Microsoft's New Surfaces Are Incredibly Repairable

Microsoft's new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are so easy to repair, they put Apple's computers to shame.

Way back in 2013, the first Microsoft Surfaces were so bad that iFixit gave the tablet a 1/10 repairability score, and to be honest, that seemed over-generous—you had to cut the laptop open with a knife just to reach the battery. Things have slowly improved until now the new CoPilot+ PCs get an 8/10 score. Between this and Lenovo's T14 Thinkpads, is repair finally going mainstream? At least with PC makers.

"Having worked on first gen Surface Pro and Surface laptops, I’m just impressed that they’ve come this far. It’s in stark contrast to Apple's self-benefitting compliance to legislation or Samsungs attempts to undermine R2R or find loopholes. Malicious compliance is just not a thing here. It appears to be a genuine attempt to do better, " Shahram Mokhtari, lead teardown technician at iFixit, told Lifewire via direct message.

Easy PC

iFixit opened up the new Surface Pro 11 and the Surface Laptop 7, and found them both to be very repairable, and even called the laptop an "astonishingly repair friendly device." It starts with the bottom plate. After removing the screws, there's no need to fiddle with (and possibly break) retention clips, as the panel is held in place with magnets.

The battery is also held in with screws, not glue, and that's where you see another excellent addition. Microsoft has added QR codes which link to repair manuals (which were available on launch day), and also a label telling you what type of screws, and how many, are used to secure each component. The battery, for example, is secured by eight 5IP Torx screws. Microsoft calls these "wayfinder" labels.

The interior is also sensibly layered, so you don't have to remove a ton of delicate parts just to get to, say, the SSD drive (which is also replaceable). One downside is that the RAM is soldered in both devices, so you're stuck with whatever you choose when buying.

The Surface Pro is even better in one way: You can swap in a new M.2 SSD just by opening a magnetic hatch under the kickstand. This makes me think it's best to buy the model with the lowest storage and add more yourself. Otherwise, the Surface Pro is harder to get into: You have to soften the glue and remove the screen to gain access, but there's only one ribbon cable you have to watch out for while doing that.

In short, Microsoft utterly embarrasses Apple when it comes to repairability and does it without compromises. These new Surfaces, which use Qualcomm's ARM-based CPUs, have battery life, thinness, and power to rival Apple's M-series iPads and MacBooks. Your move, Apple.

Repair Out There

Repairability has gone from something that was an afterthought at best, to a major feature that makes computers genuinely more appealing to buy. Apple still has the advantage of iOS, but that only works if you actually prefer iOS. Now, Microsoft's iPad alternative the Surface Pro, actually looks better than the iPad Pro. Yes, the iPad is till thinner, but it is also more expensive, way less repairable, and will therefore have a shorter life. Once that battery dies, you're on the hook to Apple for hundreds of dollars, and you can never, ever increase or replace the storage.

And that's before we get to the part where the Surface Pro is also a fully featured desktop PC, not just a big phone. If you like, you can even skip Windows altogether and install Linux on there. You could even have a Linux SSD and a Windows SSD and swap in the one you want to use.

"I'm honestly surprised that Microsoft doesn't make a bigger deal out of the Surface's reparability since it's such a major change from most mobile devices, especially Apple's offerings," Soumya Mahapatra, happy Surface owner and CEO of medical device company Essenvia told Lifewire via email. "It's certainly something I value about my Surface,"

I just got done resurrecting a 2013 MacBook Air with Linux, and a new battery, and it was an easy repair. A decade ago, even Apple's laptops could be fixed with just a screwdriver. The batteries and the SSD are both accessible and replaceable in older models, and that was pretty standard across the industry. Then, as thinness was prioritized over longevity, that went out the window. Now, thanks in large part to right-to-repair laws on both sides of the Atlantic, things are swinging back.

So, should you expect to see MacBooks and iPads with upgradeable storage any time soon. Don't hold your breath.

"Right-to-repair laws may push manufacturers to follow Microsoft's example here, but I suspect that we'll see the minimum possible compliance with these laws so that manufacturers can still profit from new device purchases," says Mahapatra.

It might be better to start looking elsewhere.