Maybe take another look at frameworks, they are by far some of the best laptops out there for computer people imo. Other than that, steer clear of system76. I've only bought one laptop from them a few years ago, but the build quality was astoundingly bad and after a year of use the battery couldn't last more than a couple hours.
They were still using rebranded Clevo laptops the last time I looked while their desktops are their own. There have been rumors they are working on their own laptops, but AFAIK nothing has materialized out of those.
So I'd say System76 is currently good for desktops. If you need a laptop them IMO frameworks are by far the best option right now. Modular laptops are great and makes problems like you've heard about super easy to remedy as you can just replace the parts easily yourself.
I’ll make it n=2. I was pretty disappointed by the build quality of my System 76 Galago. And it wasn’t very repair friendly either because parts are very difficult to get.
Make it three. I'm on the third battery for my darter pro: twice so far, the battery has swelled up and made the keyboard buckle. System76 support consists in selling me replacement batteries at a serious markup.
I've decided not to install the third battery, so I have more of a desktop now.
FWIW, the Ars reviewer installed COSMIC on a Framework and seemed to really enjoy it. They even sell a mini case that transforms their laptop into a desktop.
