I'm waiting for something with beefier internals, or an AMD variant, or both. That being said, they'd have to redesign the power delivery system and thermals, so maybe it would no longer be as modular? Anyone with the knowledge care to weigh in?
* very few people can solder a cpu and I've never heard of a heatsink needing replacement
That being said, that's a bummer. Would be nice to get a higher end compute option or one with a dGPU.
It definitely happens. Usually as a direct result of someone just not taking care of their machine at all, but it still happens.
Source: work at independent repair shop.