ifixit

Tablets
July 3, 2012
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Nexus 7 crushes Kindle Fire’s battery performance, says iFixit

By on July 3, 2012 at 8:15 PM.

Nexus 7 crushes Kindle Fire’s battery performance, says iFixit

Nexus 7 Teardown Battery Performance

The repair wizards at iFixit have gotten hold of Google’s Nexus 7 tablet and have found that it absolutely bludgeons Amazon’s rival Kindle Fire tablet in terms of battery performance. According to iFixit, Google’s new tablet has “a 4326 mAh, 16 Wh battery that can last 9:49 hours” or more than two hours longer than the Kindle Fire, which “has a 4400 mAh, 16.28 Wh battery ” that “only lasts 7:42 hours.” More →

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Computers
June 13, 2012
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New MacBook Pro an enormous pain to repair, says iFixit

By on June 13, 2012 at 9:15 PM.

New MacBook Pro an enormous pain to repair, says iFixit

Apple Retina MacBook Pro Repair Problems

The New MacBook Pro may be an engineering marvel but it could also give your computer repair person a headache the likes of which he or she has never felt. According to the repair gurus at iFixit, the new MacBook Pro is one of the least repairable laptops they’ve ever encountered, scoring a 1 on their 10-point repairability scale. Among the new Pro’s litany of sins against independent repair people everywhere are its “proprietary pentalobe screws” that “prevent you from gaining access to anything inside,” RAM that is “soldered to the logic board,” a battery that is “glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it’ll break during disassembly” and a proprietary SSD that cannot yet be upgraded. Basically, MacBook Pro users who fancy themselves good amateur mechanics should under no circumstances open up this thing to tinker around with it. More →

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Business
March 15, 2012
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New iPad teardown now underway at iFixit [updated]

By on March 15, 2012 at 11:54 AM.

New iPad teardown now underway at iFixit [updated]

Well-known gadget repair company iFixit made its way to Australia on Thursday in order to be among the first to procure a new Apple iPad. Following a midnight launch at one Australian retailer, iFixit has managed to obtain the highly sought-after tablet and is already in the process of performing one of its famous teardowns. Gadget fans and investors alike will be watching closely as the firm reveals the manufacturers behind many of the key components found within the new tablet, and we’ll update this post as details emerge.

UPDATE: iFixit believes that the LCD panel in the iPad it is currently disassembling was manufactured by Samsung. Earlier reports stated that Samsung is the sole manufacturer of Apple’s new 9.7-inch Retina Displays, while a subsequent report claimed LG Display is also supplying panels for the new iPad. IFixit also states that the new iPad includes a 11,560 mAh battery. More →

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Tablets
November 21, 2011
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Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet harder to repair than Kindle Fire, teardown shows

By on November 21, 2011 at 9:45 PM.

Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet harder to repair than Kindle Fire, teardown shows

The team at iFixit recently tore open Barnes & Noble’s brand new Nook Tablet to get a closer look at its inner workings see how they compare to Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The group found that the Nook Tablet is powered by a dual-core TI OMAP 4 processor clocked at 1GHz, and it has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal SanDisk storage. It also has a 4,000 mAh battery under the hood that’s rated for up to 11.5 hours of reading time, 3.5 hours longer than the previous generation Nook Color device. The Nook Tablet received a repairability score of 6 out of 10 points, which is worse than the Kindle Fire’s 8/10 score. The LCD can be easily replaced because it isn’t fused to the bezel, however one would need to remove the motherboard in order to replace the battery, and there are “excessive amounts of adhesive” and even hidden screws that made the teardown a bit more tedious than usual. More →

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Tablets
November 18, 2011
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Amazon Kindle Fire gets torn open, repairs deemed simple [video]

By on November 18, 2011 at 2:00 PM.

Amazon Kindle Fire gets torn open, repairs deemed simple [video]

The group at iFixit recently tore open the Amazon Kindle Fire to get a good look at its hardware. The group discovered that the device is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor clocked at 1GHz that is paired with an older Texas Instruments WL1270B 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi chip. Overall, the Kindle Fire didn’t have too many complicated parts, which resulted in a solid 8/10 repairability score from iFixit. The team said its rear case is easy to take off, users only need a regular screw driver to open the tablet, and the LCD isn’t fused to its the glass cover, which means it should be fairly easy to replace if it breaks. Unfortunately, however, the glass pane is fused to the bezel, and it will require a heat gun to separate the components. A video from DirectFix, another site that tore apart the Kindle Fire and examined its innards, follows after the break. More →

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mobile
October 13, 2011
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iFixit reveals inner workings of iPhone 4S in new teardown

By on October 13, 2011 at 7:30 PM.

iFixit reveals inner workings of iPhone 4S in new teardown

The crew at iFixit has given the iPhone 4S its proper tear-down, revealing the phone’s inner workings and hardware. iFixit noticed that the battery offers an extra 0.5 WHrs over the one found in the iPhone 4, which is likely the reason Apple is able to advertise an additional 1-hour of 3G talk time on the iPhone 4S compared to its predecessor. The phone is equipped with a Qualcomm RTR8605 radio, an Avago ACPM-7181 power amplifier and of course a dual-core 1GHz Apple A5 processor, which has been downclocked to 800MHz. Be sure to hit the jump for a few more images of the iPhone 4S teardown. Deliveries of Apple’s new smartphone begin on Friday, and in the meantime be sure to check out our hands-on with the iPhone 4S. More →

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Computers
May 4, 2011
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Apple’s new iMac gets torn open; same LG display spotted

By on May 4, 2011 at 9:11 PM.

Apple’s new iMac gets torn open; same LG display spotted

The crew over at iFixit — torx screw drivers in hand – just stripped down one of Apple’s brand new 21.5 inch Sandy Bridge iMacs to give us a look at its guts. There aren’t too many surprises in store: the computer uses the same LG display found in the last generation of iMacs, and iFixit was pleased to find that Apple used an appropriate amount of thermal paste on the CPU and GPU — a “happy departure from the gobs” Cupertino put on the new MacBook Pro. The RAM, hard drive, and optical drive can be swapped out easily, too; you’ll just have to remove the LCD in order to do so. iFixit gave the new iMac a 7 out of 10 “repairability score,” as most of the hardware was easy to access. The team’s biggest complaint was with the need to remove the logic board in order to clean the LCD after reassembling the computer. Hit the jump for a few more images of the teardown. More →

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Tablets
April 19, 2011
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BlackBerry PlayBook gets iFixit tear-down

By on April 19, 2011 at 7:33 PM.

BlackBerry PlayBook gets iFixit tear-down

The team over at iFixit spent the morning tearing down RIM’s brand new tablet for an in-depth look at the inner-workings of the BlackBerry PlayBook. There aren’t too many surprises, but the firm did discuss how difficult and costly it could be to replace broken parts. If you aren’t using a case for your PlayBook just yet, here’s one reason you might want to start:

“The front camera, rear camera, and top control buttons are all attached as one assembly, making the replacement of a broken power button or volume buttons very costly.”

iFixit also said that RIM chose to build a magnesium frame around the glass LCD display, which should give it some extra durability. If you do end up shattering that 7-inch front panel, it’s not the end of the world. The LCD isn’t fused to the glass, which means a replacement should be fairly easy on you, and your wallet. Hit the jump to see iFixit’s full gallery. More →

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Tablets
March 14, 2011
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iPad 2 and Smart Cover guts revealed in iFixit tear-down

By on March 14, 2011 at 2:12 PM.

iPad 2 and Smart Cover guts revealed in iFixit tear-down

iFixit got down and dirty opening up the iPad 2 Wi-Fi and its Smart Cover accessory over the weekend and has published specs and pictures of the inner workings of both. There aren’t a ton of surprises hiding in the iPad 2, which sports a 1GHz A5 dual-core processor manufactured by Samsung, 512MB of LPDDR2 RAM, a 9.7-inch LED-backlit multitouch display, and 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal storage. Its Wi-Fi board is powered by a Broadcom BCM43291HKUBC chip that was used in the first iPad and in the iPhone 4.

Also listed on the battery is a capacity of 6930 mAh. Since mAh = Watt-hours / volts * 1000, converting using the above numbers yields 25 / 3.8 * 1000 = 6,579. It looks like there might be some rounding going on here, or the battery voltage might actually be more like 3.6 volts.

The iPad 2 Smart Cover tear-down revealed 21 magnets (in addition to the 10 magnets in the iPad 2 itself), a large metal plate encased in plastic, and two structural plates. Hit the jump for images of a heaping serving of hardware porn.

More →

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Tablets
February 25, 2011
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Motorola XOOM taken down to screws by ifixit, dubbed ‘easy to repair’

By on February 25, 2011 at 10:04 AM.

Motorola XOOM taken down to screws by ifixit, dubbed ‘easy to repair’

A device isn’t really released until the gang over at ifixit have torn it limb from limb, am I right? Today’s victim: the Motorola XOOM tablet. After several hours and 57 screws, the ifixit team have given the XOOM an 8 out of 10 rating on ease of repair (10 being the easiest). The site notes that the “LCD and front panel glass are not fused together” — making for easy glass-break repairs — and that “individual components are separately attached to the motherboard, allowing each component to be replaced on an individual basis.” Ifixit does caution that due to the fact that there are over fifty screws, repairs, while easy, do require quite a bit of labor. Hit the read link to have a look for yourself…and try not to drop your XOOM! More →

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mobile
December 17, 2010
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Nexus S gets tear-down treatment from iFixit

By on December 17, 2010 at 2:12 AM.

Nexus S gets tear-down treatment from iFixit

You know what is sitting inside the Nexus S, but have you seen it? If you’re one of those people who prefer to go eyes-on (pics or it didn’t happen) then listen up. The gang over at iFixit have given the newly released Samsung Nexus S a proper tear down. While no real surprises were found under the hood, the brood does offer this warning about the 1500mAh pack found in the device:

Don’t feed this battery to a baby.

Oh, humor. Hit the read link to check out the Nexus S… inside and out. More →

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General
October 21, 2010
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iFixit undresses Apple's new MacBook Air

By on October 21, 2010 at 4:51 PM.

iFixit undresses Apple's new MacBook Air

If you watched the Apple keynote yesterday, you got to see a promo video for the new MacBook Air featuring Apple design chief, Jony Ive, waxing-poetic about the inner-beauty of the new, lightweight laptop. If you think Mr. Ives could be a little biased — or have some sort of odd trust issue towards middle-aged men with charming accents — you can get a look at the Air‘s innards for yourself. As is customary, the crew over at iFixit have given the new electronic gizmo the teardown treatment. Hit the read link to have a look for yourself. More →

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General
October 8, 2010
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Nokia N8 dismantled by iFixit, praised for design and ease of service

By on October 8, 2010 at 11:06 AM.

Nokia N8 dismantled by iFixit, praised for design and ease of service

The gang over at iFixit have done the honors of tearing the Nokia N8 to pieces… right down to the screws. There aren’t too many surprises found inside the device, and iFixit gave the handset an 8 out of 10 on their fixability scale (10 being the easiest); they also note the “creative” placement of the antennas and beefy Xenon flash. The only thing that stuck out to us was the fact that the battery — which is not user accessible — appears to be Nokia’s standard smartphone battery trapped slid inside the device’s housing (iFixit notes how easy it would be for a consumer to replace their own battery). Hit the read link to have a peek for yourself. More →

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