Neowin's Easy to Service Laptop List.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Neowin's Easy to Service Laptop List.

 

In this Thread, Neowin members can post laptops (brand, Model number & Specs) which are easy to service.

 

In order to make it on this list, the laptops MUST BE REPAIRABLE BOTTOM THE BOTTOM. Which means you remove the bottom cover and everything is accessible. Having to remove the screws out of the bottom and then remove the keyboard and palm rest is just being an ######. I'll update the main post with models as they are posted.

 

When buying a laptop I usually look at the service guide to see how to replace the hard drive. Sometimes I look on eBay for some good deals, but I still look up the service manual. Hopefully, this thread will make it easier for others to choose a new or used laptop they may want to purchase

 

List

 

Asus Q302L 13.3 (convertible)  Intel Core i5-4210U 8GB of ram

Dell XPS 9550 15 inch.

Mac Book Pro 2008 - 2013 (Might require a Pentalobe screwdriver head)

[+Warwagon MVC]

Asus Q302L

13.3 (convertible)  Intel Core i5-4210U 8GB of ram

 

Had this laptop come into my office today, it had a dead drive. Just flip the laptop over, remove 10 screws from the bottom and the cover comes off giving you access to the HD Ram, Wireless card, and cooling fan

 

 

 

[DevTech]

After dealing with so many tiny screws, a few more for the keyboard is nothing, so I think your "keyboard requirement" is a bit arbitrary.

 

In any case I find my Dell XPS 9550 15" to be conveniently serviceable once the bottom is off.

 

A bottle of Dr. Pepper extorted me into replacing the motherboard on that one.

 

Also, it might be nice to add in a list of tiny mods that people try out.

 

Not much of a mod, but I drilled a few holes in the bottom panel to provide better air flow to the Samsung 960 Pro NVMe drive to reduce any possible thermal throttling which would be a criminal offence on that drive!

[+Warwagon MVC]

8 hours ago, DevTech said:

After dealing with so many tiny screws, a few more for the keyboard is nothing, so I think your "keyboard requirement" is a bit arbitrary.

 

I disagree, on laptops that are not super thin there is no reason to make someone take off the palm rest. All that does is increase the risk of breaking some stupid little plastic clip. In the case of your Dell XPS 9550 (thanks for listing it) ..some companies wouldn't let you do that, heck even some other dell models don't. Instead of simply removing the back like the Dell XPS 9550 does, they make you take the top off too... stupid! 

 

Also going to add the Mac Book Pro 2008 - 2013. Might require a special Pentalobe screwdriver head. Just remove the screws off the back and the back cover easily removes.

[DevTech]

5 hours ago, warwagon said:

I disagree, on laptops that are not super thin there is no reason to make someone take off the palm rest. All that does is increase the risk of breaking some stupid little plastic clip. In the case of your Dell XPS 9550 (thanks for listing it) ..some companies wouldn't let you do that, heck even some other dell models don't. Instead of simply removing the back like the Dell XPS 9550 does, they make you take the top off too... stupid! 

 

Also going to add the Mac Book Pro 2008 - 2016. Might require a special Pentalobe screwdriver head. Just remove the screws off the back and the back cover easily removes.

I think after a certain year, Apple started soldering RAM?

 

I would not qualify that as "easy service" since the most common first upgrade need is RAM and telling someone they need to sell a laptop and buy another one just to upgrade RAM is not "easy service"

 

[DevTech]

Most of the laptops on this list I started would make great used buys at the right price.

 

Most of Workstation units have easy service. Ultra-lights not at all of course, but not many of them could make my challenging list.

 

I can go through the list for removable backs if you would like?

 

 

[+Warwagon MVC]

10 minutes ago, DevTech said:

I think after a certain year, Apple started soldering RAM?

 

I would not qualify that as "easy service" since the most common first upgrade need is RAM and telling someone they need to sell a laptop and buy another one just to upgrade RAM is not "easy service"

 

Good Catch, backed it off to Mac Book Pro 2008 - 2013 

4 minutes ago, DevTech said:

I can go through the list for removable backs if you would like?

1

Sure, that would be great. Then i'll add them to the main list

[DevTech]

8 minutes ago, warwagon said:

Good Catch, backed it off to Mac Book Pro 2008 - 2013 

Awesome.

 

The only Mac Book Pro that I felt was a good design was the discontinued 17" model. The very last iteration of that design jumped it from Core 2 to first gen i7 which is still decent for many uses. Unfortunately, the used Core 2 models are ridiculously over priced and owners of the i7 model  never seem to sell them!

 

I would guess it is easy to service.

 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

I've found my ThinkPads L370, P50, P51s, T23, T42, T43p, T60, T61p, W510, W530, Yoga L380, X100e, X120e, X140, X220 and X250 fairly easy to service.  In some cases, the keyboard has to be removed (unscrewed and flipped out) but I've not found that particularly difficult to do.

 

The ThinkPad S230u and the Lenovo Yoga 11 (original model with WinRT) are a bit more challenging to open up, as the former has a number of ribbon cable assemblies that can be damaged if moved around forcefully, and the latter because it doesn't really have any user serviceable components inside.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[+JHBrown Subscriber¹]

 

 

Too many models to list, but I've found Sager's laptops the easiest to service. I've bought their laptops over the past decade, and have nothing but great things to say about the company, or their vendors. I've upgraded CPU's, GPU's, RAM, SSD/HDD, and even an LCD screen with ease.

 

https://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, JHBrown said:

 

Too many models to list, but I've found Sager's laptops the easiest to service. I've bought their laptops over the past decade, and have nothing but great things to say about the company, or their vendors. I've upgraded CPU's, GPU's, RAM, SSD/HDD, and even an LCD screen with ease.

 

https://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

I almost bought one but they couldn't source a 4K IPS Touch Screen. Apparently Dell, HP and other large OEMs are soaking up the worldwide supply.

 

[+Warwagon MVC]

7 hours ago, JHBrown said:

 

 

 

Too many models to list, but I've found Sager's laptops the easiest to service. I've bought their laptops over the past decade, and have nothing but great things to say about the company, or their vendors. I've upgraded CPU's, GPU's, RAM, SSD/HDD, and even an LCD screen with ease.

 

https://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

 

Took a look at their website, picked a random model. DIdn't have a manual. Picked another random model and it had a manual but it was PDF inside a compressed extractable exe? WTF .. why not just a PDF. But that was just the user manual, didn't include servicing the computer.

8 hours ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

I've found my ThinkPads L370, P50, P51s, T23, T42, T43p, T60, T61p, W510, W530, Yoga L380, X100e, X120e, X140, X220 and X250 fairly easy to service.  In some cases, the keyboard has to be removed (unscrewed and flipped out) but I've not found that particularly difficult to do.

 

The ThinkPad S230u and the Lenovo Yoga 11 (original model with WinRT) are a bit more challenging to open up, as the former has a number of ribbon cable assemblies that can be damaged if moved around forcefully, and the latter because it doesn't really have any user serviceable components inside.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Thank you so much for that list! If you could exclude the ones where the keyboard is removed that would be awesome and I will add them to the top of the page.