By Alexandra Burlacu | Mar 01, 2013 10:23 AM EST
According to iFixit's latest Tablet Repairability Guide, the Dell XPS 10 tops its rankings as the easiest to repair tablet.
The folks over at iFixit are real artists when it comes to tearing down devices, meddling with every screw, glue, hinge and so on. While devices come with warranties for a reason, plenty of techies still prefer to play doctor with their devices.
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Some devices, however, seem designed specifically to make repairing as difficult as possible, and that's where iFixit comes in. The firm's Repairability Guide shows Dell's XPS 10 as the easiest to repair, while Microsoft's Surface Pro will give some serious headaches.
Consequently, those who plan to crack open their tablet and do some tweaking of their own may be best satisfied with the Dell XPS 10. The Tablet Repairability Guide rates the XPS 10 as easy to open, with labeled cables, color-coded screw and an easily removable battery. The only complaint is that the LCD is fused to the display glass.
Amazon's Kindle Fire takes the second spot in terms of repairability, as it is also easy to open — it has standard Phillips-head screws and no proprietary fasteners to make the task more difficult. The third spot sees Dell again, this time with its Dell Streak tablet. iFixit simply lists this slate as easy to open with an easy-to-replace battery, but with the same issue of the LCD fused to the display glass. The Kindle Fire's drawback, meanwhile, is that its glass is fused to the tablet's frame.
At the bottom of the list are the devices that are toughest to crack open and repair. iFixit ranks plenty of Apple and Microsoft products here, with the Surface Pro as the worst of the bunch. The only positive aspect listed regarding the Surface Pro repairability is that its battery is not soldered to the motherboard. Otherwise, iFixit complains of "tons" of adhesive used to keep components in place. Moreover, iFixit warns that DIY techies risk severing the wires when opening the slate.
The other rankings, in order, list Apple's iPad Mini, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, and Microsoft's Surface RT tablet. According to iFixit, a consistent problem with Apple's tablets is too much adhesive, and the risk of breaking the glass when trying to remove it. The Surface RT is hard to open because of its fused LCD.
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