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Surface Pro knocked for low repairability by iFixit

The firm gives the Surface Pro a one out of 10 rating, noting that there is a high risk of destroying the tablet just by opening it.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
Microsoft Surface Pro interior
iFixit beckons you to take a tour of the innards of Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet. iFixit

Don't try to repair Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet yourself.

That's the advice from the folks at iFixit, which rated the Surface Pro a mere 1 on a 10-point scale of repairability, with 10 being the easiest to repair.

The firm found that there are more than 90 screws in the device, and that there was a high risk of cutting a crucial wire just by opening the tablet, potentially destroying it. Likewise, the display assembly is also extremely difficult to remove and replace. There's also a lot of adhesive used in the tablet.

"Unless you perform the opening procedure 100% correctly, chances are you'll shear one of the four cables surrounding the display perimeter," iFixit said.

If you manage to get the Surface Pro opened, the solid-state drive and the battery are both removable.

Surface Pro is Microsoft's attempt to bridge the PC and tablet worlds, and is a showcase for its Windows 8 operating system. The company is hoping big businesses will consider its tablet, which can run legacy Windows programs, over the Apple's iPad, which recently got a 128GB version to better compete in the enterprise segment.

iFixit's teardown of the Surface Pro Screenshot taken by Roger Cheng/CNET

Surface Pro: Microsoft tries to bridge PC and tablet (pictures)

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