My buddy Larry's rig pretty close to the same height as mine, but he's shorter than I am. He carries a two step stool along with him to get onto the tailgate to get into his camper as well as reaching the latches when it's time to open or close them.
One thing to note, being a smaller guy than me Larry has been known to just open the door and stand on the rocker and reach up to the front latches. His camper does not have any latches on the leading edge as mine does. For the rear with the swing outs open he can stand on the tailgate and reach around to the rear latches.
You can see the step stool Larry brings along with him in this pic.
But the idea between hardside and popup really depends on the use. You can't get a hardside in some places due to the sheer size that a popup can go. But if you don't want to get into some of the crazy places I've taken mine that's ok. On the flip side, the aero advantage of the popup is pretty nice too.
Now the non-cabover campers are still available. Northstar makes them. Rayzr makes one. Capri is another and even Pheonix makes a pop-up non-cabover version too. Pheonix is who built Larry's camper.
I had a customer that brought in a Rayzr in the back of a 1500 Silverado. Looked really well built. It would be great solo. Two in that would be tough if somebody wanted to sleep in because the bed takes up a ton of space.