Hasta La Gadget!

You know the drill (or is that screwdriver?) by now. New gadget lands at the iFixit labs, and the good folk there give it a teardown. Microsoft’s Surface Pro is this week’s lucky slab of silicon to hit the bench. The good news is that a removable battery and SSD will make swapping those out a charm. That’s pretty much it for the good news though. The less good news is the sheer number of screws you’re going to have to contend with (over 90 by iFixit’s count). The bad news is that screen is a real fiddle to remove, and there are globs of adhesive to navigate (holding that battery and screen in place for example). The worst part? By our tool-weilding friend’s reckoning, you’ll be lucky not to sever a major cable artery just by opening the thing. There’s not much by way of hardware surprises, bar the mAh rating of the battery (5,676). All this earns the Surface Pro a repairability rating of just one out ten (ten being the best). Better treat yours with the love and care it deserves then.

[Thanks, Chris]

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Via: TabTech

Source: iFixit

It’s time for the iFixit teardown of the Wii U, bringing on more details about this device than you could ever possibly want to know about. Starting with the basics, it’s found that along with NFC and either 8GB or 32GB iterations for internal storage, this unit has USB hard drive support, AMD Radeon-based High Definition GPU action, and a fabulous IBM Power-based multi-core processor. All that we know about – that and the 6.2-inch 854 x 480 pixels LCD panel on the touchscreen controller as well as a disk slot, sync button, SD card slot, USB 2.0 x 4, HDMI, AV multi-out, and sensor bar connector on the main unit.

The back of the device has a tiny CMOS battery you’ll likely never need to remove, while the main casing for the unit is shown to be extremely easy to access and open. It’s found that about 1/3 of the weight of the whole console is accounted for in the optical drive alone – iFixit suggests that this giant unit could be in place because it’s likely less expensive than its slimmer companions. This savings would therefor be passed on to you, the consumer, allowing the Wii U to be as inexpensive as it is on the market today – another possibility is that it allows for more breathability and quieter operation than a slimmer drive.

On the motherboard its found that this unit uses several pieces of Broadcom hardware, including the same Wireless Module used in the Roku 2 XS. This unit also uses a Broadcom Bluetooth 3.0 module. The AMD Radeon-based GPU and the IBM Power-based processor are placed rather close to one another physically so that – as iFixit suggests – they might reduce latency and power consumption as much as possible. Also inside is a Panasonic HDMI controller, Samsung eMMC 8 GB NAND Flash/Memory Controller, and Samsung 4 Gb (512 MB) NAND Flash.

The wireless touchpad controller is also torn down and found to contain a lovely 3.7 V, 1500 mAh rechargeable battery. The battery compartment is also shown to have extra room for an extended battery that will likely be appearing in the accessories aisle before the holiday season rolls around. The inside of the wireless controller is filled with mostly empty space, believe it or not, with the motherboard having lots of room to breath. This board works with a Broadcom NFC controller, is powered by a Broadcom BCM4319XKUBG, and uses a fabulous Texas Instruments Low Voltage I/O Touch Screen Controller.

This entire unit was rated a rather pleasing 8 out of 10 for repairability by iFixit, this meaning you’ll be able to fix everything yourself with only a few exceptions. Have a peek at the timeline below to see other rather recent stories surrounding the Wii U and see how big this machine gets in the weeks to come. It’s already sold out across the USA unless you’re really lucky and happen across a retailer with a few sets left!

[via iFixit]

Wii U iFixit teardown shows super easy fix-up is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re not all about science, its time you turned right around – because the Nexus 4 being torn down by iFixit to see what LG has brought to the party is all about how much science they can pack in its innards. It begins with a note that the LG Nexus 4 (see our full review here) isn’t exactly made to be taken apart – not by the average citizen – but that if you do want to fix it up, you’ll probably be able to without too much trouble. It all begins with a couple T5 Torx screws and a prying of the back from the front.

The back of the device is a beastly amalgamation of components not often seen in a battery cover. Of course since it’s not technically just a battery cover, but half the device, not meant to be removed by just anyone, it makes a whole lot of sense. This half of the device has a set of pressure contacts that power the NFC antenna and connect to the induction coil needed for wireless charging to the motherboard.

The battery sits in the front half of the device and is held down with a large amount of adhesive – not meant to be removed, ever. The folks at iFixit do remove the battery, but warn that you’ll not want to be a first-timer if you plan on making it work for yourself. The speaker enclosure, on the other hand, is held in place with two screws and no cables, working with spring contacts that make replacing it perfectly simple.

The back-facing camera is labeled as AC2AD D5A261, the motherboard contains Toshiba THGBM5G6A2JBA1R 8GB Flash and Samsung K3PE0E00A 2GB RAM. Imagine that – a big mix! For those of you that do not check the innards of your devices up-close very often, this isn’t out of the ordinary at all. It’s a team effort!

Also inside you’ll find a lovely Qualcomm WTR1605L Seven-Band 4G LTE chip. This does not mean that the device here is capable of working with a 4G LTE mobile network – it only means that, as you’ve seen with the LG Optimus G (with much of the same gear inside), Qualcomm’s setup is capable of 4G LTE where specified. We’ll see if this means that Verizon or AT&T will be running up with their own LG Nexus 4 with 4G LTE in the future – it’d require just a few hardware tweaks, and as we know from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it’s not out of the question that a carrier-based “Nexus” device would exist.

[via iFixit]

Nexus 4 gets teardown for repairability and science is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

They gang over at iFixit has been very busy of late tearing apart new gadgets. Recently, they tore apart a new iPad mini and a Microsoft Surface tablet to see what’s on the inside. The latest device to get the teardown treatment is the newest iPad 4 that debuted with the iPad mini.

As expected, the tablet has a dual-core A6X processor with a quad-core GPU. It uses a 9.7-inch LCD with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. It comes with 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB of storage and has a five-megapixel rear camera. One major difference between the latest generation of the iPad in the iPad 3 from seven months ago is the smaller Lightning connector on the new tablet.

The teardown also confirms that LG is manufacturing the display for the latest generation iPad, at least in the one torn down here. Apple is known to use multiple display providers to meet demand. The battery is the same unit in the new iPad as it was in the previous version. Overall, iFixit says the new iPad 4 isn’t any more repairable than the previous model, receiving only 2 out of 10 score – with 10 being the easiest to repair.

Apple’s fourth-gen iPad may have been a bit-player alongside the iPad mini at the launch event last week, but the 9.7-inch tablet still gets its time under the screwdriver. The tricksy teardown merchants at iFixit have wasted no time in putting the iOS slate in its place: that is, in separate pieces splayed across the table. Unsurprisingly, the team there don’t rate it highly for DIY repairability; more unexpected, though, is news that Apple didn’t really make the most of the changes it implemented.

Like the mini and the iPhone 5, Apple used its new Lightning connector rather than the older, larger 30-pin Dock Connector. However, while that’s a move to shave away at bulk in the smaller devices, in the iPad 4 with Retina display there’s not been any move to take advantage of the space freed up: iFixit suggests that Apple could’ve taken the opportunity to slot in larger speakers, for instance, and improve sound quality.

Unfortunately, Apple’s trend of making the iPad as tricky to dismantle as possible continues apace, with the teardown company rating the newest model 2 out of 10 for repair potential. Masses of adhesive – whether glue, tape, or sticky foam – keeping components in place; cover-glass that’s stuck to the chassis; and a battery that’s prone to being pierced and yet requires some serious levering in order to remove all get name-checked.

For most users, mind, none of these will be significant problems: most iPads likely don’t get opened up at all, though it does mean replacing a broken display or misbehaving connector is likely a job for the Genius Bar rather than something owners can attempt at home. As for what the iPad 4 can do when it’s in one piece, check out our full review for all the details.

iPad 4 teardown: More of the same (and a missed opportunity) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.