One of the remits of Microsoft’s Surface hardware is to showcase how beautiful Windows devices can be while still offering market-leading specs. It is a similar approach to Apple and comes with some problems. One of them has been the compromise of having ergonomic and desirable designs with fixability.
Surface devices have always been very hard to fix. Indeed, iFixit often rates Microsoft hardware 1 out of 10 in terms of repairability. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced its Surface Laptop 3. On stage, Surface chief Panos Panay promised the device would be easy to open and fix.
In its Surface Laptop 3 teardown, iFixit says this is indeed the case. As promised, the top plate of the new generation Surface Laptop can be easily lifted off.
This is something of a new era for Microsoft’s hardware. If you don’t know, iFixit tests the repairability of devices by tearing them down component by component. The first two generations of the Surface Laptop achieved scores of zero out of 10. This essentially means they are unrepairable.
Looking at the Surface Laptop 3, iFixit says the top cover can be loosened by simply unscrewing four Torx Plus screws. Any soft prying tool can then lift the cover.
Specs
While this provides access to the innards of the laptop and makes it easier to repair. However, this does not make the device upgradable. Microsoft has soldered the motherboard, CPU, and RAM. What you see with the Laptop 3 is what you get.
The third generation Surface Laptop does get the 10th Gen Intel-core processor. Microsoft says the device is three times more powerful than the Apple MacBook Air. Intel’s CPU is coupled with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.
As predicted, Microsoft also introduced a 15-inch variant of the Surface Laptop 3. This version retains the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the smaller model despite that larger IPS display.
Last Updated on April 9, 2020 12:02 pm CEST by Luke Jones
