Nice to see another company trying a modular repairable concept design with alternative parts. This appears to offer replaceable motherboard and replaceable ports and no dGPU, like Framework Laptop 13 but in size 16.
Some ideas might be refined, but maybe not if they are releasing this spring.
”Quick release bottom panel”:
- Quicker repairs & upgrades
- But also potential for quick memory/SSD theft in current price environment?
“Semi-modular”:
- one memory is soldered, one slot.
(soldered is less likely to be stolen?) - The alternative port selections shown appear to combine 2 or 3 ports into one part.
(do fewer motherboard connectors lower manufacturing costs? can manufacturers reduce or incease ports in response to competition and customer demand?)
“Upgradable”:
- Many laptops this year seem keep the same design with new components inside, so that is becoming less controversal. Schenker seems to be planning ahead of time that they will keep the same design next year, so they can offer motherboard upgrades with the next processor. New look is no longer required in new years to sell new CPUs.
- Replaceable ports allows the manufacturer to offer new port interfaces on the same body in future years, and existing customers to upgrade, as standards like USB, HDMI, etc., evolve. New ports no longer require new cases.
- A challenge in recent years has been the increasing wattage that must be dissipated by the cooling system. Intel has lowered wattage this year; maybe it is promising not to raise wattage in the next few generations. New CPUs no longer require new cases.
- No discrete GPUs are offered, so the complexity of alternative dGPU cooling system is avoided.