UPDATED 06:31 EST / NOVEMBER 04 2015

NEWS

Trying to fix Microsoft’s new Surface Book will add years to your life

Microsoft’s ‘ultimate laptop’, the Surface Book, is going to be a handful if you attempt to repair it yourself, reports reveal. Touted by most critics as a supreme device leading an evolution of laptops, it also just received a rather embarrassing score of 1/10 by ifixit.com concerning how it might be put back together if something goes wrong.

The design of the Surface Book is one of its most charming features, but according to ifixit, that also means it’s an absolute nightmare to take apart. Firstly, getting into the Surface Book is extremely difficult as apparently Microsoft used plenty of glue to fix down the cover, batteries and screen, along with the all the screws and soldering used for other parts of the machine.

“Getting this thing out is going to be challenging,” says ifixit, relating to the “sprawling” motherboard. The motherboard is placed upside down with many of the components on the underside of it. Just getting to a component, the site says, is a very daunting task.

Rounding-up why the Surface Book gets the worst score on ifixit’s fixability scale, it says that following a tricky opening procedure, “The display assembly consists of a fused glass panel and LCD, and it’s difficult to remove and replace.” The site goes on to add that the, “Processor and RAM are soldered to the motherboard”, adding again that strong adhesive holds many of the components in place.

The conclusion: if you want to take the Surface Book apart don’t bother, instead it’s probably better to take advantage of your warrantee. As it also looks like Microsoft might be opening more flagship stores, and has said it will fix any devices running Windows 10, more customer support is on its way.

Photo credit: David Goehring via Flickr

Since you’re here …

… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.

If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.