Where to repair a cracked surface pro 6

JLJ · 8 Sep 2020 at 19:24

wife dropped her tablet and its cracked now. Its out of warranty and MS wants 430 quid to replace it with a refurbished one.
Considering the 7 is out, not really that keen on this option.
Is it possible to repair this for a more reasonable amount?
Thanks
Jon

Akagi · 8 Sep 2020 at 19:31

Should be, there are many companies that offer repair services (especially screen replacement) on a wide range of devices.

Depends where you are based I suppose as to whether there are any good local ones, but there are business' which offer postal services as well. - BE INCREDIBLY CAUTIOUS with postal repair companies though. Check and read reviews first, from impartial third parties like TrustPilot.

Couple of companies I found on Google say £150~ region for a Pro 6 screen repair.

One example: https://uk.electronic.partners/services/microsoft/
Reviews: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.electronic.partners

(Just the first one I found, I'm not necessarily recommending them!)

JLJ · 8 Sep 2020 at 19:46

Acme said:
Should be, there are many companies that offer repair services (especially screen replacement) on a wide range of devices.

Depends where you are based I suppose as to whether there are any good local ones, but there are business' which offer postal services as well. - BE INCREDIBLY CAUTIOUS with postal repair companies though. Check and read reviews first, from impartial third parties like TrustPilot.

Couple of companies I found on Google say £150~ region for a Pro 6 screen repair.

One example: https://uk.electronic.partners/services/microsoft/
Reviews: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.electronic.partners

(Just the first one I found, I'm not necessarily recommending them!)

Yeah, I saw them as well, bit of a drag having to mail it out.
Do those phone repair shops on the high street do tablets, or would that be a bad idea.

Akagi · 8 Sep 2020 at 19:48

JLJ said:
Yeah, I saw them as well, bit of a drag having to mail it out.
Do those phone repair shops on the high street do tablets, or would that be a bad idea.

If they do phones they will most likely do tablets as well. As for whether it would be a bad idea, I can't say really. You'd have to Google the names of stores near you and see what people think.

Akagi · 8 Sep 2020 at 19:50

The screen is just held in place with adhesive, you might be able to DIY it.

Heat up the glue, gently work the screen loose with a suction cup puller and a plastic prying tool.

There will be a couple of ribbon connectors to unplug.

A replacement screen will probably come with the glue pre-applied on the back.

Step 3 is the only one you need: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+6+Teardown/113786

The "iopener" is just a heatable pad which you can rest around the outside to soften the glue.

I've had mixed results just using a hairdryer before... Sometimes its enough, other times not.

Vince · 9 Sep 2020 at 11:46

Acme said:
The screen is just held in place with adhesive, you might be able to DIY it.

Heat up the glue, gently work the screen loose with a suction cup puller and a plastic prying tool.

There will be a couple of ribbon connectors to unplug.

A replacement screen will probably come with the glue pre-applied on the back.

Step 3 is the only one you need: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+6+Teardown/113786

The "iopener" is just a heatable pad which you can rest around the outside to soften the glue.

I've had mixed results just using a hairdryer before... Sometimes its enough, other times not.

Wouldn't recommend a DIY on a surface. I did one and it managed to set itself on fire

Although that could have been to do with the cheap replacement battery I put in. They are however a bit of a nightmare.

Akagi · 9 Sep 2020 at 20:09

Vince said:
Wouldn't recommend a DIY on a surface. I did one and it managed to set itself on fire Although that could have been to do with the cheap replacement battery I put in. They are however a bit of a nightmare.

The screen should be easy if you soften the glue, its just glue and a couple of plugs. The battery is probably a bit more involved.

And as you say, probably the cheap battery that caused the issue anyway.

Vince · 9 Sep 2020 at 20:11

Acme said:
The screen should be easy if you soften the glue, its just glue and a couple of plugs. The battery is probably a bit more involved.

And as you say, probably the cheap battery that caused the issue anyway.

its the wires close to the edge of the screen also. I managed to tear a couple removing the screen and had to source new ones of those as well.

And I have a rework station and all the right tools

Akagi · 9 Sep 2020 at 20:15

Vince said:
its the wires close to the edge of the screen also. I managed to tear a couple removing the screen and had to source new ones of those as well. And I have a rework station and all the right tools

Oh

They made it look easy.

Vince · 9 Sep 2020 at 20:42

Acme said:
Oh

They made it look easy.

I found it harder than say iphones or a pixel etc no idea why but it went **** up

Akagi · 9 Sep 2020 at 21:00

Vince said:
I found it harder than say iphones or a pixel etc no idea why but it went **** up

I have a relatively poor track record with phone repairs, because I am too impatient to take the required care sometimes.

Vince · 9 Sep 2020 at 22:08

Acme said:
I have a relatively poor track record with phone repairs, because I am too impatient to take the required care sometimes.

I used to, I broke countless phones before I got any good at it.

I must have done at least 20 iPhone screens/batteries for people I know this year and so far I haven't broken a phone. It's always a risk though.

Akagi · 9 Sep 2020 at 22:16

Vince said:
I used to, I broke countless phones before I got any good at it. I must have done at least 20 iPhone screens/batteries for people I know this year and so far I haven't broken a phone. It's always a risk though.

I once bought a refurb iPhone 5S when they were still fairly new, it arrived, mint condition, I spent a few hours setting it up and getting everything totally perfect, then I went to apply a glass screen protector and my thumb went straight through the cheap crap screen someone had put on it when I was trying to work out an air bubble around the earpiece...

I had to pay an iCracked repair guy to come and replace the screen for me (I didn't want to touch it) which was pretty reasonable, £60~ I think, and the guy put on a much better quality screen, an expertly applied the glass screen protector for me.

Then I discovered the GPS didn't work, so I sent it back to the company I bought it from for a re-fund... So they got a free screen upgrade courtesy of me, on their jankily refurbed phone they sold me...

Vince · 9 Sep 2020 at 22:32

Acme said:
I once bought a refurb iPhone 5S when they were still fairly new, it arrived, mint condition, I spent a few hours setting it up and getting everything totally perfect, then I went to apply a glass screen protector and my thumb went straight through the cheap crap screen someone had put on it when I was trying to work out an air bubble around the earpiece...

I had to pay an iCracked repair guy to come and replace the screen for me (I didn't want to touch it) which was pretty reasonable, £60~ I think, and the guy put on a much better quality screen, an expertly applied the glass screen protector for me.

Then I discovered the GPS didn't work, so I sent it back to the company I bought it from for a re-fund... So they got a free screen upgrade courtesy of me, on their jankily refurbed phone they sold me...

Standard janky repair

I just tell people to provide me a screen and show them where they can buy screens of varying quality. Most people just buy the cheapest one so I tend to be one of those people putting poor quality screens in phones. With my mums phone she breaks it so often I just keep a stock of iPhone 7+ lcd's hanging around for when the inevitable happens. Mind you that's not so easy now she moved abroad. A good lcd for the surface cost me about £100 just for the panel so I suspect a decent repair might be around £200 at a guess.

JLJ · 10 Sep 2020 at 12:52

Thanks for feedback. I found a local shop and its going to cost about 200 quid for an original screen. Way too fiddly for me to even attempt it myself. Hopefully they do a good job. Only worry is its nearly 2 years old, so the battery might start to go downhill soon.

Akagi · 10 Sep 2020 at 13:18

JLJ said:
Thanks for feedback. I found a local shop and its going to cost about 200 quid for an original screen. Way too fiddly for me to even attempt it myself. Hopefully they do a good job. Only worry is its nearly 2 years old, so the battery might start to go downhill soon.

Should be fine I'd have thought. My phone is 3.5 years old and the battery life is still fine. Same battery tech I'd imagine. You could always enquire as to the cost of doing that at the same time, but I expect the part would be fairly costly. Not worth replacing with non genuine because it will likely be worse than an old original one.