Microsoft has released an official video that shows how easy it is to open up its Surface Laptop SE and replace important components – and rivals such as Apple should sit up and take notice.

For the past few years, device makers, especially Microsoft and Apple, have been criticized for making products that are extremely difficult – if not impossible – to be repaired by a user. While the companies often argue that this is because their products are carefully put together, and are now slimmer than ever, therefore requiring unique parts, critics say that this results in more waste and expense for the users.

If your Surface Laptop or MacBook’s SSD fails, for example, it should be a relatively easy and cost-effective repair. However, these systems aren't designed for home repair. Instead, you'll need to either ship the laptop back to Microsoft or Apple for repair or replacement or take it to an approved repair shop.

If you try to fix it yourself or go to a non-approved repair shop, you risk voiding the warranty, or even damaging the device further.

This has led to some consumer backlash. In the US and Europe, there is increasing legislation forcing manufacturers to acknowledge the customer’s right to repair their own devices. It seems many manufacturers are taking this seriously, with Microsoft highlighting how easy its upcoming Surface Laptop SE will be to open up and replace parts using common tools.

DIY repairs

As Gizmondo reports , Microsoft still isn’t clear about whether or not these repairs will void your warranty – at the very least, the company isn’t taking responsibility if you break something while attempting this.

Still, it’s a welcome change. Microsoft’s video shows the Surface Laptop SE being opened up and components such as the keyboard and the screen being accessed and removed. Should you need to replace or fix something, it could be a lot easier to do at home.

Launching this repairability with the Surface Laptop SE makes sense. It’s a low-cost device aimed at children and educational institutions. These are settings where a laptop is going to get a lot of punishment. If a school provides a Surface Laptop SE to a student and the keyboard breaks, the school could swap out the keyboard rather than buy a new laptop.

We’re still not sure if this repairability will come to Microsoft’s high-end devices, but we’d like to see any future Surface Laptops or Surface Pros offer this kind of repairability. To be fair to Microsoft, it already made certain aspects of its premium devices replaceable, such as the easily accessible SSD in the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro X , but there’s still work to be done.

Analysis: Apple take note

While this level of repairability should have been included in its products without pressure from consumer rights campaigners, and even governments, Microsoft’s move is still a welcome one. When you buy a device, especially an expensive one, you should have more choice about how to repair it if something goes wrong.

With many companies also pledging to be more ecologically responsible, making devices that can be easily repaired and upgraded should also lead to less waste – as consumers won’t be throwing away devices when just one component has failed, for example.

Along with Microsoft, Apple has been singled out for making devices that are almost impossible to repair or upgrade, which is at odds with the consumer-friendly and environmentally conscious image it portrays.

For Apple’s part, it did announce the Apple Self Service Repair program last year, which will allow users to fix certain parts of their iPhone 13 or iPhone 12 using specialized tools. It’s for handsets only, and it’s not as flexible as Microsoft’s alternative, but it is a start.

The new MacBook Pros have also been found to be slightly more fixable than previous models , with the battery no longer glued in, and with pull-tabs included to make its removal easier. The display is also said to be easier to replace.

Still, Apple remains behind Microsoft when it comes to the fixability of its products – and Microsoft’s moves, while welcome, still need to go further, as well. Let’s hope both companies take the right to repair more seriously in 2022.

I'd forgotten about Android Auto games until they got me through an hour in standstill traffic

Did you know you can play eight different games on your car's display via Android Auto ? And if you did know, have you actually played any of them since their introduction to the service in September 2021?

I certainly knew they existed, but I hadn't ventured into the gaming app until recently. And you know what, I'm digging what's being offered.

They may not exactly be console-quality games, but when you find yourself idling in the car with time to kill, they offer welcome respite.

A road to nowhere

It was just meant to be a quick 50-minute blast around the M25 - the motorway that circles London - to pick up my partner from a weekend away, but less than 10 miles from my destination traffic on this notoriously busy stretch of road ground to a halt.

It was impossible to tell how long I'd be stopped for, but the signs were ominous pretty much right away.

Nothing but stationary, red taillights stretched off into the distance in front of me. Meanwhile, on the other side of the central divider, the lanes were eerily quiet. Not a single vehicle was in sight - a sure sign that traffic had been stopped further up the road in the other direction too.

After 10 minutes of foot-tapping to Spotify's 'Born in the 80s' playlist (there are some bangers in there), I began to get fidgety.

With the car in park, I turned my attention to Android Auto. Tapping the menu icon I spotted the Game Snacks badge in the app list.

I'd honestly forgotten that it had been added to Auto just a few months ago, but with time on my hands and nowhere to go, it was time to tap and see.

Mirror, signal, game

You can only access the Game Snacks app when your car is in park, and your phone requires an internet connection to load and play the games.

I, thankfully, found myself at a standstill on a section of motorway with solid 4G, allowing the gaming to commence.

Now, it's fair to say the games offered by Google's in-house developer (Games Snacks) appear to be awfully similar to some well-known titles.

I started off with Bubble Words which is your typical bubble shooter - get a colored bubble at the bottom of the screen and shoot it at the honeycomb mass above, aiming at a group of bubbles of the same color.

The touch controls here were okay, with the ability to drag the aiming line and release to fire your bubble or give a simple tap on where you want it to.

It's not quite as responsive or accurate as it would be playing on your phone, but it was enjoyable and passed a good 15 minutes.

Once I'd had my bubble fill it was time to move on. Next, I opted for ZooBoom. I think the app icon has a passing resemblance to Angry Birds, but the game itself is closer to Bejeweled, albeit much simpler.

All you have to do is tap groups of two or more of the same animal face on a grid to earn points. There are bonuses and special items to unlock, but it was a little too basic for me, so I quickly moved on.

And I'm glad I did after I loaded Cannonballs HD, which was my favorite of the three games I played.

Again, it's a simple game with simple controls. You're in charge of a cannon and have a limited number of cannonballs to knock objects off the platforms in front of you.

As you move up the levels the shapes the objects make become bigger and more complex, and the materials vary too, forcing you to really think about where you're aiming your shots.

The tap-to-shoot controls worked well here and made for an enjoyable time-passer. So enjoyable, in fact, then when I finally made a cursory glance up to check the traffic vehicles were starting to move.

I returned to my navigation thanks to the handy Google Maps shortcut at the bottom of the display, flicked my car into drive and I was off.

The road ahead

I'd been stopped for just over an hour, but thanks to Android Auto it hadn't felt anywhere near that long.

The available games aren't going to wow you with their graphics, responsiveness or storytelling, but they may just make standstill traffic that bit more bearable.

Gaming in our cars is only going to grow thanks to the continued technological push in electric vehicles. We've already seen Tesla tease next-gen gaming in its cars , while we plugged our PS5 into the Honda e for a gaming session.

With bigger displays, increased processing power and in-car connectivity advancements, gaming is an increasingly viable option in our vehicles.

Today it's simple phone games on my car's humble display. In a few years, I could be looking at 4K gaming comparable to the latest consoles - and that would make traffic jams highly entertaining.

This Alienware ultrawide monitor at CES 2022 makes me happy that mine is dying

CES 2022 , just like any other year's giant tech event, has no shortage of gaming monitors . You've got the new Alienware AW3423DW, an OLED ultrawide display that simply looks stunning, and then there's something like the Samsung Odyssey Ark, an absolutely huge display that would encompass your entire field of vision.

Both of these monitors are exactly the type of display that I would have on my desk at home. However, unlike previous years, which have no doubt seen plenty of awesome displays, I'm actually going to be on the market for a new gaming monitor here in a couple of months - so I'm just happy that there are some really cool new ones this year.

All good things come to pass

I bought a refurbished AOC Agon AG352UCG6 Black Edition back in 2018, and it has definitely served me quite well. This monitor has been with me through a cross-country move and has been tossed in my closet more times than I can count, especially over the last couple of years - mostly to make room for monitors I was reviewing for TechRadar.

And it has handled all of that with style and grace. However, over the last few months, it has started showing some signs that it could be reaching the end of its lifespan. Sometimes the display will turn dark for a couple of seconds, before the color re-saturates. Not something that happens in-game, and it's not enough to make me throw it in the dumpster quite yet - but its time is coming.

To be clear, I'm not really looking forward to getting rid of this monitor. Even by today's standards, it's a pretty amazing display, with good color accuracy, a swift 120Hz refresh rate, and a convenient carrying handle on the back. The bezels are quite a bit thicker than a modern display, but that's never been something I've cared too much about, especially in a gaming monitor of this size.

But if I do have to eventually replace this screen, I'm happy that I'm doing so in a time when there are so many great displays about to hit the street.

I have my eyes on that Alienware OLED ultrawide

Needless to say, I have kind of a soft spot for ultrawide monitors . Not only are they good for work, but pretty much the only game I play anymore is Final Fantasy XIV, and the extra screen real estate an ultrawide display affords me is priceless in that game. So if I am going to be buying a new monitor this year, you can bet that I'll be replacing this ultrawide with, well, another ultrawide.

And the Alienware AW3423DW is arriving at basically the perfect time. It's the same size as the AOC monitor I've been using, but is using a much superior Samsung OLED panel, along with a higher 175Hz refresh rate. All of that while still having G-Sync. I only saw the display for a few minutes, so I don't know whether or not it's going to be the perfect display yet, but it's looking promising.

The only thing that gives me a bit of pause is that the display might be quite expensive. I don't know how much this new Alienware display is going to cost, but given that the last-generation AW3420DW is still going for $799 on Amazon, I'm sure that the AW3423DW is going to easily cross into the $1,000+ range, mostly due to that Samsung OLED panel being used.

But, it's definitely going to be a display that's going to look incredible for years to come, even if the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 I run in my PC is a bit overkill for that resolution.

A nice middle ground

While the Alienware AW3423DW is probably going to be expensive, it's at least going to be reasonably affordable for a high-end display, which is why it's at the top of my list right now.

If budget wasn't a concern, I would just be going for the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 . But while that Samsung monitor is without a doubt the best display I have ever used, it's ludicrously expensive. If I don't wait for a sale - and I'm impatient so I probably wouldn't - I'd be spending $2,499 on that screen. And while for a display that luxurious and future-proof, that price point makes sense, it's not something I could really justify.

However, even if the Alienware AW3423DW is half that price at $1,299, it would be worth it. The 21:9 aspect ratio would be more widely supported, and the 34-inch size would be much more manageable in my tiny New York City apartment.

Plus, I'd get Alienware's superior aesthetics with Samsung panel technology anyways, so I wouldn't really be missing anything. Either way, I'm luckily in a position where I'll likely be able to try the Alienware AW3420DW before I have to spend money on it.

But right now, it's probably the most excited I've been for a monitor that I would realistically actually buy. It's not the most innovative product CES 2022 has to offer, but at least for what I need right now in my life, it's what I'm most excited about for whatever that's worth.