Speaking of disdain for consumers, let's talk about the new XPS 13 7390 2-in-1.

It started off well, with so many steps forward: A 16:10 display, vapor chamber cooling, and 10nm Ice Lake CPU with optional IRIS graphics and integrated Thunderbolt 3 support. It was looking like my next ultrabook — and then, as PCWorld's Gordon Mah Ung put it, was the "record scratch". Not only are the RAM and Wi-Fi soldered-on (to be expected for a 9th Gen ultrabook these days), but the SSD is as well. In a world where HP is making tablets with a 9/10 repairability score on iFixit, the XPS team decided to ape the very worst aspect of Apple and solder on the SSD. Was it to make the device a little thinner? Probably a little. Was it so that they could charge customers more to up-sell SSD upgrades with higher-end SKUs? You can bet the farm on it.

Of all the components in a computer, the SSD is probably the most crucial to be able to swap in and out. Need to upgrade? Easy. Want to migrate your data to a new laptop? Piece of cake. Have an unexpected hardware failure and need access to your data? No sweat. That's how it mostly is and it's how it should be. It's a detestably anti-consumer move to commodify the ultrabook pioneered by Apple and now being mimicked by companies who don't understand what makes customers willing to buy the unrepairable hardware nightmares that modern MacBooks have become: the software ecosystem and support. I have not and I never will recommend to anyone a laptop that cannot be opened and repaired for even the most basic of components. Not the Surface Book, not a MacBook, and not the new XPS 13 7390.