Outside of upgraded processors and a fresh matte black finish, the new Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 are virtually identical to their predecessors, and it looks like that extends to the difficulty of self-repairs as well. The folks at iFixit have dug into both devices, revealing that they're just as difficult to crack into as last year's Surface Pro and the original Surface Laptop, making repairs a pain.
For the Surface Pro 6, iFixit gave the device a "repairability" score (a one-to-ten scale on how easy something is to repair) of one out of 10. That's the exact same score given out to the 2017 Surface Pro, and it largely comes down to the newer tablet's complex construction. You're required to perform the delicate task of removing the display to get access to the Surface Pro 6's internals, at which point you're pretty limited in what you can replace. That's due to a combination of components that are either glued into place or unremovable.
Scoring even lower, however, is the Surface Laptop 2, which achieved the same zero out of 10 score as its predecessor. The low score comes down to the fact that you essentially have to destroy the Alcantara keyboard cover to get at the internals. Complicating things even further are the CPU, RAM, and storage, which are all soldered in place.
If you're big into repairing your own devices, the low scores here are no doubt a blow. But, for most people, the delicate task of repairing a laptop or tablet on their own doesn't even factor into the equation. If something goes wrong, it's likely most would opt to seek a return or take advantage of their warranty. Still, this presents a problem for devices that are outside of their warranty period, at which point buyers might prefer to avoid potentially costly replacements.
If you're unfazed by things like repair scores, the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 are available now starting at $899 and $999, respectively.
