The Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface tablets are an absolute nightmare to disassemble, making them virtually unrepairable. The Dell XPS 10, however, is super easy to work on.
Those are the key findings of iFixit's new Tablet Repairability ranking list, which you'll definitely want to check out if you're at all concerned about repairability when shopping for a tablet. The list, released Thursday, runs down 18 tablets and provides an overview the teardown scores iFixit publishes after tearing down a gadget. It also highlights just how difficult it is to fix the most popular tablets on the market.
We already knew the Surface Pro is virtually unrepairable, and it ranks dead last on iFixit's list. The only positive thing they had to say was a half-hearted, "Battery is not soldered to the motherboard."
Apple's incredibly popular lineup of iPads doesn't fare much better. The iPad Mini, fourth-generation iPad, third-generation iPad, and iPad 2 all received scores of 2 out of 10. Only the original iPad was more repairable with a 6-of-10 score.
"Our hope is that through customers’ votes, manufacturers will create long-lasting, easy-to-repair hardware that we can all love," Kyle Wiens wrote in a blog post announcing the Tablet Repairability list. Wiens has long been an advocate of repairable devices, particularly for environmental and social reasons.
For example, knowing that the Dell XPS 10 is easy to open with labeled cables inside might convince some consumers to choose it over the Microsoft Surface tablet, which is essentially super-glued together. And knowing that it's easy to replace the Google Nexus 7's battery could push somebody to buy it over the iPad Mini's complicated disassembly process.
That said, repairability is not usually on consumers' minds. But with iFixit's lists and teardowns, the company is pushing for it to become a key decision factor when choosing your next device. And the iFixit team will add more tablets to the list as they continue their teardowns.
