Not very is the quick answer. As is usual with new hardware, iFixit has run the rule over the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. If you are unfamiliar with the outlet, it dismantles products to see how easy they are to repair. Microsoft has made no denial that it is chasing a design ethos that matches and indeed betters Apple’s. Aesthetic is subjective, but the company is putting strong emphasis on products that look as good as they perform. It may be the case that pursuing pleasing designs can be to the detriment of fixability. According to iFixit, the Surface Laptop scores zero in terms of reparability.
It’s worth pointing out that the laptop is not designed to be opened and fixed. Microsoft prefers customers to send faulty products back through official channels. As laptops go, the Surface Laptop is also high concept. Microsoft was eager to point out its metal, cloth, and glass construction, resulting in what the company said was a unique aesthetic. To get to its innards, iFixit had to cut the Signature Alcantara keyboard, only to find the CPU and RAM soldered to the motherboard. This means the Surface Laptop is not repairable, or indeed upgradeable.
Surface Pro
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 has already been tested by iFixt it, with poor results. The new Surface Pro is merely a tweaked version of its predecessor, so the reparability has not improved. Indeed, the screen needs to be removed to access internal components. The display connections are complex enough to make this a tiresome task. Once past this hurdle, it is still virtually impossible to fix because more parts are custom built.
