Microsoft's new Surface Book may be getting a lot of positive buzz and reviews for its design, features, and functionality, but as far as reparability is concerned, it is another matter altogether.
Tech website iFixit recently posted its teardown report on the device, providing a revelation of its internal components. But the site also noted the difficulties encountered in tearing down these components, prompting them to give a score of 1/10 in reparability, the most difficult device to repair in their scorecard.
The teardown revealed a number of components fused in place with strong adhesive, notably the display base cover and the two batteries the device employs. This makes possible replacement of these components difficult to do.
Another difficulty encountered is that the motherboard on the Surface Book's tablet portion is oriented in an upside down direction, thus a number of components are located on the back of the motherboard such as the battery. This means that if that battery needs to be replaced, one must have to take out the motherboard as well, which is a frustrating exercise in itself.
A positive takeaway in this teardown though is that the Surface Pro's solid state drive (SSD) can be replaced, though this would also require a difficult opening procedure to do this.
"If anything goes wrong with the Surface Book, I'm not even sure how Microsoft could repair this thing," notes tech website ExtremeTech. "When you figure in the labor, it might be cheaper just to replace the entire device."
With the frustration raised in the report however, this issue with Microsoft's Surface Book is just part of a growing trend among consumer devices that are being made more powerful in a more compact size. A trend that has prompted design and engineering choices that makes hardware repair and troubleshooting more difficult to do.
Tech website Digital Trends has noted about this trend, "...as devices become slimmer, this is likely the direction repair-ability tests are headed,"
For now, consumers who would face issues with the Surface Book are advised that it may be more feasible to replace rather than repair the device.
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