Surface Laptop 4: Complete Repair Guide and Teardown

Hey everyone, welcome back for a TekDep Surface Laptop repair guide. Today we have a 2021 Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 that we will be opening up and looking at just how repairable it is. This model here is the 15″ version with the Ryzen R7 chip and 8GB onboard RAM. As always, if you see any parts or tools you might need during the guide, take a look here.

Before We Begin

Historically, the Surface lineup has rated rather low on the repairability scale, with the Pro models being practically unrepairable for the average consumer, and the Laptop 4 both continues and disrupts the trend. The practice of putting the battery underneath the motherboard has continued, which is disappointing, but the device is at least able to be opened without breaking the screen.

As always, Surface Laptop repairs have their oddities. One interesting quirk to this device is the internals are primarily connected to the bottom case, rather than the top. Most laptops have this reversed, but on the Surface Laptop 4 they decided to build it differently. Here everything but the keyboard and mousepad connects to the bottom frame, even the hinges. Before I spoil too much, let’s get into the repair.

Getting Started

We’ll begin on the underside of the laptop. There are no visible screws, giving it a clean look many appreciate, but it does make opening it up a bit more difficult. You will have to pry off the 4 rubber nubs to access the frame screws. Pretty frequently you will find that they can break, but they are just cosmetic. Once you get them off though, there are just 4 frame screws to remove before you open it.

Now, instead of pulling the back plate off the device, you are going to want to open the screen as you would during normal use. Now get a pry tool into the lip, and lift the top case, where the keyboard is, up out of the frame. It is held in just with magnets now that the 4 screws are out, and it should lift easily. Now that we can see inside, you can see more of the quirks to the device. The battery is under the motherboard, so it can’t be disconnected until the end.

Removing the Screen

Now that we have it open, we can take the screen off the bottom frame. Aside from the hinges holding it in place, we will also need to remove the antenna from the main board. We can start by unscrewing the black cover that is placed towards the center of the side with the hinges. There are a number of small screws holding it in, all of which will need to be removed. Now that it is unscrewed, we should remove it and disconnect the black antenna cable from the board. Now lift the cover off, and look at where the display cables from the screen are going. You will need to remove the metal cover from the board, it can be easily pried up, before disconnecting them. Now that the screen is disconnected, unscrew both hinges. Finally, the display can be removed from the device.

Pulling the Boards

You now are left with the bottom case with the boards and battery still inside. First remove the remainder of the motherboard shields from the board. From here, it is pretty similar to many laptop board removals. Go through and unscrew the screws in the heatsink, main board, speakers, and power connector. There are quite a few magnets in the frame of the Surface and it may grab onto some of your screws as you unscrew them, but just make sure to keep track of them all.

Once all is unscrewed, make sure all the cables are disconnected, such as the fan cables and power connector. Lift out the heat sink, speakers, and power connector and finally the motherboard can come up and out of the frame. There will now be the audio connector and battery left in the frame. You can remove the audio connector easily, but the battery is another question. If you are doing a Surface Laptop battery repair, read on.

Finishing Up

Now you will be left with an empty frame with the battery and any other remaining components you didn’t yet remove inside. If you are replacing the battery on your own device, I would strongly recommend sourcing a battery already installed in a new back case, as removing the tightly adhered battery on this frame can be dangerous. If you do want to remove it, be careful and not overly aggressive with a pry tool as you lift it. Piercing into the battery cell can have potentially explosive results.

All in all, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is moderately repairable. The move from the pseudo-tablet Surface Pro to the Surface Laptop was good on Microsoft’s part, but the continued poor placement of the battery is unfortunate especially when there are no real benefits to them installing it that way. Ultimately it’s more repairable than previous models, but still far from ideal.