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.
     |
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
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
Apple announced a new Airport Extreme earlier this week, and iFixit has already torn it apart. The good news? It’s a hacker’s dream.
| |
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
Google Glass isn’t in the hands of consumers yet, but a pair of intrepid Glass explorers didn’t let that stop them from taking the thing apart to see what makes it tick. This teardown is also especially pleasing in terms of shot composition and image quality, so if you’re hankering for a really good, close-up look at the tech inside of Google Glass, I highly recommend checking out what the Catwig guys have put together (via 9to5Google).
Not only do they take Glass apart, but they also put it back together Frankenstein-style in some surprising ways, including by attaching the business bits to a pair of prescription glasses. The hack works, they say, but only in a rudimentary sense; the proximity sensor built into Glass wasn’t working quite correctly when positioned as it was with respect to the prescription lenses, but it doesn’t look like there are any major barriers to making Glass eyeglass compatible.
Other interesting finds from the treasure trove include a specialized Synaptics touchpad controller to handle the touch-based controls, as well as a battery module that’s tiny at only 570 mAh capacity, and a technological marvel of a display that’s smaller in surface area than a dime and yet has 640×360 resolution, with each pixel around 1/8th the size of the ones found in Apple’s iPhone 5 Retina display.
There’s no telling how the final shipping version of Google Glass will compare in terms of hardware and build to the current Explorer edition, but this still provides a very interesting look behind the curtain at how Google’s big wearable tech experiment performs its wizardry. Oddly, this unceremonious deconstruction actually has me wanting Glass more, despite my earlier, more tepid interest in the still very unproven hardware.
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
Among the handful of Google Glass teardowns (and attempts at doing so) out there, this one by Star Simpson and Scott Torborg is one of the most thorough. The pair deconstructed the eyewear down to components so small they fit on a dime, using considerable force to tear through glue and plastic. Peeling back the cover of the battery enclosure revealed a non-replaceable 2.1 Wh (570mAh) single-cell lithium polymer unit. Simpson and Torborg note that while they do not recommend dismantling Glass (it’s hard enough to get your hands on one), they didn’t encounter major hurdles when they did and even managed to put it back together in working order. Most of you are familiar with what Google Glass looks like by now, but if you want to see all its parts individually, hit the source below.
[Image credit: Catwig]
Filed under: Wearables, Google
Via: Boing Boing
Source: Catwig
It was bound to happen at some point, and condolences to whomever sacrificed their frames for the greater good aside, we’ve got our first look at the components from Google Glass and how they’re fitted together. This comes from Star Simpson and Scott Torborg, who start their journey with a brief write up on picking
iFixit has a tradition of tearing apart Apple gadgets (and many others) as soon as they’re on sale, and it’s maintaining that custom with a fresh peek at the 2013 edition of the 13-inch MacBook Air. This isn’t a repeat of last year’s by-the-book affair, however — there’s a few minor surprises in store. We now know that Apple is bolstering the efficiency of Intel’s Haswell chips with a larger 7,150mAh battery pack, and that Broadcom makes the 802.11ac WiFi chip. The solid-state drive inside also represents a major rethink: while we’ve heard that Apple has switched the drive’s interface from pokey SATA to PCI Express, we can see that the SSD itself has shrunk dramatically since 2012. iFixit is still down on the Air’s repairability and scores it four out of ten, but those who’ve wanted to answer a few of Apple’s more recent riddles will still want to check out the full examination at the source.
Filed under: Laptops, Apple, Samsung
Via: iFixit (Twitter), 9to5 Mac
Source: iFixit
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
