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Like humans, dead gadgets get autopsies, too — only we call such hardware dissection “teardowns.” But why do we rip our beloved gadgets to pieces? To learn more about the nature of technology, engineering and industrial design, of course.
It’s kind of a beautiful thing, actually: staring at a gadget’s ugliest internal parts to learn its secrets.
To celebrate teardown culture, we hosted a contest in collaboration with teardown company iFixit, and 19 people participated (20, if you include a hilariously failed attempt). The rules were simple: Disassemble a Sony gadget, take photos of each step, and post the results.
Why Sony? Because the company makes some of the most elegantly designed hardware out there, and we were curious to see what lurked beneath the products’ sleek exteriors. Also because Sony told iFixit that it doesn’t like its products being torn apart publicly like this, and we couldn’t resist a challenge like that.
IFixit is handing out two awards to the winners: a PS3 Slim for “Best Overall Teardown,” and a PSP Go for “Most Creative Teardown,” Check out photos of the two winners, as well as eight other teardowns we found thoughtful, clever and impressive.
Thanks to all 20 who participated!
The winner of “Most Creative Teardown” goes to iFixit author Bac, who disassembled a vintage Sony TR-63 transistor radio. Not only were we shocked at the author’s ballsiness for ripping up this valuable antique; we were wowed by the old-school circuit board, which looks like an array of colorful beetles and worms.
Photo: Bac/iFixit
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