ASUS motherboard Repair

We brought something extra special to show and tell today: the Asus Chromebook C202. Asus designed this gizmo for your kiddo—touting serviceability and durability as a major selling point. They were so touting, in fact, that they offered us a test unit to independently confirm their claims. Eager to investigate, we grabbed our lucky #2 spudger and crossed our fingers in hopes that this Asus aces our repairability test.

Opening the C202 was easier than sticking a straw in a juice box. Nothing proprietary, no adhesives—just good ol’ standardized Phillips screws. The C202 scored even more points for incorporating a whole lot of modular hardware. The trackpad, motherboard, battery, and power jack are all a cinch to replace. All figured, we rated the C202 at a solid 9 out of 10 on repairability. It’s a welcome relief to see a product designed for repair, and not replacement. Kudos, Asus.

• We spy with our little eyes a 38 Wh lithium ion battery. According to our research, that’s on par with the 11” MacBook Air’s 38.75 Wh battery.

• Asus gets extra credit for labeling the ends of their cables and sockets, a handy reassembly aid.

• A tisket, a tasket, we remove a bracket… and find a heat pipe? A battery-mounted heat sink seems like an odd design choice. Then again, we’ve seen a similar cooling strategy in the Surface Pro 4.