It’s the end of the year and here at iFixit, we like to take some time to reflect on the devices
that we have taken apart. Including the ones that have impressed us the most and the
ones that we're pretty disapointed with. Here are the least repairable devices of 2017.
You’d think Laptops would be easy enough to make repairable but our teardown of the
2017 Retina Macbook showed exactly how to make one that is practically impossible to
repair.
With it’s RAM, Flash Memory AND processors all being soldered to the logic board, a battery
that is thoroughly glued to the lower-case and a fused retina display, Apple has made
a laptop that is impossible to upgrade and extremely difficult to fix.
As a result we gave it a 1 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
Tablets have never been super repairable devices, but considering an HP Tablet scored a perfect
10 out 10, you’d think Apple could do better than a 2.
Which is what the 2017 version of the iPad Scored.
Not only was it glued shut, just like all the other iPads, the front panel connector
was trapped under the LCD, there were gobs of adhesive holding just about everything
in place, and the LCD was adhered to the front panel making it more likely to be shattered
during disassembly.
When you find yourself trying to freeze a phone open you know the score is going to
be low, and that’s just what happened with this years Essential phone.
Heat was no match for the adhesive on the Essential phone so we broke out the freeze
spray. and thanks to nearly invisible seams on the display caused us to shattered the
glass trying to get the phone open.
Not only that, but the USB-C port was also soldered to the motherboard.
All things considered it’s no surprise the Essential phone scored a 1 out of 10.
When it came to the worst of the worst for the year, there really wasn't much competition.
Microsoft released a series of products that didn't even scored above a 1.
The Surface Pro 5 was first to get a 1 out of 10 due to it’s glued in display and battery,
non standard connectors and it’s no longer replaceable SSD.
And then Came the Surface book 2 which also scored a 1 out of 10, thanks to its fused
glass panel and LCD, RAM and processor that was soldered to the motherboard, and due to some
tricky to access connector which made any of the repairs you could do require a full
motherboard removal.
But nothing prepared us for the Surface Laptop, a glued together monstrosity that required
literally tearing the device apart to get in.
Once we were in things didn’t improve much.
The CPU, Ram and onboard storage were all soldered to the motherboard,
and lastly the battery was firmly glued in place.
When it was all finally over the Surface laptop walked away with an staggering 0 out of 10.
We’re hoping 2018 will bring us devices that are much easier to repair, but in the
meantime, if you want to relive our pain we’ve got links to all the teardowns I’ve mentioned
in the description below.
and have a happy New Year!
Links