earlier this week we tore down the
Microsoft Surface studio and one thing
we heard loud and clear was that you
wanted to look inside the surface dial
the surface dial is Microsoft's
brand-new input device that attaches to
the screen of the studio and it allows
users to access menus and make
selections using both scroll and click
want to see inside this thing me too
let's tear it down how do you get inside
the surface dial well you start by
removing the rubber foot which has no
visible fasteners in fact this thing is
held on by magnets once inside you'll
find the two triple A batteries that
power the puck with no obvious hints on
how to get any further we break out our
prying tools and let's just say the
surface dials solid construction led to
some aggressive snapping and a slightly
broken mid frame the underside of the
battery frame reveals those grippy
magnets there are four magnets evenly
spaced around that secure the magnetic
cover and provide the dial with a little
extra grip on the studio screen turning
our attention back to the puck we notice
the dial spinning action and the single
access hole that gives us access to each
of the t6 screws holding the body into
the silver cover this reveal also makes
us doubt our choice of entry into the
device after finding a sneaky sticker on
the battery frame we reveal what could
be a plugged access port that would line
up with the three screws holding the
dial in place this could potentially be
a better way to get into the surface
dial hopefully Microsoft will let us
know for future disassemblies we unscrew
the guts of the puck from the outer
casing and pop the bearing apart a
plastic cage for the ball bearings gives
the nub a high-end and slightly
resistant feel to scrolling the mid
frame reveals too springy post opposite
the switch evening out clicking pressure
making it feel the same no matter where
you press there aren't a ton of chips on
the board but the one we see most
readily is the Nordic semiconductor
Bluetooth Low Energy system-on-chip just
like every device we tear down no matter
how large or small we'd like to talk
about repairability
how did the surface dial score it got a
4 out of 10 and here's why on the upside
you can swap in ordinary rechargeable
triple-a batteries in seconds with no
tools while it is durable and repairs
are unlikely the components most likely
to fail can't be replaced
without damaging the device but on the
downside the haptic vibration motor is
cemented down with some spectacular ly
tough glue and finally you won't be
servicing anything here without a guide
and courage enough to drill out the
plastic plug guarding the single well
hidden access point and that's our
teardown for the complete teardown
including tons of beautiful high-quality
images head on over to ifixit.com
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