I have long railed against construction that makes phones, tablets, and laptops difficult to repair. But this might be a new low.

As the iFixIt folks make their way through the Microsoft Surface Laptop teardown, it becomes clear that getting inside is no easy task. And these folks are pros at taking things apart. It’s their raison d’etre, their primary gig.

The whole thing turns a bit ugly. Just look at the picture in Step 5. Here’s a quote:

Now that we’ve got a clear look at the plastic, it seems these aren’t reusable clips at all, but weak ultrasonic spot welds that we’ve been busting through. This is definitely not going back together without a roll of duct tape.

Yeesh. I wonder what plan Microsoft has for repairing these units when they start rolling in. Will they simply replace the cover, discard the old?

[H/T John Kordyback]