Hybrid Surface Pro?

[totalloser]

Hello thank you for the brilliant forum.

I have a question if anyone could answer it that would be great!

Can I put the motherboard of a cosmetically damaged Surface Pro i7 into my Microsoft i3 and it behave it's self?

Any in put would be gladly received. ,

All the best Steven

 

[toaf]

I'm almost 100% sure the screens are the same. now physically doing it..that's another story. spend some time reading up and watching tear downs on the internet you could do it without breaking the screen on the new one.

 

[jnjroach]

I think you mean M3 if its a SP4, anyway the M3 version is slightly thinner because it didn't need the dual fans that the i5 and i7 needed...

I would worry about the fans on the system as well as air flow. Also this type of surgery on a sealed device would be challenging.

 

[totalloser]

Hello toaf and jnjroach,

From what I've seen you're right toaf about the screen - I've found a top rated guy who does grade A screens (full front unit digitizer etc) for £149! And he asks for the serial # - model # just incase and takes returns - so that parts nicely sorted.

Funny thing is the Pro 4 screen costs £149 and a Pro 3 screen costs £249.

Good point about the Pro 3 being a harder nut to crack than the Pro 4 - I really don't what to break a screen just so I can get inside.

jnj - In my original post I was talking about Surface Pro''s in genral - rereading it I can see why it would cause confusion.

But I did mean an i3 in that moment I was thinking about putting a Pro 3's i7 motherboard into a Pro 3 i3.

I could get a nice Pro 3 i3 for £250 and a cosmetically battered i7 for £150-£200. Move the parts about and wahla. Nice Pro 3 i7 for £450 + working i3 spares and a lot for tinkering fun

I'm thinking more about doing the same thing but with Pro 4's. But I had already dismissed the m3 because of the things you pointed out jnj.

Pro 4 i5 with type case and pen for £550 is looking very tempting.

A cosmetically battered Pro 4 i7 16gb regularly selling for £370. That's a lot of cash for something that doesn't work lol

But IF the switching of the guts works out okay - it's a very cheap top spec i7 and every day is Christmas for me

I think I'm going to go for the Pro 4 i5 (4gb) for £550 and if I'm feeling flush or in a tinkering mood ill buy a cosmetically battered i7 and have a play. Bear in mind the Pro 5 is just round the corner so prices will come down a lot especially on spares and repairs parts.

Thank you for your thoughts it's helped clear up the whole compatability worries I was having.

I'll post back and let you know if my little experiment was a success or a dismal failure haha

Thanks again,

Steven

 

[toaf]

I 100% forgot about the damned cooling, if you do open one up. I would 100% add a bigger SSD at least. seeing how many "pry picks" people seem to use to crack it open seems nuts. it's a shame they didn't just use screws.. . . . . at least I can open my Nintendo switch easy if I wanted too

 

[totalloser]

Hiya toaf,

Yeah the ssd is about the only simple switch - could be the only reward if the i7 motherboard doesn't work and I don't smash the screen on the way in

I'll post back the joy or the sorrow

What the hell are you doing on here if you have a Switch ... you can't have bought Zelda... you apparently stop washing once you start playing it is meant to be that good

Jealous if you've played it toaf.. Zelda nut here.

 

[GreyFox7]

Hello toaf and jnjroach,

From what I've seen you're right toaf about the screen - I've found a top rated guy who does grade A screens (full front unit digitizer etc) for £149! And he asks for the serial # - model # just incase and takes returns - so that parts nicely sorted.

Funny thing is the Pro 4 screen costs £149 and a Pro 3 screen costs £249.

Good point about the Pro 3 being a harder nut to crack than the Pro 4 - I really don't what to break a screen just so I can get inside.

jnj - In my original post I was talking about Surface Pro''s in genral - rereading it I can see why it would cause confusion.

But I did mean an i3 in that moment I was thinking about putting a Pro 3's i7 motherboard into a Pro 3 i3.

I could get a nice Pro 3 i3 for £250 and a cosmetically battered i7 for £150-£200. Move the parts about and wahla. Nice Pro 3 i7 for £450 + working i3 spares and a lot for tinkering fun

I'm thinking more about doing the same thing but with Pro 4's. But I had already dismissed the m3 because of the things you pointed out jnj.

Pro 4 i5 with type case and pen for £550 is looking very tempting.

A cosmetically battered Pro 4 i7 16gb regularly selling for £370. That's a lot of cash for something that doesn't work lol

But IF the switching of the guts works out okay - it's a very cheap top spec i7 and every day is Christmas for me

I think I'm going to go for the Pro 4 i5 (4gb) for £550 and if I'm feeling flush or in a tinkering mood ill buy a cosmetically battered i7 and have a play. Bear in mind the Pro 5 is just round the corner so prices will come down a lot especially on spares and repairs parts.

Thank you for your thoughts it's helped clear up the whole compatability worries I was having.

I'll post back and let you know if my little experiment was a success or a dismal failure haha

Thanks again,

Steven

It's a plan... although risky perhaps at the cost of a new screen even though that not the only risk.

Success lies in more heating and less prying.