If you are unfamiliar with iFixit, the company tests hardware to reveal how easy repairs are to make. Customers buying the Surface Pro 6 will certainly not be making repairs to the device themselves. Indeed, iFixit says the hybrid is as hard to repair as any of its predecessors. Aside from Intel’s 8th generation quad-core CPU, iFixit says the Pro 6 is almost equal to last year’s Surface Pro. In fact, the company is somewhat scathing of the product, calling it a Surface Pro + Black, referencing the new black colorway. That means the battery and display remained glued in. Unlike previous Surface models, the Pro 6 has non-removeable storage. There are some positives in the report, albeit minor ones. iFixit was pleased Microsoft uses standard screws and direct compatibility with the Surface Pro screen. Still, the company gives the Surface Pro 6 a 1/10 in terms of repairability: “We found the same glued-shut (dare we say disposable?) 1/10 repairability score tablet we’ve seen for the past few years. No upgradability, no USB-C, a glued-in battery with a limited life—but hey, it comes in black,” wrote iFixit.
Don’t Break Your Surface
We can now wait for the teardown report on the Surface Laptop 2, which should arrive soon. However, we are not expecting good results considering the first Surface Laptop scored 0/10. It’s a similar story across the Surface range, with the Surface Book 2 being called nearly unfixable and scoring 0/10 last year. While fixability may be important, consumers have shown they don’t place it as a defining factor when buying hardware. We guess the Surface Pro 6 will sell well either way. Speaking of which, the device (alongside the Surface Laptop 2) launched in 10 nations yesterday.
