Microsoft Model 1769 Surface Laptop Battery Replacement

Dear Microsoft Team,

I purchased a Microsoft Surface Laptop Model 1769 back in 2018/2019 and am quite disappointed with the power and battery of the machine. I had faced issues with the charger of the laptop, where I had to order a replacement charger twice. This was a quite minimal issue compared to the one described below.

However, in 2024, one cell of the lithium ion battery (4 cells total: 2 in series, 2 in parallel) got swollen and I had to order a replacement battery from China (considering the pieces are actually made in China as stamped on the original battery and laptop). It is quite complicated to change the battery. There are many screws to remove and pieces to disassemble before removing the swollen battery and replacing with the new one. I have never experienced a problem with a laptop like this before and when I researched, I realised I was not the only one suffering an issue with this model.

I understand that Microsoft may replace the machine for customers who are still under the guarantee timeline, but for people who live in countries where Microsoft technical services aren't available, these technical issues are quite a nuisance. I hope that the company does not do this deliberately, but a deeper quality standard is needed for batteries to function long term, or at least make it customer friendly (more non-technical) to change to new batteries when you design and assemble the hardware for new machines after the guarantee goes out of date.

I would suggest root cause studies for these issues, the electrolyte composition of the cells must be studied well and their quality ensured long term. If the issue is in the chemical composition during manufacturing, the defected cells not detected prior to shipping may function some years and then produce gas and swell, as has been my case. This issue is not only dangerous to the customer but also impacts the customer's data if there is no time to backup the data onto an external hard drive.

Had I realised these type of issues exist with Microsoft laptops prior to purchasing, I would have done a deeper research on the laptop prior to purchasing. Lesson learned.