Surface Pro 9 Teardown: The Most Repairable Surface In Years

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For ages, Microsoft’s Surface Pros were about the least repairable tablets on the market, thanks largely to the tenacious glue used under the screen - a battery or SSD replacement would sometimes mean breaking the display. Today we’ve got the Surface Pro 9 on our teardown table and we’re excited to see what’s inside!
Quick disclaimer: We do consulting work for Microsoft’s hardware team. We do the same kind of analysis for them that we do here on the channel: dissect their hardware and share ideas for making it more repairable. We also sell Microsoft’s tools to our Pro business customers.
However, our teardowns are conducted with full editorial independence, with devices purchased by iFixit, and Microsoft has had no input or involvement in the making of this video.
Want to see just how bad the Surface Pro used to be? Check out our Surface Pro 7 Teardown
• Microsoft Surface Lapt...
You don’t need many tools to disassemble your Surface Pro 9. Get an Essential Electronics Toolkit
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Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:47 Teardown
01:00 Screen Removal
01:42 Battery Removal
02:09 Motherboard Removal
02:27 Repairability Assessment
03:05 Repair Manuals & Spare Parts
03:25 Score
03:35 Disclaimer
#surfacepro9, #microsoftsurface, #ifixitteardown
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Опубликовано:

22 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 307

@fgmenth Год назад

I never thought that I'd see an upgradeable and repairable Surface tablet in my lifetime.

@robertanewman7229 Год назад

My Surface Laptop died. Not repairable. Will never spend a lot of money on a laptop again.

@sugadevanarr1 Год назад

@@robertanewman7229 Good for you.

@moracabanas Год назад

Europe's new laws forcing repairability and replacement parts for any tech from now on

@kornkernel2232 Год назад

Yep finally a good direction forward, hoping all Surface products will be the same. It will be nicer if the display assembly in the near future will only involve removing screws and not adhesive, just some rubber gaskets to seal the device through screw pressure. It's not like Surface Pro is rated for IP resistance anyways. Shame though that the removal of headphone jack with SP9. This device so huge anyways and thick, it should have room for it anyways considering SP8 had it. It saves one USB-C port and bit of a money as well from buying and using a USB DAC.

@blackwater7183 Год назад

@@moracabanas I love Europe. Even if the U.S or the other big consumer countries don't follow at least they can make a dent of the electronics industry if it isn't repairable. As a tech guy I would love for devices like tablets and laptops be something that can be upgraded or repurposed if they become obsolete.

@ej_tech Год назад

A Surface tablet is finally a viable option for my next portable PC. Hopefully the ARM version is also going to be as repairable.

@fjjwfp7819 Год назад

It should be the same design as the intel version

@RazorSkinned86 Год назад

An easy to teardown arm device would be a godsend.

@Ecodesign1 Год назад

The ARM version have a similar design

@ericneo2 Год назад

@@fjjwfp7819 If only the Intel version had a 5G modem

@JonnnyFour Год назад

This is exactly what I was thinking. I bet the ARM will be different.

@ScottWallace5 Год назад

Man, what a difference a few years makes! And dang, that SSD swap 🤯

@davep9565 Год назад

Great to see a company that is serious about repairability.

@MathGeekQ Год назад

BRAVO!!! This is such a huge win! Makes me wanna go out and buy one. I don't need a table right now, but boy if I ever do this will be the one to go, no questions asked.

@LeornianCyng Год назад

An extremely positive step in the right direction. Hopefully the score will increase when all the guides and spare parts are released. Hopefully Microsoft will sell the SSD too. Would like to see Microsoft extend the warranty and lower the cost of repairs/ replacements. The other massive thing Microsoft can do is bundle the keyboard and pen with the Surface.

@RoastBeefSandwich Год назад

It's pretty easy to find bundle deals for Surface devices throughout the year.

@anvuong8432 Год назад

thumbs up for iFitxit. Ty for every effort you guys been doing to help improve user experience.

@SigmaMaleRyanGosling Год назад

Okay, surprisingly it's a good, repairable tablet. I hope it eventually gets an AMD option to improve battery life on x86, I'm considering buying that

@evilj Год назад

I would LOVE to see AMD as well, but I suspect that while people SAY they want AMD, the sales figures show otherwise.

@happily7514 Год назад

@@evilj Yeah I think there’s a reason that the Surface Laptop 5 no longer has an AMD option, despite their chips being better than intel’s in pretty much every way

@RoastBeefSandwich Год назад

@@evilj Correct. Enthusiasts may want AMD but the people who actually buy Surface devices - enterprise and government - want Intel.

@ared18t Год назад

@@eviljbruh I can't even find an AMD laptop with the CPU I want it's next to impossible to get one.

@evilj Год назад

@@ared18t exactly. They don’t exist because majority of people or corporations only buy Intel. I know a few people who refuse to buy AMD desktop because Intel is “reliable”. Try to convince them to buy AMD laptop.

@MrFastFox666 Год назад

Huge props to MS for this one. Making a repairable tablet couldn't have been easy for them, and I'm sure lots of people don't even care that it is repairable, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. Shame they're always outdated and so expensive.

@kornkernel2232 Год назад

Yep, and companies should nor think too much that majority don't repair their own devices. Average consumers will actually gain with easy to repair devices, which means it will be cheaper to repair in the long run and help reduce the impact of E-waste, which is going to be a major crisis in the near future if we still dont address this.

@Jayy997 Год назад

Are you buying a device for the sheer most cutting-edge specs or the best experience? One is worth more than the other.

@MrFastFox666 Год назад

@@Jayy997 for both really. It is absolutely true that last Gen hardware is perfectly capable of providing a good experience. In fact, one of my computers is running a 6th Gen Core i7 and a GTX 960, both of which are very much outdated. Both my main laptop and main desktop are also running on previous gen hardware. The problem is that Microsoft isn't marketing the Surface as a value or Economy device, but rather as a premium, high tech product, and they price them as such. When you're spending over $1000 on a computer that doesn't even come with a keyboard, it really stings when you realize it only comes with a Core i5, only 8GB of RAM, and only 256gb of storage. The fact that it's also a previous generation chip just adds insult to injury and it leaves me wondering where the extra cost went. And while it doesn't pertain to my original comment, the experience isn't really unique either. Devices like the Galaxy Book 2 360 from Samsung offer the same chip, same ram, same storage, better ports, include the keyboard and mouse, has better ergonomics, and is still very lightweight and portable, all while costing $150 less. The only aspect where the surface has an advantage is the display since the Book 2 only has a 1080p screen, although it is OLED.

@Jayy997 Год назад

@@MrFastFox666 the Surface Pro has double the resolution and is a 120hz screen which would add considerable expense. It arguably also has superior design in every part of the device but especially in the integration and usability of key features like pen. Good design doesn’t come cheap and as you have demonstrated, is often overlooked in favour of raw specs

@maythesciencebewithyou 11 месяцев назад

The galaxy book has a much better pen.

@BaconFaceMcGee Год назад

Holy crap! That’s what I like to see! I wonder what other companies will follow Microsoft’s lead!

@GeoStreber Год назад

"Microsoft's lead" The real MVP here is Framework and their laptops.

@GeoStreber Год назад

@@BaconFaceMcGee I don't understand your question.

@BaconFaceMcGee Год назад

@@GeoStreber I understand what your first comment means now.

@RejectedManiac Год назад

Doubt Apple will... Can't even change a battery without functionality loss and warnings. Exactly why I refuse to ever buy an apple product.

@BaconFaceMcGee Год назад

@@RejectedManiac You do have a point.

@AniketSen-dn5ij Год назад

Just got my surface pro 9.....looking back at where it all started....what a leap we have made in 10 years....cheers...oh and I got this exact forest green with colour matched type cover and slim pen 2 bundle

@SandstormGT Год назад

This is awesome! Finally can recommend surfaces again to friends and family

@lucasarcanjo887 Год назад

Nice video, I was waiting for this one! I was curious about Microsoft claiming that this Surface lineup being the most repairable one.

@Arkan_Fadhila Год назад

Really great improvement on repairability sector!

@lateral1385 Год назад

I love you, iFixit! Bought your repair tools.

@ggandalff Год назад

Nice! Next step: screwed in screen instead of glue (they maybe could have the screws through the border or the tablet)

@MadhanBR Год назад

You'd love the Dell Latitude 7320 detachable

@driftx2 Год назад

It's not possible to do that. The technology is not there yet.

@lateral1385 Год назад

THANK YOU FOR ADDING CAPTIONS 🙏

@KTPurdy Год назад

Awsome fix it walkthrough of SP9

@Ebalosus Год назад

Nice. Like with the fancy clack you used to disassemble the iPhone 14, do you guys sell that heating mat?

@biopticmammal Год назад

im new here, youve opened up a new world of information to me, god bless👍👍

@valera924 Год назад

I surprized it has so much space inside. It seems the battery could be bigger

@rahimrad Год назад

Nice work iFixit's pro-team, It was like an official teardown by Microsoft.

@fictionhead39 Год назад

Does anyone know whether Microsoft will be making the spare parts available to individuals? Or will it just be for businesses/certain approved repair shops? Either way, these changes in design are a big stride for them to make. It's great to see!

@kornkernel2232 Год назад

Hopefully it can be still purchased by individuals. I guess this could be just a disclaimer that if individual break their devices, it wont be covered by the warranty doing DIY repairs. Which for me is fine, it is my responsibility as a user to take care when doing the repair process. Any consumers that are not comfortable doing the reapir on their own is better of pay the professionals to do it for them.

@elifarmer3815 Год назад

How different is the process compared to the Pro 8?

@mrgrumpy3326 Год назад

Can you guys tear down the new surface laptop 5 as well? Curious if the battery there is also screwed in.

@fgmenth Год назад

I wish they'd make it easier to replace the battery without having to remove the screen though. Maybe by removing a few screws under the folding stand would be the ideal place. Batteries are consumable products and should be treated as such.

@MichaelBTryn 25 дней назад

Yeah, an access hatch from the back, underneath the kickstand would be cool, but it would also add to the complexity, adding to the cost.

@thebyzocker Год назад

wow this is great... looks like they listened to your advice

@allenmiller5436 Год назад

Wow! Now this makes the Pro 9 the only one to get! You'll be able to extend its life for quite a while!!!

@SixSilverStones Год назад

Wow I thought I’d never see the day. That cooling system is massive too

@IAG-Co-Ltd Год назад

Did you have to mangle the EMI shield on the display cable?

@EricLikness Год назад

Screws not glues, battery ftw! 💪💥👍

@achannelhasnoname5182 Год назад

That's definitely a huge improvement!

@wood6454 15 дней назад

does anyone know what type of material is the battery cover and where I can get one in bulk? thank you.

@RBiQlogic Год назад

Hi Is the display of pro x and pro 9 same or is there some difference

@HarlinTutoriales Год назад

Hola, cambié mi batería a una nueva y ahora la Surface Pro 6 sólo funciona conectada a la carga. NECESITO AYUDA 😢

@Alexandra-Rex Год назад

That is a huge change for the better!

@teemola7445 Год назад

Can sn740 run perfectly on surface pro 9? i can not find a suitable m2 2230 ssd to upgrade

@simon_96 Год назад

Battery change is still very hard to do at home I feel because of the screen

@GelOBrrz Год назад

Those blank spaces though

@fjjwfp7819 Год назад

Look at 3:20 where you can see the back of the display. The space underneath the battery is taken up by the PCB strip on the back of the display. On the other hand, the Samsung note 7 teaches us about putting as big of a battery as possible into tight spaces, and since most battery packs are available only in rectangular sizes, many internal structure geometry restricts how big the battery can be. The left side of the battery is also taken up by the space for the removable SSD.

@jbadkins 7 месяцев назад

Is the surface pro 9 hardware upgradeable? Seen some tech coming out that would be interested to find a way to get them intergrated.

@chovue2363 Год назад

Still using surface pro 3 since release. So far so good! Keyboard, not so much.

@kossmaas6876 Год назад

The main problem with such tablet design is battery swell which may eventually happen and push the screen panel from inside resulting in physical damage. Intel's chips hotness will only speed up this process. From what I can see it's difficult to say if battery pack is inside hard case.

@danielsolfa7452 4 месяца назад

Does SP9 i5 version have a cooler just like i7 versions?

@N0v0tus Год назад

Rookie question: Where does one get replacement adhesive for the screen and how easy is it to reinstall it?

$@fractalawareness$

@fractalawareness Год назад

Yeah, I've been searching for it online and there is no way to buy it LOL

@Feitlinger1 11 месяцев назад

Same question here. Anybody had luck getting the adhesive strips and the speaker mesh?

@S79KW Год назад

Nice and professional video you got 10 out of 10 from me

@MarantzSt153 Год назад

Can anybody tell me what music track is being used in this video? Thanks.

@Jayy997 Год назад

Does this also apply for Surface Pro 8? They look the same after all...

@sjundemartelaere Год назад

Good to know this. For me this initiative of Microsoft made their tablet a serious candidate for an internet, e-mail and office node. So I'll wait untill Microsoft produces their guides and have their spear parts for sale.

@ScottJWaldron Год назад

Not too bad! Hopefully in the future manufacturers can figure out a way to avoid the screen attached with adhesive. Maybe some type of integrated back bracket that comes with the screen instead of only that adhesive linking the two pieces together. That way the adhesive itself can be a lot weaker or even just some type of water ingress protection gasket instead. I actually like seeing screws visible on the bottom of devices and I assume others do as well, so making it screw-less looking shouldn't be such a design consideration these days.

@philipw Год назад

They have!!! My dell tablet has these magical things called "screws" and "clips" which do it wonderfully, without any glue at all.

@ScottJWaldron Год назад

@@philipw 🤣

@landinobin4835 Год назад

@@philipw pulling screen from the clips sounds dangerous. And I think just clips and screws can results in heavy dust accumulation issues. I think having bezels which hold the screen is the only alternative to gum.

@bracco23 Год назад

@@landinobin4835 the dust problem can easily be fixed with non adhesive gum. A rear bracket with standoff that get screwed in from the other side, and some padding to fill any gap left after tightening the screws should be enough to make it more repair friendly.

@firstNamelastName-ho6lv Год назад

All the old iPhones had screws to hold down the screen, everything since then has been physically "locked down" for manufacturers to monopolize the repair bills.

@user-mi1mc9vh6c Год назад

surface pro 9 used a full metal body will have an impact on the WiFi antenna?

@DigiProto Год назад

It's great that it comes with a replaceable SSD, but where do you find a new one? I've looked on Amazon and Newegg and all of them are used....

@mimandshaindy4906 Год назад

Ifixit is changing the world!!

@sdsfghr Год назад

This will probably be my next tablet pc for sure!

@coin3ip Год назад

is repairability been improved on surface laptop 5 too ? :-)

@Watchandlearn91 Год назад

I don't really know what the answer is to the screen replacement being difficult but I'm not a hardware guy by any means (Software engineer here). Does anyone know what the answer is to making one of those easier to replace? I figure the glue or adhesive has to be there to keep it sealed from water.

@moussamohammed7859 Год назад

How elegant work, as same as your shirts

@WillianMS Год назад

It may make easier for specialized repair shops to fix it - which is great. But the need of special hardware as a heat pad to remove a fragile thing as the screen is still a huge barrier for those who are I to DIY. They could very well make the access to the internal components from the rear of the tablet, using the good old screws...

@Matojeje Год назад

The text in the subtitles is different from what's spoken, what happened?

@mgonzalez00 Год назад

Does this improvement in repairability also apply to the Surface Pro 8? The 8 has the easily removable hard drive as demonstrated in this video. Does it share the other repairability improvements?

@benroberts127 Год назад

It seems like the 8 has been skipped for teardown videos and demonstrations.

@lenshibo Год назад

I can’t believe how excited I was to see the battery was screwed down! It’s sad that that’s exciting on modern devices but I’m still more than happy to celebrate it

@TominatorT- Год назад

Microsoft deserves a gold star for making the battery easy to replace.

@ronlevin2339 Год назад

USB-C post is soldered to the mother board , right ?? This is very bad for reparably

@MichaelBTryn 25 дней назад

Yeah, as nice as it might be to have a daughterboard for the usb c ports, that adds manufacturing complexity to it. Still would be great. I do hope they continue to improve ease of repair with atleast an alternative access panel to the battery and yeah, a daughterboard for the usb c thunderbolt ports.

@ronlevin2339 24 дня назад

@@MichaelBTryntake framework laptop as example

@Yaj-Gnidblod Год назад

Why was the teardown skipped for the Surface Pro 8?

@ameliabuns4058 Год назад

I returned my surface pro 8 for this exact reason. Specially since the battery life was 4-5h to begin with. Now I want this! Too expensive tho. And still hard to take the screen off safely

@riri0u Год назад

kudos!

@MrDucatiV4 Год назад

Is the Surface pro 8 teardown same as the 9?

@adagiun Год назад

Is the Surface pro 8 the same?

@razorblue9 Год назад

What was the Score on Surface Pro 8?

@nitrobear Год назад

Nice!!! Hopefully I'll be able to buy a surface tablet in a few years :)

@JimAllen-Persona Год назад

Start saving now :-)

@shekharmoona544 Год назад

Nice!

@farishanafiah8461 10 месяцев назад

As much as I like the easy SSD upgradability, I'm not sure about having the OS installed in that one SSD. I don't mind having a soldered SSD for the OS and leave the rear slot empty for additional self upgrade.

@JamesNguyen-dn1wk Год назад

as a computer technician and an IT consultant, I've been telling every customer to stay away from Microsoft Surfaces ever since it was first introduced due to the fact that they are unrepairable. I myself have never wanted to buy a Surface for the same reason. Now having watched this, I've taken notice and may change my mind about the Surface. If they make them more repairable, I'll stop telling my customers to avoid the Surfaces.

@frozentundra7446 6 дней назад

Can you upgrade RAM? If so, how?

@realemmyrossum Год назад

Really wish it had removable dimm slots or a 2280 slot for the ssd

@lordrefrigeratorintercoole288 Год назад

So this goes for the Surface Pro 8 also? The 8 and 9 are almost identical. I have the Pro8 with i5 and 16gb, would be cool if it can be repaired In case it breaks down in a couple of years.

@Locutus 11 месяцев назад

I think 7 is too high. I think a 5 would have been fair, 6 max. Even with the spare parts, it's a 7. It could be an 8, if you could remove the screen without having to melt the glue.

@ilyachap Год назад

Why is there so much wasted space that could’ve been occupied by batteries…

@happily7514 Год назад

I’m curious to see why there’s so much empty space under the battery, seems like a waste unless there’s something I’m missing

@lucamagni99 Год назад

GREAT!

@jobflores2223 Год назад

Replaceable ram, storage?

@luisdavid4109 4 месяца назад

Was it the 32gb RAM version?

@nickthaskater Год назад

That screw-down battery is ingenious. Good riddance to glue. Great to see the screen is a bit easier to remove now. I killed my Pro 3's screen trying to replace the battery because it was such a nightmare to remove.

@MichaelBTryn 2 месяца назад

gud to hear!

@mikehibbett3301 Год назад

Well done iFixit for supporting Microsoft. And thankyou Microsoft.

@stevencharette7918 10 месяцев назад

is the surface pro 8 similar to the 9 anyone know cant find a teardown for the surface pro 8

@DeviChexx Год назад

Ifixit you should do a tear down on asus rog z13 it would be nice.

@XuanNguyen-op4qs Год назад

Is Surface Pro 8 identical to Surface Pro 9? I cannot find the teardown of SF P8 anywhere :(

@ugurh5213 Год назад

I have the same question.

@sanekibeko Год назад

Same

@Cofe82 Год назад

Better to repair than my iPad Pro M1 for sure

@covertpluto Год назад

Hear me out: magnetic latches in the screen that open when you hold a magnet up to them to avoid glue and screws and clips back together like nothing has happened

@RuviaPawz Год назад

Imac screen had that

@fjjwfp7819 Год назад

Unfortunately it will not be in microsofts priority to make the screen replacement easier than it is, there's a reason why most tablets out there have glued screens.

@lachlanlau Год назад

Why did he rip the display sheild off like that?

@Dragonblaster1 6 месяцев назад

I recently bought a Surface Pro 9 with 5G, which came with a 128GB SSD. £74 and 5 minutes later, it has 2TB storage.

@bootchoo96 Год назад

Finally an Upgradable SSD ! My original Surface 5 with it's 256gb is becoming a bit tight in space...

@f937r Год назад

The emphasis on those Ts that usually get softened or silenced is weird to me. But glad to see Microsoft is allowing better repairability.

@brennanmccloskey8868 Год назад

I really wanted to know the Surface Pro 8 teardown...

@davidgunn5641 Год назад

Wish i had of seen this before my pro 8 purchase and consequential screen damage, expensive mistake it appears.

@F14foreverF14 Год назад

Love the massive bezels.

@andtpfack8243 Год назад

Its nice that it can be done but still something that i would not want to do myself as a customer.

@greggwillfixitllc1212 Год назад

But what about the Bluetooth/WiFi module? That thing always gets torn because it’s glued to the screen and extremely difficult to remove without damaging it.

@fjjwfp7819 Год назад

Unfortunately I think it's soldered onto the motherboard. See 2:12, at the centre of the screen.