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Microsoft is the latest major tech company to jump on the repair-it-yourself bandwagon. You can now buy replacement parts for components in some recent Surface tablets, laptops, and all-in-one PCs.
The company says the goal is to make it easier for “technically inclined consumers” to perform out-of-warranty repairs without taking their products to a shop or paying to ship their products to Microsoft for repairs. But only a limited number of replacement parts are available so far… and some of them are kind of expensive.
For example, if you want to replace a broken Surface Pro 9 display, you’ll need to spend $350. A replacement battery for the same tablet runs $238. There are some cheaper components though, like cameras, speakers, and kickstands.
Meanwhile, if you have an older device, your options for replacement parts may be more limited. The only Surface Pro 7 part Microsoft is selling at the moment is the Kickstand, for example. And that tablet, which was released in 2019, is probably more likely to be out-of-warranty and in need of repairs than newer tablets like the Surface Pro 8 and 9 which Microsoft does sell more parts for.
Still, it’s nice to see Microsoft offering official replacement parts, as well as service guides with step-by-step instructions for completing specific repairs. Microsoft has also partnered with iFixit to sell official tools that can be used to perform certain repairs.
Microsoft says replacement parts are available from the Microsoft Store in the US, Canada, and France, while commercial sellers in all countries where Surface products are sold can also distribute these spare parts.
You can find more details, including a complete list of spare parts that are currently available, in a Microsoft blog post. Or check out the Microsoft Store’s Surface repair & replacement parts page for pricing and availability.
These prices are awful. The actual cost on that $238 battery is likely less than $25, and you can already buy them from suppliers for under $40.
Something tells me that the goal isn’t to sell parts to people who familiar with repairing electronics. I suspect the goal here is to make themselves look more consumer-friendly, and remove a buyer’s objections about longevity.
And/or to help ensure no one actually buys the spare parts, so that they have something to point to and say “see? no one actually WANTS to repair their own stuff! Therefore you should really just drop that whole stupid right to repair nonsense, especially if you want this million dollars in campaign funds.”
$238 USD for a battery? Is MS even trying (this is rhetorical, I know they aren’t).