I wonder if there is some market pressure from players like System76?
For anyone coming along- I managed two Lenovo ThinkStation P7 series towers and these cases (the P5 series looks almost identical) are really great. Everything in the case is screw-less / tool-less. I can't remember how the M.2 drives mounted- they may have had a screw but it was a great case.
Speeaking of System 76: is Pop_OS easier to use than Mint? Does it support things like watching Netflix and DVDs without needing to look for packages and apps to install?
For Netflix and DVDs both are the same (seamless out-of-the-box). Pop!_OS has an advantage on NVidia drivers as you can select a download which includes them and enables them by default. Mint includes a driver manager which makes installation straightforward, but it's an additional step and nouveau is enabled by default.
I recently installed pop on my new build because the graphics card I was using caused crashes on nouveau (Mint) but worked flawlessly out of the box with the NVidia drivers on pop.
I've been using a Thinkpad (P52s) with Pop_OS! for about a year now, and was flawless to install (with Nvidia drivers). Pleasantly, bluetooth, speakers, mic all have worked right out of the box. I can paid it to Airpods and the mic just works.
Its been a step up from my recordings with (L)ubuntu and If say it's been on par with macOS.
For anyone coming along- I managed two Lenovo ThinkStation P7 series towers and these cases (the P5 series looks almost identical) are really great. Everything in the case is screw-less / tool-less. I can't remember how the M.2 drives mounted- they may have had a screw but it was a great case.