If you’re planning to get a Surface Laptop or a new Surface Pro and hoping that you’ll be able to repair it yourself, you’ll be disappointed. The new clamshell laptop and tablet are the least repairable devices you can get.
While both are great devices with premium design and hardware, iFixit took them apart, and the teardown reveals they’re impossible to repair. The Surface Laptop received a repairability score of 0 out of 10, and the Surface Pro (2017) repairability score is 1 out of 10.
Surface Laptop teardown
In the case of the Surface Laptop, iFixit shows that the laptop doesn’t include any screws, and the only way to get inside is by peeling off the Alcantara fabric that covers the keyboard, which of course, you can’t put back together.
Once inside, the system internals is revealed, but there is nothing surprising other than all the components, such as the processor, memory, and storage that are soldered into the motherboard, and other components are also soldered or tapped in place.
Surface Pro teardown
During the Surface Pro (2017) teardown, iFixit shows taking apart this device is virtually identical to the Surface Pro 4, and getting inside is as easy as ungluing the screen.
After removing the display, the teardown shows that a lot of work has been included in this new version of the tablet. For example, the heatsink to keep components cooled is bigger, which makes sense now that Core m3 and Core i5 models are fanless, and the batteries are also bigger.
Similar to the laptop, the processor, memory, and storage are soldered into the motherboard, and there is a lot of adhesive to hold components in place.
While chances are that you’ll never need to get inside a Surface Laptop or Surface Pro, now you know that neither device is meant to be opened or repaired.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].