Cracking Open - The Microsoft Surface Pro

Bill Detwiler cracks open the Microsoft Surface Pro and finds a laptop-like tablet that's extremely difficult to service and repair.

[adebolaosibo]

Thank you for this post. The information is still relevant and useful. I had a Surface pro that was still working but the battery swelled up and was no longer holding a charge. I had to connect the charger to use it. Microsoft service center said that they no longer repair that model so I bought a replacement battery on ebay and used the instructions above to replace the battery. Although the above instructions were not complete, I learned a few things along the way and successfully replaced the battery. My Microsoft Surface pro has a new lease of life. I've got windows 10 on it and a 512gb flash drive in addition to the 64gb rom, so it will serve me for a few more years. Regards.

[ashleylyn]

i wanted to see how you put it back together and got the seal like new again

[Schnapsbrennor]

I'm typing this on the Pro that I got about when you uploaded this and I still prefer it over everything else I used since then. Only the battery connector is driving me crazy. thanks for your video. i might need it, cause my battery starts to fall apart, after over 7 years.

[John_Mack]

It’s 2019 and my 2013 Surface Pro 2 is still working fine and as such I have no need to get inside it....

[kaseyflemingart]

would the system still boot with the screen removed and using only the mini display adapter? I would like to make sure everything is working before gluing the screen back on....

[seraph]

Not directly. People report trouble with getting the device to recognize larger SSD's. a solution has been floating around where you would make a byte copy (image) of the original SSD and dump it to the larger SSD. Align the image to 0, and then expand the partition to fill the new larger SSD.

[csxv]

In replying to the other comment, the digitizer is not soldered to the motherboard, I've done it so I know, not sure where you're getting your information, go to ifixit and do a little research.

I attached the screen & digitizer back to the surface using the 3m double sided tape for digitizers, you can get it off of eBay. It's a universal tape, I got the wider tape and I've had no issues with the screen coming off.

[gusdog]

I have one of these and found this helpful. I'm on it now. What is not mentioned is that even the upscale keyboard is deficient and often comes detatched!

[kim]

What temperature setting are you using with your heat gun? Thanks

[nclauser]

The green screen effects are fantastic

[sentritiumnetwork]

What you were using that heatgun for, Ifix it developed a tool to do it much more safely. Bought it to repair my surface

[overlordnicksclips]

i dont see why not (128 is probably as big as they get in that size though)
but i don't see why anyone would go though all this for any reason, plus afterwards you have to glue the screen back on

[txmoney]

Surface Pro is an amazing achievement in design, power, and portability. It essentially created a category of its own...a full powered pc in a tablet form factor. The keyboards are also quite an achievement in design and functionality. And lastly, Windows8 finally makes sense using a touch screen tablet. I own an ipad3, galaxy note 10.1, and this Surface. The Surface is what I always wanted in a tablet. Can't wait for version 2 with the intel Haswell chip.

[csxv]

Oh people give me a break, this is easier to service than an iPad and yes I've repaired screens on both. I bought a broken 64gb Surface Pro off Ebay replaced the screen and SSD. I knew nothing about repairing it other than reading all the biased reviews saying how impossible it is, even ifixit says how bad it is. Since I don't believe everything I read I tried anyway and successfully repaired it using the guide on ifixit and installed a 480GB M500 Crucial msata.

Don't believe everything you read, it's not easy I will say that but it's not as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

[jaredzaitz]

im nearly positive that this cooling assembly would work better than the one in my mac book pro

[jaigaines]

This was the best most succinct technology dyi I have ever seen... I love to work for you jaibgaines

[abdullah]

FYI
It already did.
It was posted yesterday

[callmemarc]

I like this guy for the simple fact that he doesn't find it necessary to mention Apple in every single video, differentiating himself from all other CNET employees.

[alfredcarew]

Wow!!
Thank you so much professor now my dilemma of opening my surface pro is solved.

[RobBob]

i use the surface pro 1 as my pain pc.. have done for 4 years straight.. no issues except the heavy weight .. and the power connector is pretty stupid...but i can see what they have attempted to do.. would be better if it was easier to locate into its recces.. all in all a brilliant bit of kit !