iFixit tears down the Surface Pro, gives lowest score possible for repairability

By Mariella Moon February 13, 2013

ifixit_surface_pro — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Check out our full review of the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet.

Keep this in mind if you’re planning to buy Microsoft’s Surface Pro: if it ever breaks down, don’t open it up on your own unless you’re absolutely certain you know what you’re doing. iFixit, a website famous for dismantling electronics to show you their degree of repairability, recently had its way with the Surface Pro and gave the tablet-laptop hybrid a score of 1 out of 10. That’s the lowest possible iFixit score any device can get, which means trying to pry open a Surface Pro proves to be a hefty challenge.

iFixit had to remove over 90 screws to get the device open and then had to deal with a ton of adhesive that holds its components in place. The fused glass and LCD that make up the display were especially difficult to remove. “The display assembly of the Surface Pro is anchored down with the most adhesive we’ve ever seen on a small device,” a tweet on the iFixit Twitter account reads. Note that there are four wires surrounding the screen, and chances are you will damage them unless you’re very careful and do everything with perfect accuracy. Once the adhesive’s been taken care of, it’s easy to extract the device’s battery, as it’s not soldered to the motherboard. You could also remove the Surface Pro’s solid-state drive if you want, but the website warns that trying to open it might kill your device.

You can find a lot of “teardown” posts of popular electronics on the iFixit website, complete with details on how difficult or easy it is to remove each part of the device. Apple’s iPad with Retina display received a 2 out of 10 due to “gobs, gobs, and gobs of adhesive” holding everything in place. A high-profile product that’s on par with the Surface Pro in terms of repairability is the MacBook with Retina display that also got the lowest possible score due to its proprietary screws and SSD, its soldered RAM, and its fused display assembly.

Photo via iFixit

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Mariella loves working on both helpful and awe-inspiring science and technology stories. When she's not at her desk writing…

Computing

Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9 prices slashed at Best Buy

Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 15 front angled view showing display and keyboard deck.

For those who are looking for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals for the latest models of these Microsoft devices, Best Buy has them for you. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is down to $900, following a $100 discount on its original price of $1,000, while the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is also available at $900, for savings of $200 on its sticker price of $1,100. Rumors continue to swirl on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 and Microsoft Surface Pro 10 as they were unexpectedly absent at the 2023 Surface event, so the Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Pro 9 will remain as the go-to devices in these lines for now.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 -- $900, was $1,000

If you want to buy a Windows 11-powered machine from laptop deals, it would make sense to go with the brand behind the operating system. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is powered by the 12th-generation Intel Core i5 Evo processor, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and 8GB of RAM, which are more than enough for the usual tasks that you carry out for work or school, and it features a 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen with 2256 x 1504 resolution that strikes a nice balance between productivity and portability. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 will have ample space for your files with its 256GB SSD, and its battery can run for up to 18 hours on a single charge so you can keep using it while you're on the go.

Computing

Is the MacBook Pro 14 still better than the Surface Laptop Studio 2?

Someone typing on the Surface Laptop Studio 2's touchscreen.

Microsoft introduced the Surface Laptop Studio 2, an upgrade to the original pull-forward 2-in-1 laptop with more powerful components inside. It's a very nice laptop with some standout features, but it's going up against a very compelling crowd of 14-inch laptops.

One of the best is the Apple MacBook Pro 14, which is incredibly well-built, sports an outstanding Mini-LED display, and offers power and battery life to space. Can the most powerful Surface ever win this shootout?
Specs and configurations

Computing

Surface Laptop Go 3 vs. Surface Pro 7+: is it an upgrade?

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

The Surface Laptop Go 3 is Microsoft's new affordable Surface laptop, with upgraded hardware and long battery life making it a compelling option for budget laptop buyers in 2023. But for anyone considering an upgrade to a Surface device at around that $800 price, the Surface Pro 7+ still presents an attractive purchase, and it can flip into a tablet when you need it.

That brings to mind the age-old question, of whether newer is automatically better. In this case, it might not be. Let's take a look at the Surface Laptop Go 3 versus Surface Pro 7+, to find out.