A subreddit for the Microsoft Surface family of products. Original by design.
Attempting to Replace Surface Laptop Studio SSD...
Since it's been confirmed that the device will accept 2280 m.2 drives, I figured I could upgrade my device after purchase rather than paying a premium for more storage direct from Microsoft.
The two rubber feet on the bottom are resilient and non-stretchy; compared to an HP Envy 15 I've upgraded the ram on in the past, if you're careful the surface's rubber feet won't detach from the adhesive and will easily slot back into place. They lift up relatively easily from the ends with a fingernail. Underneath the rubber foot towards the lid hinge are 3 torx T3 screws, with 4 more of them under the bottom rubber foot towards the trackpad.
After removing the screws, pulling the staggered bottom base from the rest of the chassis on the corners near the hinge has some give, but there is the sound of adhesive being pulled up with this. I attempted to use a pick to slide underneath and continue going around, but there doesn't seem to be much give here. At the bottom of the device near the trackpad seems to be a divot in the adhered trim that wraps the bottom of the device between the vented base and the keyboard deck. It seems like this trim is the main barrier to getting into the device and is almost certainly there to facilitate the wireless charging for the pen.
I'm going to hold off on any further disassembly until I can find Microsoft documentation or another user that is willing to peel back the adhesive or find another way to remove the bottom portion of the unit. The keyboard deck does not seem to lift up at all either when the screws are removed.
EDIT:
So I followed itsage's guide to remove the adhesive and the last two screws, and it worked! I was able to get into the device (after unplugging the battery ribbon cable). There's also a few thermal pads on the inside of the bottom frame for heat dissipation of the nvme drive with the surface area of the bottom of the device.
Be warned about the power ribbon cable: it was a pain to plug back in and my anxiety of handling such an expensive device combined with shaky hands meant I accidentally broke off a slight bit of plastic on one end. It should clip in without much issue if you are patient.
Here are some benchmarks of each drive:
Great start!
Edit: You need to heat up the bottom "landing" area with a hair dryer so you can peel up the adhesive strips to reveal 2 more T3 screws. Once those two screws are out the panel should pop free.
https://dancharblog.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/upgrade-surface-laptop-studio-to-2tb/
Damn, that seems tricky, I do not like the adhesive issue.
So what is the final consensus? How hard was the process and was it worth it?
I just completed a 2TB swap yesterday and it took provably 15-20 minutes. I had to buy a T3 torx bit since my kit only went down to T5 as the smallest. Weirdest part is disconnect and reconnecting the cable after lifting the bottom cover but if you're careful with it it's not bad.
It was pretty nerve-wracking to go in blind for sure. The linked post to egpu.io was helpful in removing the adhesive part of the device. Ultimately I now have a 2tb drive in the base i7 version of the laptop that is faster than the stock drive. My only advice is be incredibly careful when reattaching the power ribbon cable, but otherwise it was worthwhile.
Here's a good example of how not to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wwbo731jOQ&t=767s
Good job! Microsoft didn’t need to make it easily replaceable. But technically possible and very difficult to do so. It’s really hard to make slim compact devices with everything also easy to open. We always recommended to take to a a surface repair store to get the job done.
Why they make it so hard to open?
Microsoft didn’t need to make it replaceable. This just makes it so it’s technically possible but difficult to do so. It’s really hard to make slim compact devices with everything also easy to open/remove.