Admittedly, there’s plenty of room for improvement here, but it’s an impressive leap over the last generation. The publication made particular note of easily upgraded SSDs, standard screws, and a display that can be removed without heat. The result is a tablet that’s still a fiddly affair to fix, but one that’s slowly catching up to the likes of Huawei and HP. It also beats ou the iPad Pro 11″, which scored a dismal 3/10.
Still, the main thing holding the Pro X back is the inability to easily replace the battery. As with the years before it, it’s glued down with its connector pinned under the motherboard. Batteries are the most common element to degrade out of warranty, so it’s a shame. Additionally, that 13″ 2280×1920 display must be removed to perform almost any repairs. Though the procedure has improved, you could still cause damage when prying it open if you aren’t careful. The score bump follows a similar revelation with the Surface Laptop 3. Its predecessor scored 0, making it one of the least repairable in its category. It was basically impossible to open without damage, while CPU, RAM, storage, and battery were all glued down. Conversely, the Laptop 3 is easily opened, with fully modular easy access to its M.2 SSD. The battery is still glued down, but many components are now modular, if not difficult to access. With the Surface Pro X teardown out, it’ll be interesting to see how the Pro 7 compares.
