The Surface fiasco fallout: Ballmer, you're fired

The article had me going for a minute there - until I realized I had misread it. The RT price was cut by $150, not to $150. I'd spring for one at $150 but not at $350 (for the 32 GB RT).

Maybe if I hold out a while longer I can find a deal.

TerryE said:

The article had me going for a minute there - until I realized I had misread it. The RT price was cut by $150, not to $150. I'd spring for one at $150 but not at $350 (for the 32 GB RT).

Maybe if I hold out a while longer I can find a deal.

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With a non replaceable battery even $150.00 is high, at most a 2 year life.

TerryE said:

Maybe if I hold out a while longer I can find a deal.

Click to expand...

You should try to find one before the Surface ends up buried in the New Mexico desert in the same pit as the Atari 2600 "ET" cartridges.

We should all by Surfaces NOW, because in 20 years, they'll be valuable collectors items, like Edsels. If the batteries last that long.

What you mean by irreplaceable batteries, the CMOS battery, or the main power battery? Either way, that's very bad.

acr731 said:

You should try to find one before the Surface ends up buried in the New Mexico desert in the same pit as the Atari 2600 "ET" cartridges.

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Hey, that was my idea:

http://www.eightforums.com/windows-...e-rt-write-down-what-happened.html#post258370

Microsoft, are you listening?

XweAponX said:

What you mean by irreplaceable batteries, the CMOS battery, or the main power battery? Either way, that's very bad.

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Yes bad indeed. The battery is important so having access to it should be considered a priority on a device's design.

The surface is glued-down without any screws... main battery is irreplaceable unless you know some electronics and have the guts to dismount the thing in pieces just to replace battery (not an official way to do it).

Nokia Lumia's also have non-replaceable batteries but I would try opening it if it has screws (don't own one to confirm) if battery really died.

Without screws to open... Getting the plastic cover intact without ripping it to pieces is not always easy.
Job not for everyone and this isn't good for the device's reputation.

On the M$ surface the battery is non replacible even under warnty they will replace the device not fix it.

labeeman said:

On the M$ surface the battery is non replacible even under warnty they will replace the device not fix it.

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Goes without saying. That's a practice well applied these days, nobody repairs anymore.

That means, the era of complete PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE has come to fruition!

The surface uses Windows 8 RT right? I think it is meant to be more of a tablet with PC 'like' capabilities. With that in mind, why would want to remove the battery? It'd be like wanting to remove the battery from your iPad or other tablet devices

$150 too much? Well wait til you see the Macbook Air - Apple - MacBook Air

Just my opinion,

Josh

Shadowjk said:

The surface uses Windows 8 RT right? I think it is meant to be more of a tablet with PC 'like' capabilities. With that in mind, why would want to remove the battery? It'd be like wanting to remove the battery from your iPad or other tablet devices

$150 too much? Well wait til you see the Macbook Air - Apple - MacBook Air

Just my opinion,

Josh

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Batteries eventually die. So wouldn't it be better for the consumer if they could replace a $20 battery as opposed to being forced to buy a new device when said battery finally craps out?

No one removes the battery unless they have a reason to do so, and this would really be the one and only reason. Another would be a hard reset of a device, but most every day users will never do that.

Doesn't that also mean that dead units are an environmental hazard?

If companies are going to keep making disposable electronic junk, the Government should force them to recycle the dead units.

Shadowjk said:

The surface uses Windows 8 RT right? I think it is meant to be more of a tablet with PC 'like' capabilities. With that in mind, why would want to remove the battery? It'd be like wanting to remove the battery from your iPad or other tablet devices

$150 too much? Well wait til you see the Macbook Air - Apple - MacBook Air

Just my opinion,

Josh

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There is a Surface RT and a Surface pro, one runs Windows RT and the other runs Windows 8. As mentioned, when the battery dies you'll want to have it replaced instead of buying a new device.

Shadowjk said:

The surface uses Windows 8 RT right? I think it is meant to be more of a tablet with PC 'like' capabilities. With that in mind, why would want to remove the battery? It'd be like wanting to remove the battery from your iPad or other tablet devices

$150 too much? Well wait til you see the Macbook Air - Apple - MacBook Air

Just my opinion,

Josh

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Remove to replace it. Not replacing the whole device...

acr731, lehnerus2000 and alphanumeric had good points in their posts here.

Surface is 'a quirky cat,' teardown shows - CNET Mobile

Microsoft's Surface is a little easier to repair than the third-generation iPad, iFixit says, but it's still pretty difficult to take apart.

The site rated Surface's "repairability" a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the easiest) following a teardown of the product. By comparison, the iPad has a rating of 2, and the Amazon Kindle Fire rates 8.

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After removing a total of 17 T5 Torx screws -- 10 under the kickstand and 7 under the camera cover -- the rear case almost comes off. The only thing holding it back is a lone ribbon cable tethering the rear case and battery to a ZIF connector on the Surface's motherboard.

• The battery is glued in but it's "way easier to remove than on the iPad."

• The 31.5Wh battery is manufactured by Samsung and falls between the iPad 2's 25Wh battery and the third-generaiton iPad's 42.5Wh unit.

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Welcome to business, it forces you to do either three things:

1). Replace the whole device (Big bucks for MS)

2). Use their official repair service

3). Third party with violation of any warranty if applicable (No money for MS)

Since they are supplying hardware as well they are able to set their rules and standards. Similar to Apples way with not allowing removal of battery on its Macbook Air devices

Just how the world works and I doubt it's going to change anytime soon,

Josh

I think any mobile device should have an easy way to remove and replace the battery and the same thing should go for their memory storage but of course there are many that would not allow that so you'll be forced to buy a new one or use their paid repair service.

Anyway, they should have more kiosks and booths on malls and department stores where you could give away your broken batteries or other used mobile hardware and they would give you like 5-10% discount on selected new devices that you buy. I know a local brand in our place that once collected used devices even by other brands just a few months ago and they give you a HUGE discount on their devices, most of which were Androids.