bags. We are talking about not making laptops 9mm thin when they would work better if they were 18mm thin.