Surface Laptop Studio Review Ended in DISASTER
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The Surface Laptop Studio is a new premium windows machine from Microsoft. Too bad they didn't make it easier to open...
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MUSIC CREDIT
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Intro: Laszlo - Supernova
Video Link: • [Electro] - Laszlo - S...
iTunes Download Link: itunes.apple.com/us/album/sup...
Artist Link: / laszlomusic
Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High
Video Link: • Sugar High - Approachi...
Listen on Spotify: spoti.fi/UxWkUw
Artist Link: / approachingnirvana
Intro animation by MBarek Abdelwassaa / mbarek_abdel
Monitor And Keyboard by vadimmihalkevich / CC BY 4.0 geni.us/PgGWp
Mechanical RGB Keyboard by BigBrotherECE / CC BY 4.0 geni.us/mj6pHk4
Mouse Gamer free Model By Oscar Creativo / CC BY 4.0 geni.us/Ps3XfE
CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
0:59 Display and design
2:11 Trackpad, keyboard, and I/O
4:55 Performance
7:32 Pencil shavings
8:59 Aesthetics and convertibility
10:38 Speakers and webcam, wherein Linus makes a bad joke
12:16 Pricing tiers
12:45 The Teardown Experience...
14:44 Internals
17:10 Conclusion
You Sacrificed one surface laptop for the rest of the world to know where the hidden screw is. Thank you Linus!
@@techdictator9116 Good one? What is a "good one" about that? It's not a joke.
@@ToTheGAMES Ikr wtf
Word...
pretty sure if he was just patient enough they would figure out how to get to that screw. although it is unacceptable that manufacturers hide places you need to reach for disassembly, it's also done for aesthetics of the chassis, and that's also catering to casual users who care about the 'clean look'.
I would've run my fingernail along the underside till I felt a dip. Its worked in the past.
"My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined." Mine too, Linus. You broke it without dropping it.
I uploaded my Face Reveal....
39 likes in 3 minutes... how 3 hours now.... HOW TF IS IT 3197
The whole damn video he's just one handing it and tossing it around in his arms and such, I cant believe it wasnt a drop.
lmao
@@LightningSquad I felt that
The two hidden screws on the sides of the laptop are just evil. Do you expect screws under the rubber feat, yes? Do you expect there to be a screw under an obvious sticker? yes. Do you expect there to be a veneer style sticker the same colour as the device, along the entire side, just to hide a screw? No. Never. Its sole function is blatantly just to hide two screws in a way nobody would expect. Also, having the battery's glued to the bottom plate seems to ensure there is another point of failure if you open it up... it would have made zero difference if it was attached to the frame instead.
The sticker isn't to hide the screws, it's for the pen wireless charging which can't be done through metal. So... Hiding the screws is just a convenience.
Also having the battery on the bottom plate makes replacing so much easier as you can work on it without fear of damaging the rest of the device.
Wait until you hear that Dell hides screws under the keyboard. I have a Dell Inpiron 3000 and disassembling it was a pain the butt. I wouldn't know that you'd also need to remove the keyboard and unscrew some couple screws in there for the back cover to come off. 🥴
@@iamwisdomsky I have seen laptops with the keyboard fucking riveted and had to break it off
Now that the screw locations are known, why not remove the sticker hiding the 2 side screws and remove the screws so that furure servicing would be more straightforward?
12:06 Truman starting to realize he's in a TV show
lol
Haha that’s great. “This ones for free 😉”
shutdown mode
@@avexxed6624 thanks for being a fan, babe B)
Microsoft: *Starts a campaign to revamp its right to repair policies, thanks to investor demands.* Surface Team: *Sweats Profusely*
tbf to them they said 2022 for the repairability and this product was designed way before the announcement of the right to repair support thing. and also this laptop is supposed to look minimalist and most of the people who are into devices like these shop in that price range too. but they still shouldn't have made it in such a way that it'd break after taking it apart. it could've been the new test laptop for sound quality over on shortcircuit
@@kaneki1056 Thing is, the fact that you can't open it without looking for hidden screws means you can't even open it to clean it. That's a huge factor for durability of a laptop.
@@clnetrooper fair enough, but then again the people who are into this segment of products probably don't bother to do any kind of cleaning work on it themselves unless they're a tech nerd like some of us. the buyers for it probably get it serviced or some shit if it slows down and won't be worried about having to pay to get it checked or something. although i do think that they could've hidden the screws in such a way that it's easy to access and remove them without fucking other stuff up. they're a huge company and i'm sure they could've figured it out
The heck are these replies?
@@Leonard.L.Church I've reported them :P
"you'll have a website up in a matter of hours, maybe even less if your standards are as low as ours." Gotta love the sponsor spots on LTT vids.
@@pumpuppthevolume nah fuck that, Linus gives me free entertainment, I might as well watch the single ad that pops up.
I legit read this comment right as he said the ad in the video. Very strange feeling haha.
The irony that this device is actually "relatively repairable" by Surface standards. My Surface 3 is basically e-waste when its RAM, battery, and SSD aren't enough anymore. Both are soldered on, and getting into this thing is a NIGHTMARE.
exactly, my sp3 works relatively well till it isn't. now it just sits under my tv as an entertainment set. barely able to do anything other than light browsing and movies. battery is worse too
Yeah, I got a used Surface Pro 3, because it seemed so cool. And yes, Microsoft outdid Apple three ways: 1. It's better than an iPad; 2. It's more expensive than an iPad; 3. It's harder to repair than an iPad.
@@michaelwright2986 Was thinking about getting an used surface pro 5, and this makes me drop the idea like a hot potato
@@mikairu2944 I bought a Surface Pro 3 used at a good price, thinking I could replace the battery if it needed it. Only then I discovered that replacing the battery is like open heart surgery, and the most professional sounding outfit who gave me a quote said they only gave themselves a 50% chance of opening it up without cracking the screen. It's a great device--really, really good, and if you can get a good price which allows for the fact that you will not be able to replace the battery, I wouldn't want to persuade you against it. But you need to know about the unrepairability, first. Also, I thought I would run Linux on it, which kind of worked, but not perfectly, and I don't know enough to do all the tweaking that's needed to get it really smooth. Pity: Linux Mint on a Surface would be such a calm, convenient device to take with you everywhere. I think Microsoft offers an exchange scheme for Surfaces: unfortunately, that's no longer available for the Pro 3, but you might look into the costs of that and budget for it for when the battery life gets too low for you.
Got really annoyed that I took the time to learn how to switch the screen on my Surface Pro 4(which got the hardware failure that happens to pretty much all Surface Pro 4 screens), only for the battery to die two months later...
“We are never ever ever.. putting it back together” -Taylor swift tips
hahahaha
Manufacturers be like: "With today's compact high performance electronics it's impossible to make them without hiding screws under stickers to prevent them from being user serviceable."
Framework: _GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU PEASANTS_
"Our proprietary sticker technology allows for the thinnest possible laptop. " Wouldn't it be thinner WITHOUT the anti-repair sticker?
@@goosebyte it's not even thin either
Fair phone : *what?*
Hiding screws under stickers doesn't prevent it from being user serviceable. However it does prevent consumers from retain the same levels of fit and finish after servicing. I visited the local Best Buy and took a look at the SLS unit on display there. The "stair tread" is one continuous piece around the unit, with no apparent seam around the pen charging area. If that doesn't give away the fact that it's plastic I don't know what does. The tread cover piece has a different feel to the touch than rest of the chassis as well. To be fair to Linus, he was going in blind, and the Microsoft rep he was in contact with fed him bad information. Had he investigated further he could've figured it out, but production schedule and all that. I don't think there's anything awfully wrong with the path of entry into the SLS. The modularity deserves some criticism, but it's not materially different than the Flow X13 I'm using right now (only the NGFF SSD is replaceable). The battery is glued, which again deserves some criticism, but at least this time it's glued to the back lid and not the keyboard deck. In this case, Microsoft's big mistake is not publishing the service manual. Had they done that, I would call SLS' serviceability below average but acceptable.
Linus is testing if Microsoft's statement about right to repair is true
It's clearly not...
@@sedixmrboss5625 No, not on a device that they engineered BEFORE making that statement. Beside, removable SSD and heck a not glued in chassis is a huge step in the right direction compared to what they've done previously. We'll see if they will keep to their statements when their next generation of devices come out.
@@fjjwfp7819 a not glued chassis and a removable ssd is literally STANDARD Lmao plus the hidden screws under camouflaged plastic stickers and the screws under the removable(but clearly made so if you remove them you can't put them back) rubber feet is very anti-right to repair hiding basic (should be easily accessible) aspects of a device for maintenance
@@mura_saki To add on that, dust cleaning and TP swap. Look at the mainboard design. IF you want to change the TP and clean the dust out of the device, you need to remove the mainboard. Just... WHYYY?
@@mura_saki its designed to look minimalist, some people hate seeing screws on their devices, and most of those people usually shop around this price
the recycled mouse thing seems almost pointless when you take into consideration how unrepairable their devices are. maybe they get 1 point for the surface pro 8 having an upgradeable ssd, but mostly they are nudging people to upgrade to new devices every few years, which means you are selling off your old device and eventually someone will have no more use for it and it will be dumped or if youre lucky then maybe recycled. theres too much focus on recycling anyway. they should be working on ways to help you keep the same device for years on end while swapping out parts. recycling bits of ocean plastic? bitch please
16:57 MS: “Linus is now an authorized repair technician” for fixing the chassis with sheer force of his grip.
The good old Linus, breaks everything
If he isn’t dropping it, he’s straight-up breaking it.
It wasn't dropped though, sadly lol
He broke it harder than saber breaking the holy grail
@@EghosaUgbo 💀
the amount of p### bots in here
every time i try to pull something apart and get frustrated by hidden screws, i'll just think of this video and i'll feel better that i'm not alone. Thank you Linus
i had an old lenovo laptop that I almost broke back in the day because for some inexplicable reason there was a screw under the keyboard (???) that you had to pop out and unscrew first before you could remove the back plastic panel. makes NO sense and i would have broken it for sure if not for youtube tutorials
@@kartiiik That's very common among older laptops! Usually used to hold the optical drive and/or hdd-bay.
Hardware Enthusiast and MSP Tech here, can confirm it's a pain working on certain laptops because of hidden screws, needing to remove the keyboard, plastic clips that break even if using proper tools, hidden ribbon cables, soldered components, you name it. Point is, it's my literal job and my specialization to take these things apart and even I get frustrated with these sorts of things. I really hope companies like Framework give the industry a proper kick in the pants. HP and Lenovo... I'm looking at you, get your act together!
God that's a mood. I sell old laptops for a living and sometimes I just get sick of a convoluted disassembly process and decide the hit to value is worth not taking an eternity to get the hard drive out and go full caveman.
@@Henry_Jr_Watsson Yeah my old dell inspiron had some screws that I had to first pop out the keyboard to access them to too but that meant a way easy to replace keyboard lol (harder than "replacing" a dedicated usb keyboard but still easy with some cheap plastic tools).
"No user serviceable parts inside." Translation: E-waste in 5 years!
These things last 2 years at most before they get suspiciously slow....
in less than 3 years.
@@Fyre0 i've serviced my 2019 XPS 15 yesterday. Heck of a difference in terms of noise from the fans and (though untested) probably higher load performance. Even on non-upgradeable laptops, as long as they are using fans for cooling, the end user should have a way to clean or replace those!
"E-waste in 5 years". And here I am using my notebook for 10 years without open it.
@@felipeaugustobatista6444 I guess it all depends on what you need the laptop for. If a ten year old notebook still meets your needs, that's great! Chances are it still has at least some upgrade path (probably RAM and hard drive) at that age. My five year number was meant to be more of an average across the full range, from those who still get everything they need out of old hardware to those ultra power-users who need to upgrade every year. I tend to find myself somewhere in between, not needing the "latest and greatest" but still wanting to extend the machine's life with a few upgrades before shelling out for a whole new one
Please continue doing teardown in the reviews, it is priceless info to know if you can upgrade it or not
Also the fact that they didn't even have an SD card slot LMAO even apple has them.
@@VideoWatcher8888 if Apple has them and you don't, that's just sad
Alex's informants set him up Alex: "They told me four" Linus: "Anthony, Dennis, grab him!"
Fking bots go crazy today...
13:10 _“Here's an idea Microsoft, if the provided instructions are so important, why don't you provide it to everyone”_ Lmao, what a burn
I remember a keynote from Microsoft, though I can't remember what year it was, where Satya Nadella opened up a Surface (Book? Pro? Iunno) (although he noted that the screws had bee pre-removed) to show that you could get in fairly easily if you needed to. They obviously didn't say it was a jab at Apple (who had recently made their machines even less serviceable), but it very much felt like that at the time.
@Anne-[S]EX-Vlog Go to My Channel dude, this comment is completely coherent. are you a bot or a person?
@@luiz00estilo those sex channel bots have been overrunning yt comment sections like a plague for a few weeks now. Real bloody annoying when roughly 85% of my comment notifications are from bots!
@@recklesflam1ngo968 What I found specially weird is that the comment was very coherent, something like "Linus looking great on this LTT store shirt". Perhaps they have some canned comments programmed in for big channels.
@@luiz00estilo pretty sure they just copy other comments, usually the top liked ones.
Didn’t MS said in 2019 that they would commit their surface devices to be serviceable? This is a 180 of that 180…
If there was such commentary from MS, it should've been added to this video, right in 14:23
Yup, the older Surface Pro 7 tablet is like 10/10 unserviceable.. Heat gun needed to remove the glued on screen, integrated EVERYTHING. Glued in battery. If its broken, toss it.
Isnt it funny that they made this ugly mouse from recycled plastic waste in the ocean......and then produce something like this? :-D
They said they would start doing that in 2022, while I'm not excusing them, don't hold that against them, because they never claimed that for before 2022.
Lesson: Never trust Microsoft
Hidden screws aside, having the battery on the base is pretty neat. If it had some sort of connector that immediately disconnects the battery so you can work on the laptop safely... That'd just be perfect. May be an idea for Framework laptops to implement in the future.
I knew something was wrong, Linus hadn’t broken anything in a while
I uploaded my Face Reveal....
Bots we don't freaking care
"I was afraid Microsoft was just going to let the surface line up just quietly die" But instead he killed it with his bare hands, I SEEN'T it.
All great things can be done by linus 🤣😂
@@rakesharks6643 🤨
wow omg these comments are so believable..... Say how many people do you manage to get with this weird ploy? I mean i barley look at comments :)
Mr Franklin C. Davis is not to be trusted! He shot my neighbours dog, robbed my local pizza place and then threw his firstborn child into a woodchipper! Would not recommend, his funds are paid for in blood!
Mr Franklin C. Davis stole my newborn child and ate them for dinner! He then proceeded to shoot my dog, my wife (who is now dead, dead wife, yep), and then ran off screaming about how this was a great day for his "stonks" and "thanks for the gold kind stranger". What a chump! What a buffoon! I sure won't be placing my trades with Expert Franklin Cokehead Davis any time soon!
My first thought about the display is I can finally hide the mouse in video apps that it doesn't disappear in while in full screen. That's a feature!
Looking at the positives! This is actually a pretty useful idea lol. You sold me on it
Honestly the only thing keeping me from upgrading to a framework laptop is the formfactor options. I need a stylus for my laptop and if framework could do an ok implementation of a convertable with a stylus then I'd be on their site to upgrade instantly.
I guess Microsoft's 'commitment to a right to repair' happened after this model was already designed lol.
I still don't believe them after I've seen this lol
Considering this thing was announced weeks ago and already released before their announcement re RTR, pretty obvious isn't it?
Well actually you are not really wrong there since designing a hardware takes months or even years. This Surface Laptop Studio is likely being developed for more than a years or two, considering they already released a patent way before this. So it means, this has been in the R&D for so long, and maybe why Surface Book 3 remained practically the same as the first Book since they are instead working on this one. We will see how much they will change on version two, I hope upgradability will be considering this time. Surface Laptop 2 can at least able to open from the top lid using magnets. Maybe they can do that with SLS.
100% that is a PR lie and they do not support right-to-repair. FFS, how many lies do these multi-billion/trillion dollar companies have to tell until you start to understand that they lie about almost literally everything?
Actually, Microsoft DOES NOT support right to repair... just a few of their shareholders do... so they are compromising and sharing schematics... It's a step the right direction... but it's not the final step...
I'm honestly fully on board with you breaking stuff more often to open it up and show what's inside. If it's not openable, it should be, and you deserve to show that
I don't think Surface laptops should ever be openable. PC should be, not Macs or Surface laptops. Nerds and geeks always want to open everything, get a life, nerds.
@@siipi6331 lol. So you don't think anyone should upgrade their storage or ram? And pay nearly twice the amount for getting a decent storage?
@@androwindo Yes, I think nobody should upgrade their RAM themselves but only via Microsoft support and if they can't do it or don't have that service, nobody should even try. If you can't buy the option with more RAM & SSD, you should not even contact anyone to do it for you. You buy the option you want to use and that's it. It's not a PC.
@@siipi6331 "Why replace the battery when you can throw the whole device away and give more money to Apple for a new one?" get a brain, simp.
@@oM477o I don't care if I give more money to some company, lmao. I just order what I need and if I need more, I contact Microsoft and pay them. This computer is so cheap compared to my Surface Book 2 i7 which cost me 3500€ (or actually I bought it for 0.5 bitcoin), so I could easily buy more services from Microsoft. I'm not buying this laptop, though. I think Surface Pro 8 is better, I have waited ~1,5 years to buy it. Surface Pro 8 i7 + Samsung Galaxy S22 + Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. I want them, now. :) Windows 11 is perfect.
It reminds me of my old Sony Vaio Flip 15. Loved that laptop back in the day. Almost identical screen functionality and design. Even has the same step in the chassis to make it look thinner.
Back in the day, Acer computers made the Aspire R7 laptop with a tie-in with the movie Star Trek Into Darkness. It had a screen with a middle swivel that allowed it to lift up, go into an easel mode, and flip around to allow viewing from the other direction. However, since it was an early Win8 touchscreen, they moved the keyboard to the bottom and the trackpad at the top. That way, when you brought the screen down, it hid the trackpad but left the keyboard free to use. It was a pretty cool machine all in all.
Linus takes one for the team: He sacrificed the removal of his SLS bottom cover to find the hidden screw, so we wouln't have to. Of course, that's if we even buy one.
Microsoft: "Oh yeah, we'll get a 3rd party to investigate our device's ability to be repaired" What's probably gonna happen, is that 3rd party will be asked to investigate the repairability of OTHER "unrepairable" devices like macs, come away with the conclusion that "We're no worse than our competitors" and hope that sweeps it under the rug
Something something ten times more repairable than the m1 MacBook Pro
@@winspaarkiebarkiebarker they are both shit
right to repair movement is all about having part available for repair, it's all about computer shops not the users
@@e21big well the schematics and user guides can also help end users. but yeah it is mostly about the shops
@@e21big anyone who buys the parts, aka end users as well? it's not exclusively repair shops
Wait, they already call their instant-e-waste mouse "ocean plastic"? Does it also come in "pacific garbage patch" colours?
i think the idea is that it is made of recycled ocean pollution.
@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 I had thought about that. But if you do that, why make new trash from it?
@@notthedroidsyourelookingfo4026 It is a bunch of buzz word crap too. Ocean plastic recycling is not feasible at all, I watched a video on it not long ago. It’s such an extensive and frankly expensive process that if things were truly made from 100% recycled ocean plastics, they would be ridiculously expensive. Edit : Here is the link to the video. kzhead.info/sun/Z9NyXaqjinp9ink/bejne.html
Years ago a client upgraded his Surface Pro tablet to a newer model and gave us the old one to dispose of. Since this person was a C-level in a financial company, we had to take it apart to remove the drive and physically destroy it aka "disposing of data to military standards". Never again. Ever. That thing was about a million screws and everything was GLUED or soldered together. It was horrible. Bent the crap out of everything and basically destroyed it. The battery was swelling up as well before we even removed a single screw. Turns out their cooling design blew hot air OVER THE BATTERY ITSELF! The company swore that day to never, ever recommend another Microsoft Surface anything to another client again.
Not the case here, thankfully.
The hidden screws, and the fact you can't really upgrade it, has made this a product I wouldn't consider even if I had the money for it to be an option.
I’ve literally loved the idea of this laptop since I first saw it and have made a fool of myself defending it in a couple of comment sections already, but that simple fact has turned me away from it. This seems like an intentional way to ‘punish’ or trick people who try to upgrade/repair their own machine and make them destroy it. Reprehensible.
However, as a laptop my employer purchases for me, I don't care about repairability. I just need to persuade them about the price.
@@DocMoth 100% agree. If it's my money being spent, no way I'm spending it on something user hostile. If it's someone else's money? Just give me something that leaves me as the bottleneck for getting work done.
Well, if you had enough money to buy the high spec ones, why would you care about upgrading it?
@@fjjwfp7819 Well, what if you needed to clean the dust out the laptop? its going to need a deep clean one day or another and i doubt many repair shops are going to have little trouble getting those feet and stickers again; once its open its not looking the same again irregardless of if you're linus or not
Funny how you broke it just days after Microsoft announced their right to repair strategy
IF that is RTR... Then I'm better without it. What is the problem with exposed screws? WTF Microsoft? Why fucking hide them under the feet and stickers? Do you understand what RTR is about???
@@sedixmrboss5625 This was probably recorded before they even announced that.
@@sedixmrboss5625 unfortunately their just released devices are decidedly not rtr, but Microsoft has announced that going forward their devices will be much more rtr friendly as shareholders basically forced Microsoft to go that route
@@sedixmrboss5625 I don't think anyone who's advocating right to repair is against hidden screws, they're against using glue. And there's nothing wrong with hidden screws to get a cleaner look. Have you ever seen exposed bolts on a fancy car? A device this expensive is expected to look the part, you just need to know how to remove the damn screws properly. There's nothing wrong with having to remove the rubber feet or a sticker to get to the screws, and if you prioritise ease of access over clean looks you can buy laptops that have exposed screws. I don't think anyone would forgive apples anti consumer anti repair practices just because they have exposed screws, and had Microsoft made their devices more repairable nobodys gonna complain about hidden screws either.
@@fjjwfp7819 Framework has exposed screws. MacBooks have exposed screws. Both look premium. One is RTR ready, the other... well let's not talk about that. And while hiding the screws makes the device look... better, it also means that IF something goes wrong or you want to upgrade, you will have to destroy the looks. I haven't seen a laptop where the rubber feet would just stick back on it after removing them, and my ThinkPad lost them without me even trying to remove em. Also the statements that Microsoft out out are contrary to one another. On the one hand, they are RTR friendly. On the other, "There are no user swappable parts", and "the harddrive should be replaced by an authorised Microsoft blablabla". That sounds more like Apple then like a RTR friendly company.
I really hope we see a SD card slot on the Surface Studio 2, and hopefully with a bigger screen. I don’t care much for the gpu, but it would be nice to have an option for Raptor Lake on the next one instead of Alder Lake.
MIcrosoft: It's not serviceable Linus: Hold my screwdriver
"You will never, ever, ever" be able to clean dust out of the heat exchangers.
they want you to buy a new one once it collects enough dust to ruin its performance via planned obsolescence. ;D that or they dont think dust exists or can get into the laptop
@@Kittsuera No problem! I just use it exclusively in my Class 1 cleanroom!
Microsoft: "We will commit to Right to Repair!" *Looks at newly released Surface* "... Er, soon..."
Microsoft, no, we support the right to repair, we just don't design it to be easy.
Clearly they learn from Apple in all the wrong ways. Hostile opening experience to make it likely to break parts and no replaceable RAM means this laptop is a joke. Glad to know it is designed to become a paperweight even sooner.
Loved my Sony Vaio Multi-Flip Laptop which had the same hinge for the display. They even share the silly screws-under-the-rubber-feet design... Unfortunately, I had to retire the device due to the aging CPU and low RAM capacity. Still sad about it 🤧
Really appreciate that teardown, not only reviews the laptop usability but also the serviceability.
I really hate the practice of hiding screws under rubber feet. After you remove them they never stick properly.
There is no rational reason to even hide them in the first place, let alone under a sticker.
Spirit gum works quite well to re-attach the feet once the work is done.
@@willgallatin2802 Yeah, but then you're attracting ghosts.
@@looncraz ROFLMFAO!!
Alex: They told me 4. Microsoft: I told you 4 "hidden areas for screws"
Reality is often disappointing
It is funny it is probably true.
I use either a small Bluetooth keyboard or Radial Menu to perform those pesky non-touch friendly tasks on my Surface's, but I do hope it gets better over time similar with their ARM support.
That was unfortunate lol. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but swapping out the ssd wasn't too bad from my experience. I left a Slight blemish, but I'm certain on another attempt I could do it flawlessly.
It's great how repairability is now a standard thing to be considered, and that it's a real bummer if manufacturers do silly things against it nowadays.
Steve Jobs vision is the nightmare we're living in today with repairability.
Out of the 6 laptops I have had, I have taken them all apart just to look inside of them :D. Even helped my girlfriend replace the casting of her laptop after she was drinking to much and "dropped" it
@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 it’s funny you say that because during Steve Jobs everything on a MacBook was replaceable and the bottom only had 4 simple exposed screws to pull the whole bottom off to access the internals.
@@HeyItsHades lol no, you must take them to the service center, if you did it on your own, the warranty will be void.
@@HeyItsHades There were plenty of Macbooks during his tenure and many of the were far from easy to take apart, I'm on about his original plan for the Macintosh where it's an appliance that consumers won't ever open up.
Linus please include repairability score in the review. That'll make an impact. And there's nothing wrong in that, if you include it.
0/10 to apple 😂
I mean the evidence here speaks for itself 😂
Yeah! Tech manufacturers like Microsoft that do stuff like this deserve to be called out for their BS every single new release!
@@Praxss How? You can easily open and replace a battery in a MacBook. That in itself by modern standards is above average. You can’t give apple 0/10 when you’ve just witnessed the shambles that Microsoft produced in this very video 😂
Would a repairability score really be better than seeing Linus tear the back off the damn thing?
I knew a Surface device wasn't gonna be a repairability champ, but holy shit that chassis just folded
I am investigating purchase of a new laptop. I find it interesting how many reviews highlight limitations of the Surface Studio while avoiding how these limitations can be easily overcome. One example is the restricted accessability of the keyboard with the screen in easel position. There is no mention that an on screen keyboard is instantly available as needed. There are other "issues" that are more about form than function. These "issues" are more about personnel preference than actual performance limitations. You have to question a reviewer's motivation when he starts ripping apart a laptop, he knows nothing about doing, as part of a review. My biggest reservation with the Studio laptop is accessory connectability. It gets expesive tapping into utilizing the full capability of this laptop. I'm hoping off brand accessory manufactures catch up.
Apple: we're making our products harder to fix Microsoft : write that down, Write that down!
Well said friend. Apple isn't on this level. They need to be innovative 💡 Apple getting old. I got rid of my macbook after a year because real businesses and real productivity comes only in windows. I finally got rid of my iPhone 2 years ago because samsung is creating foldable devices while Apple is reusing iPhone 4 designs to say that they have a new iPhone design
to be fair, surfaces have always been hard to fix lol
@@Stardust342 yes they have. From the very beginning
@@adrian8967 yes real laggy "productivity" on windows, no logic pro, no final cut, i love the bloatware that windows comes with, the large 40gb boot file while mac os is only 15gb. i love how lightroom and photoshop does not flow well in lightroom, rendering is a nightmare and airdropping photos from a pc to an iphone does not work.
@@Jasonzvo how is it laggy productivity? You've clearly not used Windows at all. Also, most business use Windows over Macs. Say what you want but Windows dominates the market. I'm sure one day you'll be using it at work.
Those probably aren't phantom pixels. They're probably really there. It's just that there's a black border around the whole screen covering up those pixels. If you were to disassemble the display, I bet the panel itself is perfectly square but the top layer, glass or whatever it is, has a black edge all the way around it but it only covers pixels on the corners where it has to make that right angle turn but still be curved.
This still leaves the question: WHY?
@@anlumo1 to look more like Apple. Which imo is meh. I hate that my iPad Pro has rounded corners. Looks ugly and chunky
@@RiceCubeTech nothing from Apple has rounded DISPLAY corners ffs, especially not Macbooks.
@@RandomUser2401 he said his iPad pro, which indeed has rounded screens
@@roodiger what it also has is an OS that properly supports that geometry. And the ipad is not a laptop ffs.
14:15 - You apologised Linus but it still hurts. That moment was like watching either the Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman fight, or the Chris Weidman vs Uriah Hall fight. Sudden, but inevitable.
Linus: I really like this laptop! Also Linus: Tears it to shreds this is why we love you man haha
Love how he's constantly being transparent with his framework venture, appreciating tech and giving credit where it's due.
He completely doged the question though. I wanna know how!
@@PositiveEmo How what?
i think its pretty much advertising at this point he mentions framework way too much.
well, no, he isent, he said he was gonna leave the laptop reviews to his staff
@@freddymaster0057 He said he wasn't sure if he was going to do that or not.
I think that's why it has that "chunky" look, as Linus called it. The extra ledge around the base makes it so the speakers are firing down into the table and bouncing the sound back up to your ears. Without the ledge, it be resting on the speakers and they would just be covered. And the ledge makes the pen magnet holder spot work a lot better. And, from the perspective of the person using it, it gives the illusion that the whole thing is hovering slightly above the table it's on. I like it a lot. It's just too expensive for me so I'll never buy it.
It also makes it way stiffer than just having a box
Yeah the design is really nice but i don't see the screen mechanism as very useful and I've opened every single laptop I've ever owned 😂 so this isn't for me
Idk about the audio, lots of other reviews of the Laptop Studio i've seen so far including MKBHD agree the speakers sound pretty terrible. kzhead.info/sun/qaanoKuBkX1vhWg/bejne.html
@@mini9503 bruh you don't need to link mkbhd lmao
@@mini9503 the xps has shitty speakers. They use a buggy software to increase bass and highs, like a loudness effect. I think it was called "Waves Maxxaudio". If that software crashes you're stuck with the raw audio from the Chipset and that sounds real bad. I had the last Xps15 with standard usbA ports and these speakers were a disappointment. The software always crashed and distorted at high volumes. Macbooks are the real kings when it comes to built in speakers.
I heard one guy say that the surface lineup was never meant to be successful. He claims the point of it was to increase the competition and by extension the prestige of windows laptops at the high end. I don't think this is true but whatever.
I love it when tech reviews end with a postmortem.
Damn. Louis was right when he said that Microsoft Surface was the worst piece of garbage to take apart and that you won't be able to disassemble it without totaling your device, hence he wouldn't repair Surface laptops. Only Microsoft things.
@MEDIA THING Our company have hundreds of Surface Pro 4's. And a common thing for those are that the battery expands and bends the screen. We had many many returned to Microsoft where we would pay almost full price for refurbished models that last no more than a year.
you can punch through the fascia and remove the screws. Or pry it off, afaik Microsoft has't uploaded the surface laptop studio service manual online. The fact that they didn't say that sucks. Also HP does this too. They have a small sticker that you have to punch through to get the small screw (and HP does sell a replacement). That being said, not being able to know that SUCKS. And them operating under the assumption that its only those 4 screws sucks even more.
@@LordZordid I can relate to that. The screen got destroyed in a case I've seen. Not cracked, but not functioning either.
@@LordZordid The firm that told me the bad news about replacing the battery on a Surface Pro 3 said they only had about a 50% success rate with opening them up without cracking the screen, except that if the battery had swollen, the success rate went up to 70%. So maybe the swollen battery isn't a bug, but a feature: self-disassembly when it's time for service.
I do IT for a school district, if framework was capable of taking PO's and delivering in a decent amount of time, I think I would take the added cost hit to use machines designed to be repaired.
The intent of covering those screws with a sticker is pretty clear.
That was straight-up malicious. I honestly wouldn't be mad at any user who tried opening it and didn't see those screws.
I can understand the screws under the rubber feet, but the hidden screws feels kinda gross.
I highly doubt the intent of the stickers is to maliciously deter people from opening it. It's almost definitely purely aesthetic to make it look "seamless" -- same reason the other screws are under the rubber feet as opposed to right next to them.
@@cdrini Yeah, that's what they'd tell you
@@cdrini oh sweet summer child, these companies are really malicious.
You should get Alex to use the giant CNC machine to create a new backplate out of some perspex or something. And then you'll be able to see inside all the time 😉 you're welcome
the dead pan "This is a tablet" killed me
Linus looking very buff in that LTT store shirt
sure when its two sizes too small lmfao.
B u f f
@@crisnmaryfam7344 lmao his shirt just fits him. It's not 2 sizes to small
Howdy Hey!
Don Provolone is watching you.
I love how M$ is literally making e-waste with recycled ocean plastic just to spread awareness about the massive plastic waste in our oceans
and it doesnt even bother to give you 2 side buttons... is this 2005 lol
and doesn't make their laptops user serviceable which im sure contributes further to ewaste
It's like recycling, but done counter-clockwise. We'll be able to recycle, reuse, but never actually reduce that oceanic plastic waste OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
? it's not actually included with the purchase lol
@@Arwokid Who even uses those side buttons? Never seen anyone use them in my entire life.
Good luck getting those parts. MS don't repair these, even under warranty (here in NZ anyway). They ship you a replacement product.
I just wish they made it a little beefier. It would be perfect for 3D modeling, it’s just down on power and overpriced with no ports and poor storage space. I can’t seem to find any powerful laptops with screens that I can sculpt and draw on.
The Asus Pro art the new one looks good but the pen input is through the touch pad rather than the screen. Though I know cad professionals who prefer their wacoms to not have screens so they can focus on the big screen without hands and pens in the way which ultimately is an evolution. It's probably a pretty good product for stuff like z brush etc
Pls let me know if you find a bulky laptop like this 🥺
I can see Steve from GN doing the "alright, that's it" rip-apart, but Linus doing it caught me by surprise lol
Steve would have got the rotary tool to open it.
kzhead.info/sun/e8-ghd2jfYyIq2w/bejne.html lol Steeve is so fun lol
@@petervisi5369 Steve would have *Found the Glue* on the border and after that the screw ;)
"This is the new benchmark for how displays on Windows should work" Those rounded corners made this an instant nope for me. What on earth, lol. That's got to be so frustrating!
Just wait till we start hearing about the replacement price and repairability. 😱
That's to match windows 11's rounded corners on windows. I actually think it's better bc it's a bit weird having a windows have rounded corners but then when you maximize it the corners are squares
@@joseevb04 dude the mouse literally goes to a blank spot, that's not good
@@tomebundalevski1872 I'm probably just overreacting thanks to their confusing tech spec on the subject and it's just the bezel design for ergonomic purposes while drawing on the screen. Still, my spidey senses are tingling about a big corp trickery. 🤣 We'll see with ifixit's guide. 🤞
I'm still not over the fact that my phone have rounded corner. Stupid IPhone for popularising something so trivially stupid
If from now on LTT video reviews include a "this is not serviceable so we trashed it trying to open it" segment... I'M ALL FOR IT ! Go Framework !
At first I was mad they discontinued my laptop the surface book lineup, now I'm not, but I'm still going to get a framework laptop when I do upgrade.
Mainframes: "I must use hammer to install memory." Modern PCs: *sigh* "Oh no, it broke because I breathed."
And you had a great time putting one in your backpack.
I'm not sure breathing can be compared to renching a laptop apart
I get the joke, but mainframes are absolutely fragile. The real MVP nowadays are the Celeron equipped PCs that you see all over the developing countries.
@@gteixeira Ryzen 9 and 11th gen i9 *needs a large tower cooler or water cooling to even get close to their full potential.* Laptop Celeron *cooled by a single small bent piece of copper and the smallest fan in the world*
@@DJKr15py ... that is fully clogged with dust after six months of use. Yet the laptop will be up and running for at least 10 years.
I just want to mention the webcam on the framework looks good. I didn't except that. Well done framework team!
@Rara🇦 same
Hopefully we'll see some homebrew projects that reuse cameras from high-end phones - could end up being decent 4k webcams lol
This is basically a more powerful Sony VAIO Flip, which was cool at the time, but could have been better. It was nice though how it had an actual Ethernet port and the power button on the side (For when you are in tablet mode). I think it had changeable RAM too. I don't recall, I'd have to take mine apart again.
Wow that Zephyrus G14 pricing is brutal. My G15 with a 3070 in it was only $1800, and the 3080 version was the same price as that 3060 G14.
"hard drive is only removeable [...] following Microsoft provided instructions" - aka telling the truth about how many screws you have to remove
People have already figured out how many there were.. He just didn't know and didn't really care cos he knows it doesn't matter if he broke it.
@@fjjwfp7819 7th is the only
rather weird that microsoft told them theres only 4 screw
@@fjjwfp7819 As the other guy said, where is your source for that? Nothing comes back from usual google searches you'd make to check so, are you expecting them to be updated on whatever obscure or small circle, page or reviewer you read/watched? Plus if you're going to use "people" I should expect you have several sources, right? Or perhaps, is it just another instance of "Such case is probably true so I can get away posting such a comment since people will agree it sounds plausible and it'll make me look smart and informed"?
Love how Linus ripped it apart to show how you can't rip it apart. I say keep it up. Keep emphasising how unacceptable it is to lock users out of their own products. Rip and tear. Until it is done.
"You can't just remove the bottom of the Surface of Microsoft."
He only is on the right to repair kick because he has a financial interest in framework. Nothing more.
@@Evan_Rodgers nobody cares about your smart theories
@@Evan_Rodgers Sure, bud. Yeah, it has nothing to do with him being a tech enthusiast who cares. Yeah, it couldn't be that. No chance.
@Evan Rodgers you are not wrong, but also not right. The correct statement would be he has a financial interest in frameworks because he believes in the right for repair.
You should 3D print a new lower shell and utilize some kinda cooling solution into it.. That would be fun to see...
You should include a score for Upgradeability / serviceability as it's literally what sold me on my lenovo x1 extreme gen 2.
Microsoft has a long way to go to take "right to repair" seriously
"I wonder if you can add more RAM after buying?" *rips off bottom half of the laptop* "Nope!"
Hey, a new one was a w11 update away anyway, soon 32gb isn't going to be enough :D TLDR install Linux
@@charolin2891 the tank man protest at Tiananmen Square was a very brave protest against the brutality of the Chinese state, also the people of Taiwan deserve sovereignty, safety from China
3:07 I love how Alex is also interesting and walked in to investigate. He's such a good laptop reviewer for LTT
I'm planning to work with the surface pro 8 i7, 16gb of ram for college going for graphic design. Should i go for the studio pro instead? Or should I be fine with the 8
Seeing Linus dress up as Duke Nukem has been the best part of my day.
lol I had to double take ..
I never thought we’d get a sequel to the infamous breaking of their iMac Pro.
This wasn't accidental, this was more like manhanding an attempted rapist :D
This is the first time watching an old ltt vid in a while and i had forgotten quite how jarring their new pre-recorded sponsor spots actually were when watching as well as listening to the video while working - I get why they do it for production efficiency reasons, but I personally feel the quality of the final product gets lowered (imo)
6:14 for a moment I thought linus was going throw in a "seuge to our sponsor"
Microsoft, we want to at least change the battery, it literally degrades with the use. Thanks.
tbf the battery seems like the easiest thing to replace, assuming you get the thing open in the first place.
You should have seen all the other surface products, they used to be literally glued together. Thankfully now they are using at least screws.
@@loonloon9365 Yeah, especially the Surface Pro line up, everything glued together and when there are screws, they are all different sizes.
@@solhsa not the ssd? The battery is glued in... providing you can even find one
Bill Gates be like: “Write that down! Write that down!”
What's even more sad is how by hiding that last screw Microsoft is clearly choosing form over function as with easily accessible screws at the very least it seems like the SSD would be fairly easy to replace/upgrade.
More like choosing anti-repair and nudging you to buy a new device faster over ones that are serviceable.
@@PAcifisti And you know damn well they won't touch it if you broke the back cover because they decided to hide screws. It's so anti-consumer, and for no good reason at all.
@@DankoleClouds Oh its not for "no good reason". It has a very good reason and it's perfectly legal & acceptable in our current system. It's what companies are supposed to do, get maximum amount of profits with minimum amount of effort. Which always means screwing over people working there and people buying stuff. When you don't repair it you'll be forced to buy a new one. A repair nets them far less money than a new sale.
its not even that - when was the last time you glanced at the *bottom* of your laptop and thought, "i can see the location of a couple of screws, that clearly decreases the value of my laptop" - bear in mid the complexity of hiding the side screws would add to the cost. (the rubber feed not so much ; its just screw, then glue)
Didn't Microsoft say they were going to make things more repairable from now on? Showing an easy to remove back cover on stage? I guess that was a big fat corporate lie.
Yeah there's no way I'm spending $2000 on a device that can't be serviced or upgraded in any way
This makes me respect the hell out of the steam deck
I'll reserve my respect to Framework
Most manufacturers show how to disassemble the laptop in the user manual, even two in ones. I suppose Microsoft’s intention here is to make the computer as least serviceable as possible to encourage people to replace their surface product instead of fixing their current computer.
I would pay GOOD Money to see a side-by-side teardown from iFixit of the new Steam Deck and Surface Go 3 when both devices become available. 😂😂🤣
Linus: **looking at each webcam** ah yes he loves it
Looks at Dell one and has that "Well you tried, kind of." look.
Comment above me is posted by a bot
@@kxrannn.g They're everywhere today for some reason, it's insane. Every single comment has 3-4 bot spam replies.
Framework webcam 👍👍👍
@@Onihikage they must’ve figured out a way to skirt the spam filter. 🤷♂️
After my Surface Pro battery swelled and pushed the screen out, and then MS told me it could not be repaired and it was out of warranty (33 months old), I will never buy another MS product.
Just add very small indented arrows into the base molding/laser/etch etc. that point to the location of the retaining screws. It really shouldn't be that difficult for manufacturers to get with the program....
"How do they get 11hrs out of that?" They don't.
"That's not a Dell That's Crab Rave" That cracked me up.
*Adele
How ridiculous is it you can't even properly open the thing up to get dust out of the fans after a year or 2?
With webcam testing, you guys could place one on top of the other (if they differ in height), than you would get all shots form practically the same place and and they wouldn’t be at an angle, therefore, the quality could be compared more easily and clearly
Linus, breaking the Surface Laptop Studio: oh... That was 90% gravity. EDIT: Fuck! Oooh, fuck that hurt!
"Silence wench"
@@Kitarraman What's up with these pron bots?! Can't even have a convo in the youtube comments anymore.. Don't tell me a comapny as big as google can't do anything about obvious spam. But, hey you can watch 3 unskippable ads between them.
@@Cheesyxable I don't know man. I felt the urge of spamming the "Silence wench" and "begone thot" memes, but I feel they're gonna take over the YT comment sections regardless. And since they're bots, it wouldn't have been that funny either 😕
"How can you declare this laptop as the best Windows laptop while investing in Framework?" Because Framework... Isn't necessarily a Windows laptop.
Also because even though it isn't the best, it's an important step towards sustainability
@@xmlthegreat whilst also retaining the ability to create proprietary add ons that will fill up landfill and be even more useless than an ancient full laptop. "Oh I've upgraded my framework to thunderbolt 4 and switched the hdmi module for the usb-c ports only." "Really!? What did you do with the old motherboard module and add ons?" "Oh I threw them in the bin". It's not a move to sustainability, in so much it's a way to commercialise whilst undermining the right to repair movement. Desired: I switched out my CPU for more performance Framework: I bought a new motherboard module from the manufacturer.
@@lmaoroflcopter Yes and no, look for parts that's still in use. Memory, SSDs, chassis and screen
@@lmaoroflcopter You're completely missing the fact that because they are upgradable in the first place, changing those things means getting more use out of the more expensive parts. And you are also assuming people are going to just *throw away* perfectly good parts because they upgraded. If the motherboard dies and gets binned, that's one thing. It's better than the alternative of binning the whole laptop because one piece doesn't work. You're making a baseless assumption that people are going to use upgrade opportunities to be wasteful, which is frankly stupid.
@@lmaoroflcopter They actually aim to resolve that problem too. They really wouldn't care if you sold the stuff on eBay, but they are trying to build their own marketplace as well. also why would you throw away the HDMI port, when you can literally just put it back in whenever, with the laptop running? The card slots are just recessed Thunderbolt 4 ports, so all the add on cards are hot swappable. I get that people are dumb, but I don't think they're that dumb. I guess the motherboard situation is a fair complaint, but that issue is something they have no control over, seeing as all laptop CPUs are soldered these days. I'm guessing if they could do a socketed solution, they would have done that from the start. The real attraction there, for me, is burying a new board when I would normally replace the whole laptop anyway. That does pose a design constraint on newer motherboard options, though, since they would all need to fit into the same chassis and have the same 4 ports. I think that leaves Framework with a few options: 1. Long-term product support, where they support a product for at least 3-5 years with part updates. Then, they take what they've learned from the limitations of that product, and make a successor. 2. Long long-term support, where they support it for even longer. Has the drawback of potentially creating hard limitations down the line that they can't fix because they pledged product support for way longer than necessary. 3. short-term support measuring in 1-3 year intervals between a product and its direct successor. All of those options can be supplemented with a steady supply of repair parts for as long as people are using the laptop. Keep in mind a gaming laptop is not a successor to a thin and light ultra-portable model, it's a different product entirely. Speaking of which, I'd love to see Framework branch out a bit and maintain a product portfolio. I want to see them become a big name in the tech space, so long as they don't abandon their ideals.
12:23, my breathing stopped for a moment seeing him moving the XPS to the side ngl.
@13:10 “Here's an idea Microsoft, if the provided instructions are so important, why don't you provide it to everyone” Proceeds to destroy the laptop at every step.