Microsoft Surface Book 2 Teardown!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- This is the Microsoft Surface Book 2, and just like every Surface device we’ve done a teardown on this year, it scored horribly on our repairability scale. How bad did it do? We gave it a 1 out of 10, which to be honest, is at least a little better than the Surface laptop which got a zero. So today I’ll be essentially walking you through how to design a device that’s terrible for repair.
During this teardown we used the Essential Electronics Kit
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An iOpener
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And a FixMat
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At £3000 and being this horrible to repair we should be getting 5 year+ warranties included
Made In Machines just buy a new one
So, you basically pray that you're never gonna have to open it up. Great job, Microsoft.
How else are they going to sell you the almost 1000 € upgrade from 250 GB to 1000 GB?
The surface book is aimed for proffesional people who want to get things done and not go in and change things or upgrade it. It is aimed for people who read or work a lot on their computer and for people who need something that is light weight and slim with loads of mechanics.
It is not aimed for gamers or people who upgrade and use a lot of time on hardware.
And it is very hard to habe such a thin build with all the features the surface books have and keep it easy to repair. Things are so cramped and glued for a reason.
Great video with a sweet background beat, you guys are awesome! I believe companies are doing this on purpose for 3 reasons.
1. It's a lot easier (and cheaper) to make a fully uni-body 'one way build' device, as it lets them make them thinner and more solid to boast about it's premium feel. If they were to build them with repair-ability in mind, it would make them thicker and probably cost more to manufacture.
2. They don't want you to get your device repaired from anyone else but them. By restricting the device with a one-way build design, 3rd party repair shops would likely reject your request for repair as they would know it's impossible not to damage it further.
3. It stops 3rd party replacement parts. With the restricted design being such a barrier for repair, random Chinese knock off parts essentially would not exist as they would know no one is willing to repair said device.
Basically it's all done to force you to return to the OEM for any service and as a side bonus it lets the OEM make the devices thinner and cheaper to produce.
The tear down is always the worst thing about Surface. I love my SP4, but hate that if anything goes wrong out of warranty, I will struggle to fix it, if at all.
yeah. my original surface pro got the LCD pressure damage when i inserted the card too deep into it when separating the glue. never going to buy another microsoft crap product again. i don't understand why they must put a fan in it but does not let you clean the dust build up. such a brilliant design decision by microsoft to screw the end users.
True
Loved my SP3. But the planned obsolescence by Microsoft is frankly spiteful. They just do it to sell more, make old, old faster by completely limiting service and upgrade-ability. A sad developmen for human kind.
Or do what I do and drop it every year and get a new one under warranty.
When I was in the Engineering college, they taught us that gluing stuff is the last option when designing. Glue is the cheapset and the easiest way of bonding two materials and in the engineering terms is considered sloppy. I mean what happened to screws, clips, retainers, hundreds of types of fasteners. DON'T TELL ME IT'S BECAUSE OF THE SLIMMNES, CAUSE THERE ARE CLIPS USED IN PHONES THAT ARE PERFECTLY SUITED FOR ANY OF THE LARGER DEVICES.
This is the business model invented by Apple. Lets make all the products have premium looks, high cost and unrepairable, or upgradable. That way, they can sell more extended warranty. When users cannot upgrade their laptops, tablets. They will have to purchase new ones
uhh yeah apple definitely didn't invent that.
@@blotter-water They were doing that with their desktops all the way back to inception, given that they wouldn't license their hardware to anyone so nothing was interchangeable. So if they didn't start up that business model who did? Mainframe manufacturers?
Yes. Apple does not "repair" your laptop, they just replace the whole thing. When you want a new battery, they give you a new keyboard and front cover as well because they are glued together. If your logic board goes wrong, they'll replace everything on it like CPU or RAM, so you are basically buying half of the components of new laptop, and that's half the price of new laptop.
At least here it's a bit more understandable since they had to cram so much into it to make it work and it's way more complicated than a mac. It makes no sense for apple to do it with such simple pcs but for microsoft, at least for the surface book, i feel like they can get a pass
Speaking from experience - some modern devices which don't have enough adhesive inside tend to have problems with the flat-flex connectors detaching after a few months.
Thanks for the great teardown once again iFixit! I'mglad to hear that the SSD is technically replaceable, even if it is excruciatingly difficult to get to without ruining that screen. It is saddening to see, however, that the SSD in question is the lower end of Samsung's M.2 NVMe drives, rather than the 960 Pro. Can't wait to see more teardowns from you guys!
Wow, I was extremely impressed with the details and the person delivering the detailed instructions and information , my only suggestions is to slow the presentation down if possible , but I give it a 5 stars for content and 5 stars for the presenter and her knowledge.
Of course it'll be hard to repair, cramping all of that stuff into such a thin device like that will definitely make hard to repair, they don't have much space inside to organize it for you to repair..
XPS 13 did a decent job without making the device too difficult to repair. It just depends on the designer philosophy.
Duy Linh Chu Ha yea n Dell will keep providing repair instead of improving the quality. I had two surface device never have any problems till date. Had a Dell XPS which requires frequent services
that just means they need to spend more money on quality control and better quality metal
but the design is close to perfect
They are poorly designed if you mean in the sense of having it easier to service just anywhere, the more complex the more it needs the producers to actually be the ones to service it. The bad thing is that can be pricey and leave you a little less secure in terms of versatility to seek help in your terms. You or your local IT repairment can't do it. You're beholden to the rates on or off warranty of your device. For surface book 2, an out of warranty repair cost can run up to 599.99
of course, it's a +250$ for the extended warranty to grant three years of protection. Glue or soldering makes modular assembly useless too :/ it's a bitter sweet device if you can afford it but are more meta- about your device.
Oh wow, when Apple does it, they're greedy assholes?
I guess the upside to all the adhesive is that it’s an incredibly well build and durable machine. At one point mine fell from head heigh onto a solid floor, the upper right corner took the impact, and the only damage to the device was the enclosure was a little warped in that corner, but the device worked perfectly.
It's much easier to open, when the batteries go bad and inflate, causing the screen to separate from the chassis or the base plate to separate from the base chassis. I had both the batteries go bad on mine, after close to 3 years. They say they are T4 screws, which they are, but you have to be dead on to get a T4 in there. Do not try to screw it at all, unless that T4 is actually in. Otherwise you will damage the screw. Me...I used a T3. Slightly loose fit, but easier to get in and it's not like the screws need a crazy amount of force to take out.
I think putting it back together is harder
Really iFixit... you cheaped out and bought the i5 model without the dGPU.. I really wanted to see that GPU cooling
Don't Worry Buddy.....You can make a DONATION and they would gladly show you the i7 model....How about that?!
You didn't show anything about how to remove the keyboard. Is there a video specific to this?
Macbook Pro (with touchbar, at least) is also 1 on the repair-ability scale. I guess MS reasoned that if Apple can get away with gluing everything in then why not them too!
why is the base so thick though only housing a battery?
Seems like it should automatically score a 0/10 because of safety. Disconnecting the power source should be first. If you have to proceed halfway through a tear down before disconnecting it, that could pose a shock threat to the individual.
Great teardown really interesting to see - however I’m a bit disappointed to see you didn’t get one of the models with a GPU such as 1050, this would have been really interesting to have seen!
At least you can buy the cheaper 256GB SSD version and install by yourself the 1TB SSD, making you save $800! That is...if you dare opening the laptop in the first place (and risking the losing its price)...
2 things i dont want to hear when I repair a laptop: Lots of need for heating and prying.
Love the teardowns!
But hate how Microsoft cheapened out by having all that free space under the keyboard for at least a bigger battery and a 1070 max-q or better, yet didn't opt for it while charging a price like as if the device had both.
Honestly, for me it doesn't seem to be to horrible to tear it apart, but to put everything back in place and glue them in a high standard of quality is a chanllege
Well at least you can upgrade the storage which is nice
Microsoft wants like 3 grand for a model with 1TB storage, i can get a 1TB NVMe SSD on amazon for like what, 120 bucks? 200 tops? If I ever have to take the tablet apart, this is what im for sure gon change with it
Is the score relative? I mean...isnt all laptops now a day (especially ultra portables) have the score of 1?
Exactly, it's just people love to throw shade on Microsoft lol
And atleast you can swap the ssd. I mean that means it could be even worse so is a 0 in repairability possible? That being said, there are lots and lots of Ultrabooks/Tablets where you cant change anything AND they are glued together like this Surface Book 2 which would make it even worse in terms of "repairability", right?
I'd say, for example, Sager and workstation-class laptops are typically a dream to repair. Dell precision, HP zBook, and non-ultrabook Lenovo Thinkpads are made to be field-serviceable, and holy hell do you pay a premium for it (my Precision 7710 was around $3000 brand new, about as powerful as a $1400 gaming laptop at the time).
I can add hard drives, m.2 drives, change out the WiFi chip, add a SIM-compatible LTE modem, upgrade the ram (upto 64GB), replace the keyboard (will need to do this soon as I accidentally spilled beer into it), and even the graphics card is not only user-replaceable, but pro MXM cards are backwards compatible with my laptop! I could go on eBay right now and buy a quadro P5000 mobile and slap it in to this thing to basically upgrade from a 965m to a 1080, although I might not do that. Why? The only problem with this laptop is the completely ass battery life, so I'm hoping those Kaby Lake-G chips get into some 15 inchers with a priority on battery.
name one that is this hard to replace
hi, i have a problem that my surface book 2 battery is swelling and needs to be replaced... or gone. can i take it out and only use the battery from the base? or does it need the battery in the tablet part? if not... ill just ditch it. please ANYONE let me know ASAP! thanks (or if not, will a surface book 1 battery fit and work?)
How would you go about putting everything back into place? Same glue? Or does the glue have to be removed? What glue would you use to replace it?
very good video, I had thought to buy the surface book 2 but I had not noticed the maintenance variable, thanks.
Any suggestions on adhesives? The standard double sided tape I get seems subpar.
keep doing what your doing ifixit. i applaude you.
Where is the fan? Am i missing out on some invisible fan technology that I'm not aware of?
Considering the size, it's hard to think of a good (other than profit) reason for using so much glue and making it so unrepairable.
Honestly, seeing how some things are put together, I'm just wondering how on earth they got that done in the factory.
robots, line of robots
Bought Macbook Pro 13'' mid-2012 about the same time with the Surface 2. Replacement costs are almost triple the cost now, than back then. Luckily was able to upgrade the Macbook Pro to 16GB and a 1TB SSD Hard drive for about £250.00, no such luck for opening up and upgrading the memory for the Surface. In fairness, the Surface still works much better than the Macbook Pro, before upgrading it. The only real issue with the Surface is the power button.
Thanks!! I really wanted to watch this one!
power button doesn't depress or work after reassembling. Ideas?
It sounds like microsoft wants you to have a zappy, explosive surprise when opening those devices.
Could I install a Samsung 1TB M.2 SSD?
Absolutely you could. Its a standard NVMe SSD in there, so anything that fits size wise and uses the M.2 connector should work. I also looked into CrystalDiskViewer? I think thats what it was and it said there too that its a normal NVMe SSD and not some proprietary thingy
Please Suggest if we should keep it on charging all the time or Drain the battery everytime till 0% or 5% and then recharge it again
What is best for the Battery in Surfacebook 2 15"
Is it possible to replace the original M.2 SSD by a 970 evo plus ? or there will be trouble for the MBD to recognize it
I'll stick with lenovo thinkpads, they can be serviced. Although that is getting harder with each generation as well.
My keyboard unit last night started running the fans at full speed (even supposedly with only 8% battery life and is still doing it now), refuses to show the charging icon or to actually charge, and had to be separated from the screen manually with the release buttons in the screen vent holes because the unit didn't recognize that it had a keyboard attached, so the detach button was grayed out. Not sure what's happened to it. The tablet portion is running just fine now that I am charging it directly from its bottom. But this is stupid. Not even finished paying for it and now I've lost the gpu and keyboard. What do I do? Wait until the keyboard battery finally dies and then try again? Or scrap it because it's done?
Is this for the MS Surface Book 2 Model Number: 1832, 1834?
does this model use ram of single or dual channels ???
I was wondering about this too. The ram looks to be soldered on at 1:49
My computer completely shut off after a year with it sucks that I had just ran out of the warranty literally a week after. I think it was the batter because I had my computer connected while it was at 3 percent you think I’d just have to order a new keyboard or something? If it’s the battery?
i dont see any fan in the tablet part when you opened it... was there one? or is there only a fan in the i7 model? cheers
Huh did sb2 have larger battery capacity in it??? How come this teardown showed that it’s the same
When is the turn of the pixelbook?
Does the battery in the keyboard part have a U-shape? With 4 batteries connected to 1 big one?
wow... Does it have good a
structure for letting heat go out of it?
I'll stick to my HP Pavilion 15-cc055od.
Where is the fan in the base?
How do I put the base of the keyboard back on?
I hope someday ifixit could do a video regarding repeatability for thinkpad
In what way does the background audio improve this video? I don't understand - Isn't someone talking as well? If someone wanna talk to you, you turn on the music?
the best 2 in 1 laptop in the market
The best laptop in the market.
Cellphone pry tool and the same pick worked for me. The suction-cup didn't do shit for me.
Quewstion: What happens when the battery gets weak like this this computer or like the Note 8 that is also sealed, I never thought about it till now. Are you supposed to dispose of this equipment?
I dropped my SB1 recently while it was inside my messenger bag. Did not think anything had happened to it until the next day when I attempted to power it on. The power button was stuck and now there is no way I can power on my SB. At first i thought, there has to be an easy fix, but after a lot of researching it appears the only real way it will get fixed is by opening the tablet part of it, which b the looks of it, won't be an easy task. SMDH!
Your videos are good keep it up 👍🏻
Much love for this one!
i wish it was easier to replace the ssd. Im just to scared to break the screen
What 3:20 the Nvidia is under the key board, wtf I could play with Nvidia only when docked and play with Intel when in tablet mode? Huh...
Why do you use the model without the dedicated GPU in the teardown?!?!?
Is the 1060 in the dock or in tablet it self?
any way I can find that background music?
Hmm, an amazing tablet/ultrabook but also worrying.. one thing there is more the rule than not. is that batteries loose there ablelity to hold power over time and use.and that just how it is with this chem.(you ca nurse all you want and perhaps be carefull not letting it be plug-in 24/7 and perhaps having the batteries in the goldilock-zone 30 to 80% but hopefully this drainhealth factor when on ac power 24/7 aint as hurting to batteries as it was some years ago.
But yeah it can be quite costly to get a new battery in it.
You gotta admit, the Surface Book 2 was well built. Really well. Only problem is that the price tag is quite big.
I think I will just stick with Dell laptops as I can repair and upgrade those things....
those are really manly hands you have there
Just found ur channel... This is pretty neat... 👌👍🔥
Can you do a video on the i7 quad core model of the 13 inch?
Thats why microsoft choose to release based on tablet things because tablet whatever brand or what ever OS it can just long for 3 years. Manufacture dont have to wait those things broken or faulty.
Can you please check again your description of the muscle wire design? It doesn't make sense. You're saying that an elecctro-thermal mechanism causes contraction pulling against the spring, thus keeping it locked to the base-keuboard and when let loose spring will push and thus pull a metal anchor back letting the tablet go free.
I find it hard to believe it not the opposite bc you are proposing a constant power supply is required to keep it attached while it will spend most of it's time either attached or free (transition - when u can pull it out) will be when it makes sense power is to be applied - otherwise battery is drained merely keeping the tablet anchored.
Doesn't make sense and I'd guess the mechanism u describe is correct only in reverse (supply power to pull against spring) and thus the mechanical force does the work 99.999% of the time.
Just my humble guess.
So how does microsoft technician fix it then!?
can i take the battery put of the screen part and it will still work when attached to the base?? please some one let me kow ASAP
Is the battery bulging? I heard that people remove the batteries in the tablet part for this reason.
I think you're missing the point of ultrabooks. They're not supposed to be repairable, they're supposed to be babied until they need to be sent in for maintanence, like a German sports car. If you want repairability, ultrabooks are not for you.
The LG Gram is one of the lightest and thinnest ultrabooks and still is easily repairable
The very thing that makes these ultrabooks look and feel the way they are is basically by gluing everything together. It has nothing to do with microsoft being a dick. I hate microsoft as much as the next guy, but you just don't what you're talking about my dude.
Christian Stout bs
Cynical Penguin, my ultrabook feels very nice and it is not glued.
a laptop is supposed to be self reparable ultra or not
mabye not cpu and gpu, but you dshould be able to delid upgrde ram ssd and battery like the dell xps lul
any plans on tearing the 15 inch?
Literally watch this teardown just to see the battery capacity number. So, can anyone tell me the battery capacity for the 15 inch model?
they should at least have a 4 year warranty for hard to repair devices
Hello everyone! I need help desperately 😭, I am in my final exams and my surface book 2 plunged into salt water in bathtub 😭😭😭 I let it dry for 2 days and then put in charge... it won’t turn on, pleaseeeee helppp 😭😭😭,
I like to think MS has a unique way of desassembling they're devices to replace components but who knows!
no need to get a repair score more than 1. this is a fantastic device that doesn't break 😎
johnnyxp64 exactly
It is a fantastic device (typing this on my 15 inch SB2), but any computer can break down. I got the extended warranty because I knew that if anything goes wrong hardware-wise, there is no way I'm getting inside this thing.
I opted to not get the extended warranty, and am just crossing my fingers. I figure I could have paid like $250 for a 3 year extended warranty... but most likely it won't break (they sell warranty because they know statistically they will make money off you in most cases). But if it does break and costs $250 to fix then I pretty much break even. :) Plus I have a feeling that if something does go horribly wrong, it could happen in the first year. Often after the break in period a PC can just go on for many years.
what if it breaks?
except when you close it it cracks the screen because that sharp cutout near the trackpad XD
Can you help me with my surface book 2 mam ?
Again, no keyboard replacement info.
😲
I'm probably the only person who came here to figure out how to replace my SSD...cause its too small...Nothing is wrong with it and I've only had it a couple months... I think the hardest part is gluing it all back.
anyone with docking station ( keyboard ) issues? - that damn thing just stopped working of from nothing .....
Last time I saw removable CPU was Dell latitude and higher models... Today it is very unlikely to have removable CPU and thin design.
Why even give this a 1/10? for the SSD? Most will break the display attempting to change it.
2:18 and of course, this expensive machine is made in China
yow and?
yow
like Apple , google and so on
Funny how Microsoft saves on all this labor and yet charges $$$$ for something that could obviously have much better specs with all that space under the keyboard. What an Apple move
All that space in the keyboard. The 15” probably could of fit a 1070 max q inside.
And a bigger battery to boot! And THAT'S what Microsoft doesn't want you to see! Bunch of cheapskates
love the tear downs.
I think you let your watches know that if you are in the UK, Microsoft has no service centre, if you are just outside of the Warranty and have any hardware issue, even if it is a Microsoft known issue, you are charged £600 to replace it, for a refurbished item
beautiful
Awesome teardown but will not purchase it is so bad it looks like a throwaway item like all hardware from MS
Seriously who takes these things apart?
You're doing God's work. That was a miserable to take down for data recovery
But it is still an awesome 2-in-1!
Lost brain cells reading the comments. These laptops aren't "disposable" lmao. Manufacturers, and even YOU can repair them. You just have to know what you're doing. You can't expect engineers to develop smaller, faster, sleeker devices while at the same time keeping the same setups as old laptops so you can repair them. That doesn't make any sense. You can replace any part of this laptop. The reason why the iFixit score is so low is because it's not upgradable at the consumer level. If something breaks, you can send it in under warranty or fix it yourself.
Keep in mind, I don't even think this laptop is worth buying. Too much money for what you get imo, but that doesn't have anything to do with how easy they make repairing the product so you dunces can feel smart when you want to tinker around where you shouldn't.
With all that space under the keyboard, though, there's clearly room for a bigger battery and a better performing gpu such as a 1070 max-q, but nope, Microsoft has to be the cheapskate while charging $$$$ for a device that could have much better specs for the same price.
@@AB-pr4uc You moron, adding even bigger battery would make it heavier and require more time to charge, more heat issues etc. Besides SB2 already has best battery life still in 2019 June lol - only a few devices that can last longer and they are not as good, not even close. As for 1070 max-q - you probably don't even have any proper education and are a imbecile boy mumbling same mantra over and over again. Go back to school and re-learn physics class you moron and then try to understand how economics works. Adding 1070 to 13.5 inch book will make price sky high and will require extra cooling and heat issues. Surfaces are best products on the market in design, quality and style - best battery life, best keyboard, best screens and what else you moron want?
thanks. once you used to repair them its not to bad.