I am far from qualified to comment on this, but from a users point of view, is it possible to not have laptop specific code in the kernel?I don't think that forcing laptop users to have their own code outside the kernel is really the best approach for either the developers or the users. Most users will not have the expertise or time to develop patches, so teaching the kernel to handle special cases is likely to benefit more users and avoid reinventing the wheel.
I have had two Linux laptops and with both I had ACPI issues.
The vendors of both laptops (Toshiba Tecra S1 and now an Asus W3V) don't seem to be following standards. With both I seem to need to patch ACPI to get various functions of the laptop to work.
I would love to see laptop specific functionality definitions exist outside the kernel.