It's a compromise. You can still get a T480, which does all the things you list afaik. But I'm glad that I can also get an X1 Carbon, which is much thinner and lighter. These things aren't achievable without making some compromises. And for how integrated they are, they're still incredibly repairable. Here's the hardware maintenance manual for mine (X1 Carbon 5, last year's model): https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/x1_carbon_5th.... It includes instructions how to replace virtually every part in the machine. Broken screen? Fried mainboard? Broken TrackPoint? This is how you replace it.

The more annoying change (imho) is how hard it's become to replace the keyboard. That used to be really easy, remove a handful of screws, slide out the keyboard, and unplug the connector. Now it requires disassembling the entire machine, at least for the X series.

> It's a compromise.

The X200 weighed 1.34 kg, the X280 weighs 1.27 kg. What a massive weight reduction indeed. Totally worth ditching all upgrading possibilities.

Reminds me of Apple ditching the 3.5 mm jack with the pretence of making devices thinner and lighter, when neither happened.

X260 and X270 size wise was virtually the same and yet had 2 batteries, all the port, docking port and many more goodies. I am in the market for small yet versatile laptop that is easy to travel with and can be used even on a plane. 12 inch form factor of X series was always perfect for me. T series is simply to big.

I still use my t440p, and my dad still uses a t61 (!) as our respective daily drivers. I've upgraded the drive to an SSD, and slotted in some extra RAM for mine, since it's so easy to upgrade by design.

From a consumer point of view, they're great machines. But from the seller's point of view, I can see why they want them to be harder to repair. I probably won't be upgrading for another few years, why should I? The whole trend of planned obsolescence is becoming more and more obvious. I hate it, but it was the obvious outcome.

And presumably that unfortunate trend will continue. Unless enough of their big business customers protest loudly, and I don't know to what degree such customers still care about these things.