Jul 27
During their routine teardown procedure of Google’s new Chromecast, iFixit noticed what appears to be a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy easter egg that’s hiding in plain sight.
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Jul 26
Google‘s newly unveiled Nexus 7 second-generation tablet has been given the iFixit treatment, having its exoskeleton peeled apart to reveal what lies within. Fortunately for owners who also happen to be of the DIY repair persuasion, the 2013 Nexus 7 was found to be pretty simple and straight forward to dissect, and achieved a 7 out of 10 repairability score.
Says iFixit, the latest Nexus 7 has “drastic” changes in body type, being thinner, taller, and more narrow, and also lacking the texture on the back panel that the original has. Compared to the last model, there’s now the rear camera, and three grilles for the stereo speakers. While the tablet can be opened with only a plastic prying tool, doing so caused the rear panel to crack a bit.
There’s not much glue to battle, and the rest of the process is as simple as removing the top-most components one at a time. The battery is the first thing visible, and the presence of an inductive charging coil was noted – not surprising, considering the wireless charging. In order to take out the battery, you’ll have to pop your way through two seals, a warranty-voiding activity.
In order to remove the battery from the tray, users will have to deal with “pretty sticky” glue. The motherboard and daughterboard, however, are easy to remove, followed by both the front and the rear camera. Some of the hardware pulled out by iFixit includes Elpida J4216EFBG SDRAM, a Texas Instrument BQ51013B inductive charging controller, and NAND Flash courtesy of SK Hynix.
With the boards out, that leaves the speakers and the wifi antenna, both of which are easy to access. Overall, the tablet is easy to open and repair, says iFixit. The pros are an easy to open rear case, and all the screws are of the Philips variety. The battery posed slight issues due to the adhesive that was used, and the con was the front glass – you’ll need a heat gun to replace the LCD.
SOURCE: iFixit
Nexus 7 2013 iFixit teardown reveals easy repairability is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 26
We’re sure glad there’s iFixit to take apart new gadgets so we don’t have to, and it comes as no surprise that the next-gen Nexus 7 is one of its latest experiments. If you’ve read our hands-on with the device, you won’t be surprised by much of what the folks at iFixit saw while tearing it down. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the new version has huge improvements when it comes to repairability. Its huge battery is glued to an adhesive tray, and like its predecessor, its display seems to be the biggest problem — you’ll need a heat gun to get it out. Still, iFixit gives it a score of 7 out of 10, because all they needed to pry it open was a plastic tool.
Source: iFixit
Jul 26
A lot of gadgets have passed through the halls of iFixit, getting their turn on the chopping block and having their internal guts dissected. Some of them have been extremely difficult to open up, while others are pretty easy. The Chromecast, on the other hand, is just a piece of nothing if you ask the iFixit folks. They didn’t even give it a repairability score.
Essentially, the Chromecast HDMI dongle is a motherboard with a heatsink, encased in a plastic shell. The shell is fairly easy to open, as it just takes a little bit of prying to get access to the innards. Overall, there just wasn’t much to teardown. After iFixit took off the plastic shell, that was pretty much it.
So why didn’t they give it a repairability score? Well, because there’s nothing to repair. If the device breaks you have to replace the whole thing, unless you’re really, really good with soldering tiny parts together. iFixit calls the Chromecast “a throwaway gadget” thanks to its very small price tag and the fact that you just can’t repair it.
However, that doesn’t mean that the iFixit team didn’t discover some “cool stuff” on the inside. The Chromecast uses an Azure Wave AW-NH387 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth, FM combo module IC, along with a Marvell DE3005-A1 SoC, similar to the Marvell DE3005. It also has 4GB of flash memory and 512MB of RAM.
In the end, iFixit calls the Chromecast “essentially a luxury item with a limited use.” It’s certainly nothing special, and if anything, it’s mostly the price that has folks raging about it. Then again, for $35, it’s a pretty awesome device that can do a lot of neat things, and with the SDK out and about, we can only see the device getting better from here on out.
SOURCE: iFixit
Google Chromecast gets iFixit teardown treatment is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jun 14
It’s a rite of passage, the post-launch teardown, and one the 11-inch MacBook Air couldn’t escape after its bigger sibling suffered the indignity on Wednesday. iFixit stripped the slimline ultraportable to its component boards in the hunt for something electronically interesting, finding a bigger battery than the old model, as well as new flash storage
Jun 13
The new old, curiously botoxed Xbox 360 was announced at E3 to a crowd of shrugs. Why add makeup and eyeliner to a walking zombie? Whatever. The ace surgical team at iFixit got their hands on the new old Xbox 360 to see if anything changed inside. Here are the guts.
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Jun 13
During Microsoft’s E3 2013 press conference where they mostly focused on Xbox One games, the company also outed a new and redesigned Xbox 360 to hold gamers over until the Xbox One launch in November. Naturally, though, it was immediately bound for the iFixit teardown waitlist, and it’s finally on the surgery bed getting its
Jun 13
The Xbox 360 has gone through quite a few hardware transitions in its lifetime, but the 2013 model still intrigues us — it’s potentially the last, most advanced iteration that we’ll see. iFixit must be equally curious, as it’s tearing down the console just days after its launch. The shock of this latest system may rest in what hasn’t changed: despite being smaller and (reportedly) quieter, the updated 360 is still using the cooling, processing power and storage of its 2010 predecessor. Most of the differences exist in the enclosure and some minor component tweaks, like the new RF module. This model isn’t a revolution, then, but iFixit appreciates its more repairable design. Gamers wanting to explore this tiniest of Xbox 360s can check out the full teardown at the source link.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: iFixit
Jun 12
Hidden behind the new iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, and the new Mac Pro at Apple’s WWDC keynote was the unveiling of a new AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule. The Time Capsule comes with 2TB or 3TB hard drive options and allow users to back up their Mac files, while the AirPort Extreme is
Jun 12
What would you expect to find in a new MacBook Air 13 promising more battery life? If you said “a bigger battery” then iFixit‘s teardown of the new ultraportable won’t come as a surprise to you: sure enough, where the 2012 Air had a 6,700 mAh, 7.3V power pack, the 2013 version steps up to
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