I am thinking to adopt a SOM standard like Qseven or COMExpress etc. in the (a bit more far) future. What do you think about that? SBCs are not really a good fit for laptops in my opinion because you have to adapt everything with individual cables that are meant for external use. And: are there any SBCs you would like to use except for the Raspberry Pi?
Qseven won't get you much in terms of performance, neither in available CPU/GPU nor in features (only 4 x1 PCIe lanes)... if you want actual beasts go for Comexpress Type 6 (or, if you're willing to deal with embedding a GPU yourself and need more PCIe lanes, Type 7) but be prepared the connectors aren't cheap, the standard isn't open (although there are some copies floating around on the 'net) and routing all the high frequency stuff is a pain that requires at least three if not four layers.
I understand that the Raspi form factor is not the most adequate for a laptop, but it is a very common form factor. Anything else doesn't even comes close to its popularity. So I think we have to adopt what we have. The only other possibility I can think of is the 96boards standard.
>SBCs are not really a good fit for laptops in my opinion because you have to adapt everything with individual cables that are meant for external use
The CrowPi2 seems to work well around that. Never seen one personally but it seems good enough for me.
>are there any SBCs you would like to use except for the Raspberry Pi?
Yes. I want to use a Rock-Pi-4. AFAIK it is the only ARM SBC that is 100% functional without any proprietary blob.
