Surface Laptop 3 Repairs For Randomly Cracking Screens Offered For Free
Microsoft just announced some new Surface devices but it is hardly done facing problems with its older, existing computers. Earlier this year, what was supposed to be its most repairable and upgradable laptop (which is still not that easy to repair anyway) was reportedly cracking its screen for no immediately apparent reason. Microsoft was, fortunately, more responsive to this than Surface Pro 7 shutdown problems and while its official diagnosis is literally unbelievable, it is at least offering to repair those mysteriously cracked screens at no extra charge.
Microsoft blames the problem on a hard foreign particle that may cause a hairline fracture on the screen. This sounds almost plausible and oddly similar to Samsung's conclusion with the first batch of foldable Galaxy Fold phones. Except the Surface Laptop 3 doesn't have such a fragile flexible display and it has been around for months before the issue started appearing.
As with any official statement regarding issues and defects, Microsoft says it has only happened on a very small percentage of cases and, to be fair, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme, reason, or pattern to the problem. ZDNet observed that the issues may be more prevalent in the aluminum case models compared to the Alcantara-covered ones.
Microsoft is offering free repairs for such cracked screens but, as you can expect, there are some catches. The free repairs only cover screens that spontaneously cracked under those circumstances and not from accidents. The device also has to still be in warranty, which is probably not that difficult to meet since the Surface Laptop 3 is just half a year old. Those who already paid for repairs will have to contact Microsoft for potential reimbursement.
The Surface Laptop 3 is easily one of the more expensive laptops in the market with the same specs. Microsoft impressed the audience by revealing how easy it would be to upgrade the device though, as iFixit discovered, it remains relatively difficult to repair. Apparently, it also takes just one unidentified hard foreign particle from who knows where to destroy the screen as well.