Ifixit's surface laptop teardown

[Photonsym]

I've seen a lot of articles relating to the Ifixit teardown video and they're really making it out like this is a huge surprise despite it being like pretty much EVERY other surface and I really don't believe anyone expected anything different. I agree that there were many design choices made, like the lack of screws, which traded off the fixability for aesthetics but it's clearly not a device deigned for tinkering with, and if thats a problem for you, there are many other options for you (although most ultrabooks are pretty much faced with the same issue in order to reduce size).

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I agree. This was no surprise to me and shouldn't be to anyone who is familiar with Surface devices. A serious amount of innovative engineering goes into these devices and that makes it nearly impossible to tinker with/improve in any way.

 

[raqball]

The problem is that the fabric on the deck and the KB can't be replaced without destroying the entire machine..

Get a stain? A cut in the fabric? Your options are going to be to deal with it or the entire computer can head for the trash can...

There are numerous instances where the alcantara fabric on the SP4 KB's are destroyed and / or look terrible.. In the SP4 case they are only out about $150 for a new KB but with the Surface Laptop you have zero options..

People interested in this machine should without a doubt spend the $150 for Microsoft Complete...

 

[xandros9]

I agree. This was no surprise to me and shouldn't be to anyone who is familiar with Surface devices. A serious amount of innovative engineering goes into these devices and that makes it nearly impossible to tinker with/improve in any way.

It's not the "innovative engineering", it's about the reckless disregard for creating a device that can be repaired.

Repairability has been done on slim devices and while of course there are tradeoffs as the device gets slimmer, this isn't pretty.

These devices have an expiration date. Now, an issue that may be trivial to fix on a typical laptop like replacing a power key or hard drive spells death for this device, warranting 100% replacement for who knows how much. And if this dies, there will be no data recovery.