Which is a relatively new phenomenon when it comes to batteries. It's only been a handful of year since I could swap them out with a couple of latches.

Yes, they were also physically bulkier, weighed more, and substantially lower battery capacity. The last non-screwdriver replaceable MacBook Pro was 50% heavier, 50% thicker, and had a battery that was less than 50% the capacity. That difference in battery capacity matches almost exactly the user experienced battery life from the last screwdriver-free replaceable battery MacBook and the last intel laptop.

To be fair, batteries back then lasted a lot shorter than they do now. For my first MBP I had to buy multiple replacement batteries, for my newer ones I didn't have to do that a single time while using them much more.

Even today, replacing the batteries on a laptop from a competing manufacturer is a 10 minute job with an ordinary screwdriver. Many people can do it themselves, and if not, a computer/phone repair shop will do it for $10 (or free, if you buy the battery from them).

Example: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Dell+Latitude+7480++Battery+Rep...

Don't forget that they also had significant wear after only a few months. HP sucked so much money out of me with replacement batteries before I switched to an MBP in 2015. I haven't bought anything from HP since, and good riddance.