As a thought experiment, I think this is an interesting concept, especially as we look into the future of DIY/modular computers. without a microphone or webcam, you’d be able to slim down the bezels of the Framework Laptop, allowing for a bigger screen or a slightly shorter laptop body. Without the speakers or the touchpad, you could increase the battery, which is currently sandwiched between the speakers and under the touchpad.
As for your goals of “slim, elegant, and light” the problem you’d probably run into is component depth. the mainboard right now has to be a certain thickness, and unless you were to make it bigger in order to try to flatten it more, there aren’t many unessential components you can remove to flatten it more. same with the battery, its either lose capacity to thin it, or make it bigger.
It has been cool to see DIY builds that change the form factor of the Framework laptop though, such as the Framework Tablet, the 10" tablet lite, and DIYPerks recent triple screen laptop!