Hacking Surface Pro 3 (hardware)

[brice]

Has anyone been crazy enough to actually try this.
http://gladreview.com/how-to-upgrade-surface-pro-3-storage-to-1t-msata-ssd/

From what I could see in teardown videos, you'd have to be pretty careful, there's a ribbon cable running along the bottom of the case.

 

[GreyFox7]

I'm thinking you could just open the back with a can opener

 

[VickiFL]

Are you talking about something like this? It sounds complicated and not really doable.

 

[daniielrp]

Yeh pretty sure iFixit smashed the screen in their teardown as it is glued in place and you can't access anything unless this is removed. I believe MS/Apple/whoever have a chemical that can break down the glue for recycling purposes, but you'd have to submerge the entire thing in it for this to work, which will probably destroy the internals...

 

[hughlle]

This looks like an appalling work around. No way in hell im going to cut a hole in the back of my surface and glue it back on. Nah, ill just buy a usb hdd thanks. If having a large hdd was that important then id have just bought an appropriate device to start with.

 

[malberttoo]

This looks like an appalling work around. No way in hell im going to cut a hole in the back of my surface and glue it back on. Nah, ill just buy a usb hdd thanks. If having a large hdd was that important then id have just bought an appropriate device to start with.

Totally agree.

 

[hughlle]

Totally agree.

Not to mention that a phrase like "Or maybe you can use supper glow to stick metal at back of screw and release it." really fills me with confidence in the author.

 

[mohcho]

The case is NOT plastic. It's magnesium and you would risk damaging the internal components if you tried to cut an opening from the back. Would be so not worth it to try that.

 

[GreyFox7]

The reality of it. looking at the video Vicki posted you can see the SSD is screwed in from the top side so you would not be able to get the screws out. However that's irrelevant because the SSD is located on the top side of the circuit board as well so it's completely inaccessible from the back side. When the SSD is removed you see a black plastic insulator under the SSD separating it from the motherboard.

 

[VickiFL]

The reality of it. looking at the video Vicki posted you can see the SSD is screwed in from the top side so you would not be able to get the screws out. However that's irrelevant because the SSD is located on the top side of the circuit board as well so it's completely inaccessible from the back side. When the SSD is removed you see a black plastic insulator under the SSD separating it from the motherboard.

In that video, even being extremely careful with a heat gun, he shatters the screen. After I watched this video, it made me think Microsoft made it difficult on purpose, something the consumer cannot easily do. I'd sure love to know how they do it when they refurb a unit.

 

[hughlle]

In that video, even being extremely careful with a heat gun, he shatters the screen. After I watched this video, it made me think Microsoft made it difficult on purpose, something the consumer cannot easily do. I'd sure love to know how they do it when they refurb a unit.

Its in their (not our) best interest to make it hard. It might be annoying for us, but the way i see it right now, good on them. They need people buying the more expensive models. Only good for us in the long run. More money coming in from surface, more incentive to invest in research and development for the nnext model

And no doubt ms have hugely expensive pieces of equipment at hand to do it perfectly, not some guy in his spare room with a heat gun and some hand picks.

 

[GreyFox7]

In that video, even being extremely careful with a heat gun, he shatters the screen. After I watched this video, it made me think Microsoft made it difficult on purpose, something the consumer cannot easily do. I'd sure love to know how they do it when they refurb a unit.

I'm pretty sure it's done with a machine/tool purpose built for the task. Imagine a unit with heating that will heat all around the edge to the required temperature then separates screen from the body will just enough force but less than the tensile strength of the glass. Breakage will only occur in the ones that have been structurally compromised, cracked, or fractured.