The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PCs are officially here, which means it’s time for the internet to tear them apart from every angle to see if they’re worth buying. As it turns out, both the tablet and laptop versions of the Surface are among the more repairable models on the market, letting those in the right-to-repair movement breathe a sigh of relief.
iFixit dug into Microsoft’s latest devices on its YouTube channel to see how easy it is to get inside and remove and replace parts, and the results were better than expected.
Starting with the Surface Laptop 7, each internal component is easy enough to remove right down the motherboard. Microsoft made intelligent changes to the internal structure to allow the laptop to be repaired more easily. For example, the batteries in the Surface Laptop can now be removed by simply releasing the bottom feet and back cover.
Microsoft even included labels and QR codes inside the laptop called Wayfinder Markings that are designed to tell the person doing the repairs what kind of screws they need and how many of them are locking down components in that area. Anyone who’s ever had that one last screw they can’t seem to find when working on a computer will understand how incredibly useful this is.
The only place where the Surface Laptop 7 didn’t do well in repairability is the memory, which is soldered to the motherboard. Unfortunately, this makes it exceedingly difficult for the average user to remove and replace.
The Surface Pro 10 also did well compared to other tablets. The SSD can be replaced without disassembly, and techs can pull off the display much more quickly. There is adhesive used, so some parts are challenging to repair, but it still did better than most.
iFixit gave the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 10 repairability scores of 8 out of 10. The original Surface Laptop received a zero in the same test, so Microsoft has made massive strides in how it designs its laptops and tablets. On the other hand, a report called Failing the Fix states that Apple and Google fail miserably, with MacBooks and Chromebooks being tough to repair.
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