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MagyarWindows Dev Kit 2023: Disassembling Microsoft's mini-PC reveals potential upgradability and developer circuitry
Earlier this week, Microsoft launched the Windows Dev Kit 2023, a mini-PC that the company debuted in May as Project Volterra. Unlike recent Surface hardware refreshes, Microsoft was ready to ship the Windows Dev Kit 2023 almost immediately, with our pre-order arriving earlier today having been ordered on October 24. Unsurprisingly, we were curious to see what lay inside Microsoft's simple black box, which prompted us to reach for a screwdriver set.
Thankfully, Microsoft has applied its learnings from the last few Surface generations by making the Windows Dev Kit 2023 incredibly easy to open. In fact, only four 2.5 mm socket cap bolts hold the unit's back panel to the main chassis. Upon removing these, the bottom cover simply comes away, albeit with a bit of resistance from a large thermal pad that sits above the SSD. Unfortunately, there is no obvious way to remove the mini-PC's inner cage from its plastic chassis without completely disassembling it, which we are yet to do.
Still, even just removing the back cover reveals a few details about the Windows Dev Kit 2023 that Microsoft has not disclosed on its product page. On the one hand, Microsoft has pre-installed an M.2 2230 SSD, the same drive type that it includes in the likes of the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5 series. Curiously, Microsoft has left enough space to include a larger and cheaper M.2 2280 drive. Also, it would appear that there is an aperture for a corresponding M.2 2280 stand-off, although we have been unable to test this out yet.
On the other hand, the Windows Dev Kit 2023 has five exposed connectors on its motherboard. Currently, it is unclear what their uses could be; Microsoft does not provide any documentation for them. Incidentally, while Microsoft stresses that the Windows Dev Kit 2023 is not intended for consumers, it has pre-loaded a retail version of Windows 11 Pro with a stock out-of-box experience (OOBE). At the time of writing, the Windows Dev Kit 2023 remains orderable in multiple markets, including the US, where it retails for US$599. For reference, all units ship with 32 GB of LPDDR4x RAM, a 512 GB NVMe SSD and the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 SoC.
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