Introducción
Ir al paso 1Microsoft has decided once again to grace their laptops tablets Surfaces with numbers. This year’s Surface Pro 6 comes with a sleek new black paint job and the first-ever quad-core processor in a Surface device! What else will we find inside? Only one way to find out—let’s tear it down!
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New Surface, new specs (sorta):
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12.3" PixelSense display with 2736 × 1824 resolution (267 ppi)
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8th-Gen (Kaby Lake R) quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Intel UHD Graphics 620
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8 GB RAM (16 GB optional)
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128 GB solid-state storage (256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB configurations optional)
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8 MP rear-facing camera with 1080p video, and 5 MP / 1080p front-facing Windows Hello camera
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USB 3.0, microSDXC, Mini DisplayPort, SurfaceConnect, and 3.5 mm audio ports
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802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1
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Looks like we have an extra Surface Pro 6—err, wait, one of those is last year's Surface Pro.
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Well, on the outside not much has changed from last year. Still the same case, hinge, and relatively healthy number of ports.
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We have to look pretty close to tell these Surfaces apart. Even the model number under the kickstand is the same as last year: 1796.
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Herramienta utilizada en este paso:iOpener$17.99
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The Surface Pro series has a few different configurations, and they all come standard with upgraded adhesive.
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Fortunately, we've got a tried-and-true recipe for Surface screen separation success:
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Step 1: apply iOpener liberally.
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Step 2: grab an Opening Pick and a Suction Handle, and fight for dear life through Microsoft's gauntlet of adhesive.
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Step 3 (optional): get impatient, break screen.
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Luckily, we don't run into any surprises as we free the display—everything's pretty much the same as before, save for an extra display cable compared to the Surface Go.
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We interrupt this disassembly to bring you display chips!
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Microsoft X904169, possibly N-Trig's Surface Pen controller and X904163 (likely touchscreen line driver)
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Analogix ANX2604, possibly a DisplayPort converter.
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Macronix MX25U1635F 16 Mb serial NOR flash memory
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Silicon Works SW5077 power management
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Likely Silicon Mitus SM4063B programmable gamma buffer
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LG makes this display, which seems suspiciously similar to the one we found on the Surface Pro 5.
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With the display out of the way, we can get to the good stuff.
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It seems Microsoft has been meddling with their passive cooler a bit—it looks like last year's, but with an extra little pipe down the left side—plus some funky heat-spreading pads.
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Looking south, the similarities continue, with a quad-cell battery taking up most of the case.
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On the plus side, all the screws so far are standard Torx. Let's get to twirling them out!
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Searching for the gold at the end of the heatsink, we peel back some ... things. The Surface Pro 4 had a copper heat spreader, but these look like graphite.
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Looking under those heat spreaders didn't lead to any gold, but we're free to remove the heatsink now.
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With the heatsink dispatched, we have access to the heat generators—all that silicon!
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New chips and stale chips (mostly the latter):
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Intel Core i5-8250U processor
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Samsung K4E6E304EB-EGCF 2GB LPDDR3 DRAM (4 chips for 8 GB total)
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SK Hynix HFB1M8M0331A (BC501) 128 GB NVMe SSD
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Winbond 25Q128JVPQ 128Mb serial flash memory
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Marvell W8897 802.11ac, NFC, and Bluetooth SoC
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Nuvoton NPCT650SBCWX Trusted Platform Module
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Realtek RTS5343 microSD card reader controller
As it is soldered onto the motherboard, replacing it would be highly unlikely. However, it may be possible to install additional memory, as there seems to be a spare empty pad for lower memory configurations (see area left of yellow marking in Step 7).
was there space to add RAM to the 8GB version?
I have to replace the SSD. I’m able to solder and I want to try it, but I don’t find this SSD on the market (I'm writing from Italy).
Can someone help me to find a compatible 128GB SSD in Europe? Thanks a lot!
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IC Identification, pt. 2:
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Monolithic Power Systems MP2949A tri-loop digital multi-phase controller w/ PMBus interface
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Monolithic Power Systems NB681 6 A synchronous buck converter
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Monolithic Power Systems NB679A and NB680GD 8 A synchronous buck converter
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Monolithic Power Systems NB685A 12 A synchronous buck converter
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Monolithic Power Systems MP86901-A and MP86902-B power phase
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Texas Instruments CSD87334Q3D 20 A power block
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Texas Instruments TLV62085 3 A step-down converter
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IC Identification, pt. 3:
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Texas Instruments TPS62140 2 A step-down converter
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Texas Instruments TPS62175 0.5 A step down converter
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Monolithic Power Systems MP3376A 8-ch. WLED driver
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Monolithic Power Systems MP2370DGT white LED driver
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Texas Instruments TPS70933 150 mA LDO regulator
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Texas Instruments TPS3700 18 V voltage detector
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Texas Instruments TLV3011 comparator w/ voltage reference
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IC Identification, pt. 4:
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Bosch Sensortec BMI160 3-axis accelerometer/gyroscope
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Bosch Sensortec BMA254 accelerometer (likely)
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ON Semiconductor CAT24C16 16 Kb serial EEPROM memory and Winbond W25X40CL 4 Mb serial NOR flash memory
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Texas Instruments SN74AVC2T245 dual-supply bus transceiver
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Texas Instruments TS3USB30E high-speed USB 2.0 1:2 mux/demux switch
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Nexperia (formerly NXP Semiconductor) 74LVC125A 3-state quad buffer/line driver
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Nexperia (formerly NXP Semiconductor) 74AUP1G32 2-input OR-gate
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We've once again come to that inevitable junction in any Surface teardown: take out the heavily-glued battery, or leave it be?
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Considering there are no stretch release battery tabs, and we've had our fill of prying, we opt to let the beast slumber for now.
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This battery weighs in at 45 Wh (7.57 V x 5940 mAh), exactly the same as last year.
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That's expectedly larger than its more mobile sibling, and even a little larger than the most recent iPad.
I saw someone on youtube using heat gun at the back of battery, is that safe?
We strongly discourage heating a battery with a heat gun, as there is a substantial risk of a thermal event.
Can I use pro 5 battery inside the pro 6?
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Really scraping the bottom of the
barrelcase, hoping for something new, we pull out the speakers and cameras. -
The cameras are still hidden under the bracket holding the antennas (which are incredibly easy to mangle upon opening).
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The speakers are still corner mounted triangles for that surround sound feel.
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I guess there's not much this tablet could do to raise its repairability score at this point.... But a fixer can dream...
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Here's a shucked Surface for your viewing pleasure! In theory this is a tablet, but in our reality it was a pain in the butt!
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The Surface Pro 6 brings more processing power (and heat) without changing its cooling solution much. Will the new thermal spreaders on the heat sink be enough to handle the power boost? Only time will tell.
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After hearing rumors of a modular Studio, we were hoping this generation of Surface Pro would steer that direction. Alas, it's just as un-upgradable and un-repairable as ever, and it doesn't even get a USB-C port.
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- To the extent that screws are used, they are all standard Torx fasteners.
- This tablet still has a headphone jack, which is modular and replaceable, if you can get to it.
- All repairs require first removing the display assembly—which is stubbornly glued in place, expensive, and prone to shattering.
- The battery is firmly glued in place, with its connector pinned under the motherboard—requiring near-total disassembly for service.
- Once upon a time, Surface Pro storage was removable—but not in this version.
- Complex construction makes all disassembly and reassembly tedious in comparison to other tablets.
Consideraciones Finales
Calificación de Reparabilidad
(10 es lo más fácil de reparar)
28 comentarios
Is it better a SKhynix HFB1M8M0331A (BC501) 128 GB NVMe SSD instead of a a SSD m.2 slot like in the surface 4? now there is no way we can change the ssd :/
Its to save space I guess. Whats strange is my surface pro 6 is the same config i5 128 and it has samsung SSD. They must have switched vendors.
Ash -
Excellent tutorial, the director of IFIX I suggest on the page add a translator of languages in Spanish as well as activate the multilanguage translation of the videos of YOUTUBE so you will socialize the knowledge of your pipelines in all languages! Not the whole planet speaks or reads in English!
Hi Johan! This teardown has been translated into SIX non-English languages, including Spanish! Hope this helps!
What kind of a world do we live in where an iPad gets a higher repairability score than a Windows tablet?
Apparently, the Windows device manufacturers have taken a lot of profitability cues from Apple. At least in technology sector, the history seems to be somewhat cyclical.
The marketing is working too, reviews are great. I got pulled in too, been a long time mac user (had windows pcs, and chromebooks as well.) I swore mac was the way to go for the past few years, but now I see no reason to buy a mac, I’m all in on these windows Surface devices. I passed up an ipad pro, gaming pc, and pixel slate to buy a surface pro because for someone like me who needs a pc at home and on the go with decent specs, nothing beats a surface pro.
Ash -
Planned Obsolescence. If we could easily repair these things, then sales of their $600 - $3000 items go down. It’s a profit/greed/numbers game. Some of us are thankfully more stubborn then they are and refuse to give them that pleasure. I will learn the ways around this device when my Pro 3 and Book1/Performance base (this one is still under warranty) finally die.
The model number for the Surface Pro 6 is actually 1824. The 1796 model number refers to the Surface Pro 5 or Surface 2017. Make sure if you are buying screen to fix you get it for the Surface Pro 6 or 1824. Cheers.
The Surface Pro 6 in our teardown was definitely 1796—you can tell for sure it’s a 6 because of the hardware changes and the updated processor from Intel. It’s entirely possible they’re using more than one model number. There’s some discussion about this here.
1824 model belongs to Microsoft Surface Go.
nochkin -
muy buen tutorial, muchas gracias
Any chance for a Surface Pro 7 teardown?
I have to say, even though Surface Pro tabs are scoring like a 1 forever on iFixit, I’ve 2 model 1’s and they still run like clockwork. Microsoft might have glued all together, but the machines a extremely reliable. And since the OS is open, you can’t go much wrong. I would not want to use a 2013 iPad 4 today, yet a Surface Pro 1 is a fine machine in 2019. Even the battery is pretty usuable today at 80% (for both similar scores) capacity.
Where do we get the replacement screens? I had a repair person suggest I just buy a new computer, and that that would be cheeper.
wlaketahoe@gmail.com
I have a Surface Pro 6. The battery is down. Does it mean it is irreplaceable??
Hi Vida,
The battery is replaceable, but it is very difficult to do without damaging the display. The battery is also heavily glued in. If you could find a replacement battery, I would suggest taking your Surface Pro 6 to an experienced repair shop to get the battery replaced.
Did it have m.2 ?
And how much M.2 INSIDE?
As you can see in this step, it has soldered-on NVMe storage.
Does anyone know if the surface pro 5 battery is compatible with the 6?
excellent teardown guide, i’ll be using it soon I think - question I have is; my system fails to power on at all, I’ve tried various ‘reset’ guides, ‘wake from sleep guides’’, no splash screen, nothing except battery charge light. have replaced battery chargers w/new one, and to no avail, still no power on to screen. would suspect be battery? BQ25700A battery buck-boost charge controller? or another quirky chip on the system board or item preventing even a flash of lite on the system screen, keyboard?
did you ever find a solution to this?
I have a Surface Pro 6, and it identifies the SSD as a Samsung-made one. This is how it is identified in the Task Manager:
Disk 0 (C:)
SAMSUNG KUS020203M-B000
Capacity: 119 GB
Formatted: 119 GB
System disk: Yes
Page file: Yes
Type: SSD
Read speed 8.2 KB/s
Write speed 4.1 KB/s
Active time 1%
Average response time 4.5 ms
Can the hard drive be recovered in the 6?
