Just laptops don't sit well with me.. tell how do they cram a high end video card.. in a cardboard thin device.. Most techs don't touch laptops.. I had a friend that worked on puters as a job.. I have been present when taking apart a laptop.. layer after layer.. zillions of screws.. I'm in the club of chucking the machine and starting over..
Generally speaking this is very true. My bad experience with Xotic aside, MSI is has made some big steps forward regarding those issues. I'm not completely sure about the Tobii/Dominator series, although the cases look very similar. The Titans only need four screws taken out of the top cover(from the bottom) which give pretty easy access to all 4 m.2's, optical bay, 2 ram cards, and 1 HDD. Those are all as easy as a desktop. The bottom cover has a few more though, I think another 6-8, I can't remember even though I've personally upgraded all the ram cards and a couple of the m.2's. That gives access to the remaining 2 ram cards, gpu's, cooling fans, mobo, battery. The mobo and battery are mostly still intended to be non-user serviceable. The gpu's are recommended to be a tech only as well but their not really that hard to deal with. There's some pretty good youtube videos for all of this. Everything else is as easy as a desktop. MSI also uses brushed steel on some of the covers.
I'm an IT person as well. I've been modding or building since the 16bit commodore/atari/apple days and mostly stayed away from modding laptops for the same reasons as you. They still have a ways to go as far as a DIY laptop that anyone who builds can work on, but they have come a long way from the disposable nature of most laptops. There's no doubt these are niche products. They're meant for those who can afford, and are going to be traveling a lot but want to enjoy some of the desktop experience on the road.