That sounds fantastic provided the keyboard is easy to replace, or easy enough for a local technician, no need to ship the whole laptop around the country (ow world) and have it formatted by useless OEM tech support.

The fact that they ship replacement parts at all puts them above most OEM's who don't believe you have the right to repair your own machine.

They should have never had to ship replacement keyboards at all. I had the same laptop, and the keyboard it shipped with was horribly unusable. For many keys you could only expect it to register a keypress around 80% of the time. This wasn't a case of fixing a damaged part, this was a case of shockingly bad design and QA followed by ignoring customers for months. OP had every right to be annoyed that they made him install his own keyboard. System76 absolutely should have paid to have its defective product fully repaired if that's what the customer desired.

System76 tech support here. One of our primary principles is empowerment and enablement. I strive to teach, support, and educate individuals on Linux and hardware maintenance. We tend to have individuals handle minor repairs, as shipping a whole laptop is time consuming and exposes the hardware to the additional possibility of shipping damage or other loss. At any point in time, we are more than happy to bring a computer in and do the repair work. Unless otherwise requested, keeping a computer with an individual tends to be the best, as it allows the computer to continue to be used until the replacement part arrives.

Using "empowerment and enablement" as an excuse for not doing the repair during warranty is not acceptable.

Why would I want to repair a computer in warranty if I could instead spend time with my friends?

If not in warranty, I of course would appreciate manuals' and spare parts' availability.

But those are two very different kind of situations.

As I indicated:

"At any point in time, we are more than happy to bring a computer in and do the repair work."

No one has to do the repair work if they don't want to!

That's good to know. What does your support look like? Do you send me a loaner? How long does it normally take you to do repairs?

Cut the marketing slang please