it wasn't too long ago we were tearing
down the surface pro 2 and lamenting
over its dismal score of 1 out of 10 on
our repairability scale come to think of
it the original surface pro scored a 1
as well the surface pro line has been
the stuff of repair nightmares will the
surface pro 3 be deja vu all over again
let's get the surface pro 3 on our
teardown table and find out
[Music]
hi I'm Gwendolyn with iFixit and today
we're tearing down the brand new surface
pro 3 the surface pro 3 is Microsoft's
attempt at creating a tablet that has
the power of a laptop and the
portability and functions of a tablet
right off the bat you'll notice the
surface pro 3 is larger than its
predecessor measuring in at 290 2.1
millimeters by 200 1.4 millimeters by
9.1 millimeters and weighs in at 800
grams other than the increase in size
the surface remains pretty similar in
appearance to its previous generation
one thing you will find different is the
updated kickstand which now allows for a
wider variety of positioning before we
started cracking this thing open we
checked out the many ports including the
full size USB 3.0 mini display and cover
port and if you're looking for a microSD
slot you'll find it underneath the
kickstand we decided to use the same
method of entry as the surface pro 2
which means heat and lots of pics but we
weren't even halfway around the device
when all of a sudden the display cracks
Microsoft worked hard on making the
three more portable even going as far as
making the display glass thinner this
does not bode well for ruggedness or
repairs my advice get a sturdy case as
soon as you can we would never let a
crack display stop us from continuing
our tear down with a little packing tape
applied to the cracked areas we continue
around the surface of the surface
alternating blast of heat from our eye
opener and gentle prying from our picks
we're finally able to get our first look
inside and wouldn't you know it it looks
pretty much like the inside of a surface
bring the display proved a little more
challenging than expected thanks to some
unfriendly metal spring brackets but
once our spudger had its way with them
we were able to remove the display this
is or was at 12 inch clear type Full HD
plus IPS L
CD with a resolution of 2160 by 1440 on
the other side of the display we notice
the touch screen controller that is
affixed to the back of the display this
little guy is what provides the
necessary tech that allows the surface
pin its pressure-sensitive abilities
after a long battle with the display our
text felt the need to take a breather
and tackle something simple how about
the SSD it's just held in place by a
couple of screws this little guy has a
128 gigabyte capacity and was
manufactured by SK Hynix to get a closer
look at the battery we had to scrape and
scrape a tar-like substance to free it
from the rear case think we're joking
about the amount of adhesive well the
residue left after scraping the battery
out was strong enough to hold this
inverted pint glass Microsoft does not
skimp in the glue department as careful
as we were with removing the battery it
still ended up looking a bit different
by the time we got it out this is the
7.6 volt 5500 47 milliamp hour battery
that Microsoft claims will give you up
to nine hours of web browsing before we
got to the motherboard we had to deal
with a ton of dark sticky adhesive and
once we did we were able to free this
slim board that is home to the five
megapixel front facing camera next to
come out was the fan and heatsink combo
unit this cooling unit resembles a
laptop cooling system more than anything
we've seen in a tablet lately and maybe
we found the reason why below it on the
motherboard the motherboard is home to
the brains of our surface pro 3 a fourth
generation Intel Core i5 processor the
surface pro 3 can also be customized to
have either an i3 or an i7 chips other
chips of note on the motherboard include
the a gigabytes of Samsung lpddr3 ramp
and the Marvell wireless Bluetooth 4.0
and NFC combo chips there's not much
left on the surface pro 3 just a few
odds and ends
first up the everything cable which was
glued to the case and included the
headphone jack volume and power buttons
and the vibrator next were the microSD
and charging ports that only took the
removal of a couple of screws to get out
and lastly the rear camera came out it
like it's front-facing counter point is
also a 5 megapixel camera
I guess Microsoft is not really looking
to capture the tablet photographer
market with this version of the surface
pro we've come to the end of our
teardown which means it's time to talk
repairability and iFixit it's our
mission to teach people how to repair
everything so we give every gadget we
tear down a repair ability score between
one and ten ten being the easiest to
repair and one being the most difficult
the Microsoft Surface pro 3 scored a
dismal one out of 10 and here's why on
the positive side the SSD can be
replaced however doing this repair risk
seriously damaging your tablet simply by
opening it and on the downside the
display assembly consists of a fused
glass panel and LCD and is extremely
difficult to remove and replace there is
tons of adhesive holding everything in
place including the display and battery
and finally the delicate and arduous
opening procedure leaves no room for
mistakes one slip-up and you'll be out
of the screen and that's our teardown
for the complete teardown including tons
of beautiful high-quality images head on
over to ifixit.com don't forget to
subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay
up-to-date on all our latest tear downs
and repair videos you can follow us on
Twitter at I fix it and give us a like
on facebook at facebook.com/ slash I fix
it
you