Surface Pro 2 Gets Teardown Treatment
Before you buy, check out what's inside the Surface Pro 2!
It's been just days since Microsoft's second generation Surface hit the market, its release timed with Windows 8.1. We went hands on with the device at Microsoft's event in September. But until we've had time to finish our review testing, we rely on the likes of iFixit.
The iFixit team has torn into the Surface Pro 2 and notes that Microsoft has switched from a Micron/Marvell SSD to SK Hynic HFS128G3AMNB 128 GB mSATA 6.0 Gbps SS. There’s also a Core i5-4200U CPU, 2 GB of Mobile DDR2 RAM (four ICs for 4 GB in total) an Atmel MXT154E Touchscreen Controller, an Atmel UC256L3U 32-bit AVR Microcontroller, a Marvell Avastar 88W8797 Integrated 2x2 WLAN/Bluetooth/FM Single-Chip SoC, an MXIC MX25L4006EZNI 4Mbit SPI Flash, a Texas Instruments TPS5162 (ACTIVE) 2-Phase DCAP+ Step-Down Controller, a Texas Instruments TPS51367 Integrated FET Converter, a Winbond 25Q128FVSQ Serial Flash, Winbond 25X05CL Serial Flash, and a Winbond 25X40CL1G 4 Mb Flash.
In total, the guys at iFixit found more than 90 screws along with a battery that is stuck to the rear case and a glued down display. This is combined with an LCD and digitiser that are fused, all of which combined scores the Surface Pro 2 a 1 out of 10 on iFixit’s repairability scale. Still, if you do want to repair one of these at home, you can check out iFixit’s guide here.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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CaedenV ... I thought the pro2 used LPDDR3? The rest of it isn't exactly unexpected. MS is not exactly known for making things that are fixable.Reply -
sean1357 i5-4200U dual-core (4 threads) 1.6Ghz looks very good to compare with A7 dual-core 1.3Ghz. They all run 64bit..Reply
I want to see the performance of these two???? -
rishiswaz I hope that the DDR2 was a typo, I thought Intel processors don't have DDR2 support in the IMC anymore.Reply -
therogerwilco These Ifixit guys should rename their site to ITriedToFixIt. They're such a joke. They prefer glue to screws.Reply
Screws ALWAYS > glue. -
therogerwilco Sean1357, my Surface Pro 2 scored 44,000+ on 3dmark (mobile version from Windows Store) The Ipad 4 scored 10,000+. Another A7 (I think Samsung product) scored ~12,000+Reply -
jimmysmitty Reply11784105 said:... I thought the pro2 used LPDDR3? The rest of it isn't exactly unexpected. MS is not exactly known for making things that are fixable.
I am pretty sure its LPDDR3 as well since the i5-4200U only supports DDR3.
Probably a typo. -
jimmysmitty That has to be a typo. The i5-4200U only supports DDR3 and LPDDR3.Reply
Either way the Pro 2 looks nice. I would like to see battery life.
Sean1357, This is a full blown x86 CPU so the Apple A7 wont beat it in raw performance. Battery life it may but not in performance. -
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DDR2 on Haswell certainly sounds highly unlikely since Intel has not made DDR2-based mainstream CPUs in two or three generations already.11784405 said:I hope that the DDR2 was a typo, I thought Intel processors don't have DDR2 support in the IMC anymore. -
jimmysmitty Reply11784500 said:
DDR2 on Haswell certainly sounds highly unlikely since Intel has not made DDR2-based mainstream CPUs in two or three generations already.11784405 said:I hope that the DDR2 was a typo, I thought Intel processors don't have DDR2 support in the IMC anymore.
The last generation to support DDR2 was the 45nm Core 2 series as it had a motherboard based MC. Once they went to a IMC (with first gen Core I) they moved to DDR3 only.