So naturally OEMs are making laptops as extensible as Atari, Mac, Acorn and Amigas used to be.
Want to extend it? Plug an external device, for everything else buy a newer model.
This seems to be the future as classical desktops fade away replaced by cloud instances and NUCs.
Even with AM4 based CPU, I'm under the impression that recent CPUs cannot always use old mothercards.
Obviously I can't predict the future, but I feel like AMD will release a new socket within a generation or two, which fits within the "5/10 year" mark.
Also, 16GB sounds awfully low to me. Why has the laptop industry decided nobody needs more than that? It seems to be the limit for laptops with soldered memory, with few laptops coming with more than that. Anyway I voted with my wallet and bought a laptop that has a Ryzen CPU and upgradable memory and SSD, and a very manageable weight.
On the whole, I agree with you that at the very least the battery and RAM should be easily replaceable. I just happen to also think that the increase in weight/bulk is worthwhile tradeoff for the option for me to decide when I want to stop using the machine, not the manufacturer.