@Thor Lindberg well no, but also as a reply to the original comment your comment doesn't make a lot of sense as it kind of implies irony.. where there is none
@Frank the Ant Wtf has the T2 to do with authorized repair? You have seen any of Louis Rossmanns recent videos? Yes stuff is soldered in there like in many laptops with these form factors these days.. But opening up the laptop and getting out the individual components is quite easy on any Macbook. And just for the record, there is only one company that has once gone this far down the stupidity ladder to glue their expensive laptops together.. and that company is not Apple.
@Frank the Ant I just re-read your comment and Jesus there are so many factual things wrong there. Please do some research what the T2 actually does, it has jack shit to do with repairability. Just to give you one example why screws make sense even if almost any thing is on a single MLB: You can at least change your battery. And then again, check out Louis Rossmann for what is possible on Touchbar MBPs as non-authorized repair shop.. quite a lot of things. Your argument that not being able to open a laptop doesn't matter for these machines is just plain wrong.
Can’t wait for Apple to adapt this magnetic design and make a better version of it (I’m serious, Apple generally adapts what’s on the market and makes it better).
ifixit give microsoft a 5 now, up from zero, however removing the battery is all but impossible, making these no good within two to 4 years, except when plugged in.
but to most consumers, it's pointless, because most folks change a new laptop every 4-5years. The richer ones 2-3. Corporations have laptop replacement policies at 3 years. Unless the batteries quality is very bad, like the 1st gen surface book, then yes, battery replacement will be a chore. But if not, I don't see much problems with non replaceable batteries.
extremely important thing to note not mentioned in this teardown: after lifting off the keyboard, make sure you pop off the keyboard flex cable from the laptop's main body before doing anything else. This ribbon cable is easy to accidentally detach on the keyboard side, which is a pain to resocket and it is very fragile.
please microsoft stop charging $300 for 8gb ram and make it upgradeable, and $300 to go from 128GB to 256GB storage, this is just insane!. I must give you credit on the ssd upgradability and easier to open laptop, though.👍
@@poetic.voyage yea I saw that 256 GB is about $40 instead of $300 1 th is under $200 Its a shame apple and Microsoft don't just charge twice retail and give you a credit for the base amount they are taking away. And they get it way cheaper than wholesale. Instead they charge approximately 1500 % + more for that extra 128gb.
@@poetic.voyage I tried to find a 512gb replacement for the Surface Laptop but it is a proprietary SSD and could not find any. Where did you see them? Also, MS told me that only affiliated IT engineers can replace these.
@@andyH_England Microsoft is fibbing a bit because they want you to buy a more expensive model. ;) Here is a thread on Reddit where a guy upgraded with no trouble: www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/dn2yxl/update_the_m2_2230_ssd_inside_the_surface_laptop/ and here is a link to the HD on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/SSD-SDAPTUW-512-1012-512GB-M-2-2230-PC-SN520-NVMe-SSD-PCIe-NVMe-Gen3-x2/113900914522?hash=item1a8506075a:g:Wj4AAOSwFrtdijI0
Sadly, the super fast LPDDR4x isn't sold as sodimm :/ I'm kinda ok with it being solderd as long as they use LPDDR4x if it's a APU/SoC, since it's really fast and that's what we wan't for iGPU.
I'm not entirely adverse to replacing a display as a complete module, since the display, touch digitiser, and glass are all usually glued together so tight that you may risk damaging the digitiser or even display when you try to pry the glass off. I still appreciate when the related driver boards are modular, though.
All I can say is wow. This level of repairability combined with the 3:2 aspect ratio display... this might just be my next laptop. If the battery removal was easy, it would be a 100% purchase from me.
Awesome to see it's easy to pull apart nicely, good work Microsoft! I have a quick question, is the keyboard and top plate also held by the screws under the rubber feet? Or could you pull it off at any time and it's only the magnets holding it in place? Edit: I've since looked closer at the video and it looks like there are screw holes in the keyboard panel as well, so it's held by both screws and magnets
The problem I have is that the most important item is having a replaceable battery as it is only 48watt and after a couple of years battery life will be below what is needed and I would want the option to replace. Looks like that is not going to be possible in most markets. I buy the RAM and storage I need so they are not important. Seems like for many of us it could still be a 0 as it doesn't help consumers.
Scoring from 0 to 5 in matter of year is impressive. Good job Microsoft for listening to customer and tech community feedback. Hopefully you improve more repairability on your future products. That's a really a good direction your heading. Love it
so, if i wanted to replace one of the components in this, do the metal sheets need to be replaced, or can the laptop be put back together without the metl sheets?
SSD replacements are physically easy, but afaik this particular standard within m.2 (M.2 2230 M-Key) isn't easily found in store shelves, not sure if it's sold to the public at all actually
@@zombieswitapple It's an M.2 2230 M-Key SSD, it appears similar to a lot of small m.2 SSDs but it's not the right size and not commonly sold to consumers.
@@jm1835 All see are adaptors? One might work but someone would have to confirm they fit www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=M.2+2230+M-Key&_sacat=0
Somehow I don't think iFixit has a standardized way to measure repairability. Their scores seems overly thought and sometimes not at all relevant.. I really hope they work towards a more standardized set of rules and pointers
The problem is that not every issue and problem is exactly the same... so making a standardized set of rules just can't happen. Instead, they focus on how difficult it could be to repair or not repair.And while not perfect, it gives you an idea of how great it is and they do explain their reasons.
@@TheDeathmail Sure. I agree. But the problem is if the results are not consistent. The scores for something just goes down because you have to open a lot of screws or something which is not technically a repair bottleneck. My point is that one can standardize what can be considered an easy repairable device vs what is really hard. I ha e seen videos where everything is non-upgradable but the Devi e has a good repairability score. Whereas some devices which are pretty well made but had a less score.. I cannot digest that. I hope I was able to convey my point
Just to warn anyone who wants to get the SL3, since the keyboard is removable, the alcantra model has some keyboard flex in the middle and the keys feels mushier than the SL1 & 2. It's not a deal breaker but be aware that it's not the same as the older models. The SL3 metal doesn't seem to suffer the same keyboard flex though.
@@nateweber if you heat them first slightly and remove them with tweezers you can keep the glue on and put them back on after Be careful and patient otherwise you'll tear the glue
Mr.Bootcheekoh thank you for replying, the reason I need to get inside of my surface laptop 3 is because when I put a little force into the space bar and push it forward slightly it gets stuck down? I haven’t damaged it or anything so I’m not sure if it came like this?
It's really great to see how much easier this one is to open and repair! Any idea on availability for those really small M.2 SSDs? I feel that most are on a much longer board. Thanks guys!
The small size definitely is a bummer, but at least it seems to be standard M.2 (according to the video) and not some weird proprietary connector like Apple is using.
@@poetic.voyage But be aware that they are PCIe x2 instead of x4. So for professional use, it can have a perfomance impact but for most consumers it won't matter :)
Wow. - No mention of the type of compatible M.2 SSD's (Looks like it's an M.2 2220 or 2240 I think? Probably PCIE too, but will SATA work as well?) - No mention of the non-removable RAM (which IMO is worse than the battery stuff) I know this is i_Fix_it, but I think upgradability (and thus repairability/sustainability of the device) should be kept in mind too.
I was about to order a surface laptop 3 in the next 5 minutes. The battery issue is a deal breaker. Batteries are consumable items and I’m not performing a science project in 3 years when i want to replace it.
The only reason they did this, is to make it easier to offer a variaty of finishes because the Surface Laptop 3 comes with alcantara or metal finishes.
Most of it is driven by what people want, slimmer, more powerful devices result in difficulty upgrading things. I think in the US, theres a right to repair movement, which could fight these companies.
Thought it would get a 7/10 but that battery is definitely a negative. I hope this returns the market back to fully modular designs with replaceable everything, including RAM. You'd think getting a 10/10 for repairability and winning over new customers with the promise of replaceable SDD, RAM, and battery would be more than worth it in new business.
ifixit gives microsoft a 5 now, up from zero, however removing the battery is all but impossible, making these no good within two to 4 years, except when plugged in.
@@TheDeathmail well almost they are pros and they gave up. They said to take it off you need to do and use things that the battery says not to use to avoid explosion. Or fire. So yea they did it on purpose to give it a limited life span.
Yes I would have purchased this if the battery was replaceable. I'm hoping that Microsoft at least offers a battery replacement service in store, but if you look at all their other devices, I highly doubt it. There's no reason to make the battery so hard to replace, even Apple has a battery replacement service
Your repairability score is completely beyond my understanding, you guys are almost irritating with how you grade different products.. But I'm a big fan and I love your Manta Driver kit.
What problem(s) do you have with it, exactly? I personally think its a commendable effort to quantify just how easy it is to repair something, but I'd like to know the algorithm they use so I can follow the process myself.
I don't understand the "high" score. Yes, they improved a lot. But they were really bad before, so it is easy to improve. Battery (most common repair, as you say it really often) is glued in place. The display is replaceable, but just together with the digitizer, etc. Also, processor and memory are soldered to the motherboard, so they are not easy to replace. In the end it seems more repairable then it is.
I wonder why those batteries are glued down... Aren't screws sufficient enough to hold it in place? Also they need to an alternative to those metal shieldings. Other than that, great improvement
I bought a Surface pro long time later power button broken and cannot repair with ease. so I will never buy any Surface again. It hard to repair because all about adhesive design. I hope Microsoft will change like this.
Here’s the thing...so you want to upgrade the SSD but you are essentially destroying the rubber feet and a few shields to do it. Soooo nobody is ever going to do this. It’ll never go back the same way.
I agree to an extent. While its not impossible to upgrade, most M.2 SSDs use a different length (and maybe a different socket, I'm not sure) which makes upgrades a lot harder. Still wouldn't say its as bad as proprietary.
Yay, a Surface Laptop that doesn't score a 0 for repairability! Now let's make the battery easy to remove and it will be better still. Fingers crossed the Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X will follow in repairable footsteps.
Any info on the one with the metal keyboard, is it as easy to remove? Making the SSD upgrade quick and easy(as soon as 2230 m.2s become more available)?
When I close my surface laptop 3 display a crackling sound can be heard when even putting slight pressure on the display. Anyone know what this could be the display seems fine at the moment. Thanks in advance.
What model is the SSD? I ask because when shopping for a 15" model, going from 512Gb SSD to 1Tb SSD is a £200 jump. That seems unjustified to me when you compare the price differences of other SSDs on the market.
Hello, I do not find any spare part to change the keyboard of my surface laptop 3 which does not work well. Where can I find it? thank you for the answer and for this video
Chromebooks are really where the anti-repairable laptops are, but if you bought a Chromebook expensive enough to warrant a major repair you probably made a bad purchase anyway.
