You completely missed the point of my original comment, I'll take a second stab at it:
1. Framework branded themselves as the company for DIY computer repairability and maintainability in the laptop space.
2. They've now released a desktop that is less repairable than their laptops, and much less repairable than most desktops you can buy today.
That's what I consider a curious move.
The hardware choice may provide a good reason to solder on the RAM, but I wasn't commenting on that and have no idea how anyone could read my comment and have that be their takeaway.
I was commenting on a brand throwing away the thing it's marketed itself for. In exchange for repairability, you now get shiny baubles like custom tiles for the case.
> brand throwing away the thing it's marketed itself for
I don't see what you see. It's a single product, not a realignment of their business model. They saw an opportunity and brought to market a product that will likely sell out, which tells us that customers are happy to make the trade-off of modularity and repairability for what the Strix Halo brings to the table. I think your interpretation of their mission is a bit uncharitable, maybe naive, and leaves the company little room to be a company.
I disagree, the framework name has been intertwined with repairability since the inception. That is their USP and has been their marketing angle from day 1, not only that but the fact they are supposedly championing repairability due to their 'ethos' as a company.
Fair enough that a company might bring out products which differ from their core market, but in this instance I have to agree that releasing a desktop PC with soldered on RAM very much goes against the place they have positioned themselves in the market.
Perhaps a better solution would be to start releasing a newly branded product line of not so repairable machines, but keeping the name 'Framwork' for their main offerings.