Gadgetory

on the outside Microsoft's surface 2 may look like its predecessor the surface RT but it has a completely redesigned interior and as I'll show you today it's unfortunately a real pain to disassemble and repair I'm bill Detweiler and this is cracking open the surface to is ever so slightly thinner and lighter than the original surface RT but from the outside you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference now that doesn't mean however that they're identical far from it the surface too has a new two position kickstand a micro SD card slot it's been moved down a little bit and the case screws are no longer visible on the outside now these subtle external differences pale when compared to the massive internal hardware and design changes for starters the surface 2 now has two microphones stereo speakers USB 3 port better cameras a new 1920 by 1080 screen and a faster 1.7 gigahertz Tegra 4 processor unfortunately when making all these hardware upgrades Microsoft also completely reworked the tablets internal design and in doing so made the surface too much more difficult to crack open and repair than its predecessor opening last year's surface RT began by removing the tablets back cover not so with the surface 2 like the Apple iPad cracking open this tablet requires heating the edges of the front panel to loosen the adhesive underneath now at the same time you'll need to gently pry the panel loose with thin tools unlike the iPad however some of the surfaces internal components and external trim pieces are made from plastic which can warp if overheated now once the front panel is finally loose you can lift it up from the body and lay it face down now you'll need to detach the board that connects the panel to the motherboard before you can completely remove it with the front panel removed we get our first look inside the surface 2 at the completely new internal design the internal hardware is mounted to the surface twos buddy with the front panel and display being a single removable unit now the surface Arty's hardware on the other hand was actually mounted to the front panel and display assembly which also served as the tablets body to dissect the insides of the new surface I first removed the plastic bezel that runs along the outer edge next to come out where the new stereo speakers followed by the volume button and the upgraded front and rear facing cameras after detaching several cables from the motherboard and removing a series of screws I can finally lift out the board removing the motherboards metal shields reveals the new Tegra 4 sock and most of the tablets other chips now turning our attention back to the surfaces body the last component to come out is the power connector and micro SD card reader assembly as the battery is firmly glued to the body I'm going to leave it in place rather than risk damaging it during removal likewise I'm going to leave the vibration motor kickstand hinges docking connector and the clicking keyboard magnets alone they're clearly visible without being removed now it's been a frustrating process but our teardown is finally complete the surface 2 is definitely an improvement over last year's model when it comes to hardware specifications and performance kudos to Microsoft for that but it has also officially become the most difficult to crack open tablet I've ever worked on the front panel adhesive is incredibly hard to work around there are more than 60 screws inside the case of all different sizes and most of the motherboard connectors are extremely fragile and easily broken now I can only hope that Microsoft makes some major design changes for next year's model now for more information on the surface to including real world tests and pricing information check out Eric Franklin's full CNET review to see more teardown photos and read my full hardware analysis go to TechRepublic comm forward slash crack nope I'm bill Detweiler thanks for watching