The outside isn’t too different from the Galaxy S III, so we’re certainly curious as to what changed on the inside. The back cover pops off easily, allowing you to replace the battery with ease. Further done, though, are the main guys of the phone, which are separated with 11 screws that come right off.

The only real part that takes some difficulty is the display, which is glued into the frame, and the glass and LCD are fused together. Other than that, all of the internal components are modular, which means they can be replaced individually rather than having to replace the entire unit if one thing breaks.

iFixit gave the GALAXY S 4 a repairability score of 8 out of 10, which is pretty good for a flagship handset these days. They did note that while most of the parts are modular, they’re glued in place, which means you’ll need some tools in order to dig them out, but the only real concern with the phone was the fused-in display, which requires a complete disassembly to replace.

Contributing to that score is the use of standard Philips screws (rather than weird, tamper-proof variants) and, where things aren’t screwed-together, standard clips instead. The LCD mounting, which is courtesy of some sticky foam pads, also gets praised for its ease of reassembly.

In fact, the only downside that’s observed is the Kapton tape – which is thermally resilient – and which Oculus uses in the development kit to hold some of the wires together. That “should probably be replaced with new tape” if you dismantle your kit, iFixit suggests.

Of course, things could change between the developer kit and the final retail product, and only time will tell whether Oculus makes the consumer Rift version as straightforward to tinker with. That’s not expected for a while yet – the company hasn’t said exactly when – though Oculus has indicated that physical design will evolve between the two, for at least the sake of “comfort.”

With the release of the HTC One, the manufacturer has bet a whole lot on the hardware as a proving point in their history. With this release, the company known as HTC says that they’ve done the best they’re able at the moment – this is the HTC One, and it’s named that for a reason. According to iFixit, this device is just about the most difficult smartphone to tear apart they’ve come across – but that’s not all bad news for you if you’re a general consumer.

The HTC One does not have a removable battery, nor is it able to take a microSD card. It’s got a body that’s made from one solid block of machined aluminum with a lovely pane of reinforced glass up front. A collection of awesomely odd bits and pieces can be found in the teardown, including this fun selection:

• Elpida BA164B1PF 2 GB DDR2 RAM
• Samsung KLMBG4GE2A 32 GB NAND flash memory
• Synaptics S32028 chip
• Cable for display labeled with DATE: 2012.11.30

That last bit proves that there’ve been bits and pieces of this device ready to rock for several months now – the back casing of the device can be seen to carry the date 2013/02/15, indicating that some of the parts have been added as recently as the middle of February (for this unit, anyway.)

Have a peek at the timeline we’ve got below of fabulous HTC One bits and pieces, and don’t forget to check out our full HTC One review as well. This is a device that’s set to either be a skyrocket-ready spaceship to the moon for HTC, or one of the biggest disappointments for the company in their history – if it doesn’t sell, that is. Have a peek at our full run-down now!

Of course, this isn’t the first teardown of the Z10, but it’s the first time that iFixit has had a chance to pry it open. Overall, there was nothing too special with this teardown. iFixit was pleasantly surprised by the removable battery, since that’s something we no longer usually see nowadays. After removing the rear panel and the battery, there are just a handful of screws and a plastic casing that hide the internals from curious eyes.

The screws that hold the plastic midframe in place also double as screws holding the motherboard in place, so once those screws are removed, a couple of disconnections is all it takes to pop out the motherboard, meaning that there’s no glue holding the main circuitry in place. The camera module pops off the motherboard with ease as well.

As for the unit’s display, it’s held to its frame with a few screws and a dab of adhesive to keep it in place, but it was also fairly easy to remove as well. However, as with Apple devices, the digitizer and the glass are fused together, making the entire display unit extremely thin. The glass is a hardened variant, but it’s not Gorilla Glass.

The only difficult things to remove were the smaller accessories around the edges of the device, including the headphone jack, power switch, ambient light sensor, and earpiece speaker housing, which are all built into a single assembly that’s held in place with stronger adhesive than any of the other components. Overall, iFixit gives the BlackBerry Z10 a repairability score of 8/10, which is certainly respectable.

The confusion seems to be warranted, though, as Pebble notes that while the chip used in the Pebble smartwatch doesn’t normally support Bluetooth 4.0, the company had the firmware of a different chip flashed on the ones used in the watch in order to support Bluetooth 4.0. The situation is definitely a little confusing, but Pebble says that this was done to speed up orders.

Pebble posted on Reddit the details of the situation, and note that the Pebble features a PAN1316 chip from Panasonic that uses Texas Instruments components. The chips that TI sent to Panasonic were labeled CC2560, which doesn’t support Bluetooth 4.0. However, Pebble had Panasonic simply flash the firmware of a CC2564 in order to get the latest Bluetooth support.

However, while the smartwatch does, in fact, come with Bluetooth 4.0 support, Pebble hasn’t yet switched it on in the watch’s operating system, but it seems they’ll be doing that sometime in the future, most likely with an update. It’s unclear why they’re holding back 4.0 support, but it could be a number of reasons at this point.

Since the watch doesn’t have any visible screws anywhere, you have to pry the outer shell apart, and there’s certainly no lack of adhesive holding the device together. iFixit even notes that you won’t be able to take it apart without compromising the glass display. Once it’s pried off, however, you get an all-access pass to the components inside.

By removing the lone ribbon cable that makes its way through the device, you can get better access to the internals that are deep down below the e-ink display. The ribbon cable alone houses all four buttons, three LEDs, and the Bluetooth antenna, which makes it nearly impossible to replace an individual component, according to iFixit.

In the end, iFixit noticed a few key points when tearing apart the little device. First off, it’s pretty much impossible to open up the Pebble smartwatch without busting the glass display, since the watch is held to together with strong adhesive to make it waterproof. Also, the low power consumption of the device decreases the frequency that you’ll have to charge it, which increases the life of the battery in the long run, with a possible life of 10 years, according to iFixit’s estimates.

According to the Tablet Repairability Guide, the Dell XPS 10 is the best option for those who plan to crack their tablet open and do some tinkering, with it being rated as easy to open, with labeled cables, color-coded screw, and an easy-to-remove battery. The only complaint listed was the fact that the LCD is fused to the display glass.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire comes in second, also being easy to open with standard Philips-head screws and no proprietary fasteners to deal with. Dell makes the upper list again at number three with its Dell Streak tablet, which is simply listed as being easy to open with an easy-to-replace battery, but marred by the same LCD-fused-to-glass issue. The Kindle Fire’s negative mark is that its glass is fused to the device’s frame.

Dropping to the bottom of the list, we find a lot of Apple and Microsoft products, with the Surface Pro coming in dead last. While the battery is not soldered to the motherboard, that is the only positive aspect that is listed, with it’s negative marks being comprised of “tons” of adhesive to keep the components in place, as well as DIYers risking severing the wires when opening the device. Next up, in order, is Apple’s iPad Mini, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, and then Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet. A consistent problem with the iPads is the risk of cracking the glass while taking it apart, as well as too much adhesive. The Surface RT is said to be hard to open with a fused LCD.

[via iFixit]

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]

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]

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.

Inside, there’s good news and bad for DIY repairers. The LCD and the front-glass are left as separate components, rather than optically-laminated together as on the bigger iPad, and so can be individually replaced; we’d also not be surprised to see Apple pull the optical-lamination trick for the second-gen iPad mini, helping make the slate thinner.

There’s also an easily-removed battery, not glued in place as in the iPod touch, though there’s some confusion as to what capacity it actually is. Otherwise, though, the biggest challenge is “some of the smallest screws we have ever seen” and the fact that everything is so tightly packed in.

If you’re more interested in how the iPad mini holds up when it’s in one piece, there’s our full review to bring you up to speed. The WiFi-only version will hit stores tomorrow, while the WiFi + Cellular model will follow on in mid-November in the US, and late-November elsewhere.

The whole process begins with removing the rugged kickstand from the tablet, which is actually held in place by torx screws. Of course, there are a whopping 17 torx screws that hold the entire device together, but once those are out, you’ll be able to carefully take off the rear panel, which is only attached to the rest of device by a small ribbon cable.

The battery is glued onto the rear panel, but it’s easier to remove than the iPad. Plus, all of the small components like the speakers, connectors, and ports come out fairly easily. However, some components, like the camera, couldn’t be removed until the motherboard was taken out. The top of motherboard obviously is home to the main circuitry like the CPU, graphics, and flash memory, but the bottom consists of the smaller features, like the WiFi antenna, the ambient light sensor, and a couple of microphones. Everything that deals with the touchscreen display is on a completely separate “daughterboard.”

Removing the display takes some work. It requires a heat gun, some guitar picks, and “plenty of patience.” Just like the iPad, the LCD and the glass are fused together and strongly adhered to the casing, making it a rough repair if the display breaks down. Overall, iFixit gave it a 4 out of 10 for repairability, which isn’t great, but it’s certainly not as bad as the third-gen iPad’s 2 out of 10 score.

The Mac mini gets credit for not using proprietary screws, unlike the pentalobes found on the Retina-class MacBook Pro, and there’s no glue holding down anything inside. iFixit also likes the fact that the RAM and hard-drive aren’t soldered in, which means they’re easily replaced by the user, and you can also add in a second drive (as Apple does by default for the server version of the mini).

Of course, there are always going to be some compromises with a small-form-factor chassis, and the Mac mini is no different. The fact that the CPU is soldered to the logic board and so can’t be replaced by the user is probably the biggest drawback, though iFixit also mentions the trickiness of actually unpacking and replacing all of the components involved.

The updated mini kicks off at $599 for the 2.5GHz dualcore Core i5 model with 4GB of RAM and 500GB of storage; it has Intel HD Graphics 4000 as standard. The server version, with a pair of 1TB drives and a quadcore Core i7 chip is $999.

Considering what we’ve already seen of the 15-inch version, which iFixit accused of introducing new levels of hands-off design, that the 13-inch model isn’t repair-friendly hardly comes as a surprise. The repair team calls out the glued-in battery – easier to get out than the bigger model, but still not easy – and the RAM being soldered to the logic board, which means no upgrades there.

Meanwhile, the display assembly is apparently “almost impossible to take apart” which means replacement, not repair, and Apple has used its proprietary “pentalobe” screws so that even just getting into the chassis is a struggle. Interestingly, iFixit reckons that – with a custom cable – you could “fit a regular 5 mm or 7 mm 2.5″ laptop drive” inside, though how many would actually want that is unclear.

As per the 15-incher, the new 13-inch Retina goes on sale alongside its optical drive toting predecessor, rather than replacing it, so users who want more flexibility in how they repair or generally tinker with their notebook do have a choice. Still, the extra resolution on offer from Retina graphics means most buyers are likely to be swayed over to the new design.

If you’d rather see the MacBook Pro 13 with Retina Display in one piece, check out our hands-on from the launch on Tuesday.

The new iPod Nano has a teeny-tiny 2.5-inch screen, so it almost looks like mini iPod Touch of sorts. Unlike most other Apple devices, the new iPod Nano is fairly easy to break into, requiring only a Phillips screwdriver and a wedge to take off the front display which reveals the innards of the device.

The display itself and the digitizer are not fused together, which would make repairing either components way less stressful. However, unlike the iPod Touch, the battery is adhered to the back of the display assembly and the wires are soldered to the logic board. There’s a convenient pull tab for the battery, but the adhesive turned out to be much too strong for a simple pull.

It’s not all fun and games, though. Apple ended up soldering a bunch of parts to the logic board, including the battery (as previously mentioned), Lightning connector, button cable, and headphone jack. iFixit gave it a repairability score of 5/10, which is better than the new iPod Touch, but it’s still not an easy task.

iFixit noted that a lot of the components are soldered together, which would obviously require a very difficult or very expensive repair if anything breaks. They also discovered that the new iPod Touch has no external screws, which may not be too surprising, but the combination of clips and adhesive makes it a little more difficult to open the device up. And while the iPhone 5 included a stronger home button, Apple sadly left that out in the newest iPod Touch, using the weaker rubber membrane of yore.

One unfortunate surprise that they found, though, was that most of the cables that are connected to the logic board run over the top and connect on the bottom, which may not sound like a huge deal, but it makes it really difficult to disconnect any of the cables or remove the logic board itself.

However, taking out the battery actually proved to be the easiest tasks of the teardown. It’s glued to the rear shell, but the notches all around the battery make it easy to pry out. This is certainly a good sign, since battery repairs are fairly common. Overall, iFixit it gave the iPod Touch a low repairability score of 3/10.

The Kindle Paperwhite has officially sold out, so expect a wait of 4-6 weeks if you order one today, while listings for a 32GB variant of the Nexus 7 and the Galaxy Nexus 2 popped up in a warehouse database. Apple will require approval for third-party Lightning accessories, and EE’s 4G network will go live across the UK on October 30. Oracle says that the rumors aren’t true and it isn’t planning to purchase NetApp, while Google was awarded a patent for its smartwatch today as well.

A tape featuring an eerily accurate Steve Jobs Q&A session from 1983 was made public today, and an Apple job posting suggests that an all-new SoC is on the way. The FTC has hit a former scareware distributor with a massive $163 million fine, and iFixit gave us a look inside the new Super Slim PS3 today. iFixit also told us that the amount of toxins in smartphones is on the decline, which is only a good thing, and HP CEO Meg Whitman is saying that the company will probably have issues making a profit next year.

The first presidential debate is tonight, do you know where you’ll be watching it? If not, we have a few suggestions for you. The budget-priced Nokia Lumia 510 was spotted in the wild today, and Facebook has started testing promoted posts for all regular users. Apple struck up a deal with biometrics firm Microlatch today, while Twitter Surveys were introduced as a paid service for advertisers and Sony’s PlayStation Mobile launched on the PS Vita and select Android devices.

Finally tonight, we have a couple of original articles for you to check out – Don Reisinger asks if there can ever be another Apple, while Chris Davies goes hands-on with a BlackBerry 10 Alpha B device. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

It seems that a lot of the cuts were made to the disc tray. The disc tray of PS3s past is gone and has been replaced with a top-loader, much the annoyance of PS3 fans everywhere. Sure enough, iFixit says that sliding disc tray door feels cheaply made, and might break after repeated use. The good news is that the new disc tray is modular, which means that it should be relatively easy to repair.

Some more good news for potential owners: the cover on the hard drive bay pops off easily, and after you’ve removed that cover, you’re only one Philips screw away from being able to remove the hard drive entirely. iFixit says it should take only 5 to 10 minutes to remove and replace the hard drive, though with this new PS3 coming in 250GB and 500GB variants, you may never need to do that.

If you ever need to get at the fans or the heat sink, be prepared for some work, as iFixit says that you’ll need to remove the entire motherboard assembly in order to get at them. Likewise, the internals of the power supply are secured behind four screws and a number of clips, but thankfully you probably won’t need to make repairs to the power supply all that often. At the end of everything, iFixit gives the new Super Slim PS3 a repairability rating of 7 out of 10, so if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you should have a relatively easy time making any necessary repairs on your own. Be sure to read through iFixit’s full tear down if you’ve got a few minutes to spare, as it gives a very in-depth look at the inside of Sony’s newest PS3!

Unsurprisingly, given what Apple is squeezing into a relatively compact housing, things inside are tight. That doesn’t mean an entirely difficult to dismantle phone, however; iFixit gives it a repairability rating of 7 out of 10, praising the easy-to-replace glass and relatively accessible battery. However, some of the smaller components are soldered to a single ribbon cable, which could make more advanced repairs tricky.

Unfortunately, there’s no sign of a secret, unannounced NFC radio, which some hoped Apple might have slipped in for activation later on. Apple surprised many in eschewing the short-range wireless for this sixth-gen device, even though its Passbook app in iOS 6 seems ideal for mobile payments.

Mild disappointments aside, it’s a lesson in shedding weight. The entire rear metal chassis of the iPhone 5 comes in at less than the glass back of the iPhone 4S, for instance; Apple has also tweaked the home button assembly, making it more resilient to continued use, and easier to replace. One downside, iFixit spotted, is a less refined vibration alert motor, which promises more noise than the version in the 4S.

There are more photos over in iFixit’s teardown report, though if you’re more interesting in what the handset can do when it’s fully assembled, check out our iPhone 5 review.

Almost right off the bat, iFixit expresses doubt that the EarPods’ single-driver setup can offer quality to match other headphones that cost hundreds of dollars for just $29, like Apple claims. After running through the aesthetic changes Apple has made with this latest iteration, the iFixit crew gets to work pulling them apart, starting with the redesigned remote. On the inside, the remote isn’t too terribly different from the one found on the old earbuds – it still sports three buttons and a microphone – but iFixit points out that the sealing on this new remote is much better than the sealing on the old one, meaning that you don’t have to worry about water making your remote non-functional as often.

After the remote has been removed, it’s time to dig into the actual EarPods. Since they can’t be pulled apart, iFixit had to get in there with an exacto knife, something the team doesn’t suggest regular consumers do. Once inside, we’re greeted by a diaphragm, a voice coil, a magnet, and a cabinet, which make up the speakers. iFixit found that the diaphragm consists of “a paper cone and a polymer surround,” which is a first for Apple; normally, the diaphragm is all plastic. Despite the fact that these EarPods look quite different from the regular old earbuds on the outside, on the inside, they look pretty similar.

The image you see above is a shot comparing the new EarPods (bottom) to the first generation earbuds (middle) and the previous generation earbuds for iPhone (top), with iFixit stating that the biggest differences are the EarPods’ new design and the new paper cone. iFixit says that these do make some significant durability improvements over past versions, pointing once again to the better-protected remote and saying that the paper cones mean that you’re less likely to blow out your drivers. However, it’s important to keep in mind that repairing these guys is essentially out of the question, considering that they’re hard to get into and cheap enough that you’ll just want to buy a new pair if yours ever break.

iFixit’s full teardown is very fascinating, so if you have a few minutes, be sure to read through the whole thing. What do you think of Apple’s new EarPods?

This Kindle Fire HD 7 machine works with Elpida B8164B3PF-1D-F 8 Gb (1 GB) DDR2 RAM for your high-power needs and does indeed bring Bluetooth 4.0 and an PF radio as well- tune in! It’s discovered in this teardown that the display is made by LG and that the LCD and front glass panel are fused together. This means that replacing one means replacing the other – not an easy thing to deal with even if you’re a regular repairer.

The good news for repairers out there is that the back panel is relatively easy to remove, the battery isn’t held with adhesive, and the simplicity of the entire machine means you’ll be able to take it apart with ease. Most of the screws inside the machine are the same and only a bit of copper tape over the processor was difficult for the iFixit team to work with. The headphone jack is separate from the rest of the motherboard, this allowing easy replacement, and the screws only range between Philips #00 screws and a single T5 Torx screw.

Have a peek at our hands-on and featured posts from the past week in the timeline below, and stay tuned for our full review of the Kindle Fire HD 7 soon. Don’t scrimp on the questions, also – let us know what else you want to know!

Samsung has packed quite a lot of tech inside the Note 10.1, including an Exynos 4 Quad processor clocked at 1.4Ghz. In order to accommodate S-Pen input, the touchscreen makes use of a Wacom W8008 digitizer, with an Atmel mXT1664S used as the touchscreen controller. A Wolfson Audio WM1811AE is used for audio duties, and Samsung has included its own NAND chips for storage.

iFixit notes that it’s easy to get inside the device, with lots of connectors used for components, indicating good repairability. While a fair number of cables have to be removed, the battery can be user replaced, with capacity coming in a 7,000mAh. iFixit also praises the EMI shields used in the Note 10.1, saying that they employ regular screws instead of being firmly attached. Better yet, they double as heatsinks for the components.

Finally, the dock connector can be replaced with relative ease, and iFixit says that the front glass and LCD can be removed and replaced individually. The firm gives the Note 10.1 an 8/10 for repairability as a result, a stark contrast to the 2/10 they awarded for the third-generation iPad. Apple’s tablet scored lower due to the difficulty in accessing components, with the battery also glued to the chassis to prevent removal.

[via 9to5Google]

“Removing the battery is very difficult” iFixit warns. “There is always a chance of inhaling noxious fumes and lighting the battery on fire. Work in a well ventilated area.” The preliminary steps involve wiggling out fans and other components from within the tightly-packed computer – tricky but not necessarily dangerous – but gets significantly more worrisome when you’re actually trying to peel up the battery from the glue holding it in place.

“You will be using a plastic putty knife and a spudger to release the adhesive holding the battery to the upper case” iFixit describes, going on to point out that “the adhesive is very strong, and will require a lot of strength and patience to remove.”

If all that sounds like too much hard work and death-dicing, Apple will happily do it for you – albeit for $199. That could actually be something of a bargain, however; iFixit estimates that “third party battery replacements will cost over $500 if technicians follow the safer Apple-suggested procedure and replace the entire upper case assembly along with the battery.”

In short, if you’re keen to have a MacBook Pro you can repair yourself, the older-style model is probably what you should be looking to; a slim machine like the Retina Display version demands some compromises. Apple is yet to release sales breakdowns indicating exactly how many people have made that compromise in return for the notebook’s undoubtable charms, though the company apparently struggled to keep up with demand post-launch as shipping times extended into several weeks.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

As you may have guessed, Google’s homegrown boast doesn’t necessarily encompass every component inside the spherical shell. Exactly which parts are US-made and which come from the traditional suspects in Asia is unclear, though the hefty outer casing – the lower half of which contributes almost 46-percent of the overall weight – is believed to have come from local suppliers.

A TI OMAP4460 chipset, NFC, 16GB of Samsung flash memory, 1GB of RAM and Texas Instruments TAS5713 25 watt digital audio power amp are all lurking inside. What there’s currently no sign of is the speculated ZigBee mesh connectivity which could allow the Nexus Q to one day be a home automation hub.

Overall, iFixit rates the Nexus Q eight out of ten for repair potential, scoring it highly for the disassembly process (though warning it’s all too easy to lose some of the numerous components) and the minimal use of glue or solder. However this isn’t something the casual tinkerer should crack open: the power supply, for instance, is quickly exposed, which could lead to a nasty shock.

More on the Nexus Q in our full review.

“Plastic opening tools make cracking the Nexus shell like cutting through butter, thanks to its retaining clips around the perimeter of the device” iFixit writes. “One millimeter. That’s the difference in thickness between the 9.4 mm glued iPad and the 10.4 mm retaining-clipped Nexus. That’s the difference between being able to open a device and service all of its internals, and not. That’s the negligible difference between extending the life of your device through repair, as opposed to tossing it in a landfill.”

Inside, meanwhile, there’s a 4326 mAh battery – slightly smaller than that of the Kindle Fire, though Google’s runtime estimates are longer – and minimal adhesive keeping it in place. Twin speakers and twin microphones also nestle inside, though the Nexus 7 does fall prey to the trend of gluing the LCD to the glass, which saves on thickness but does mean that, if one breaks, both have to be replaced.

Overall, though, Google and ASUS’ design decisions earn it a score of 7 out of 10 for repairability, with the easy access, standard screws and access to most components getting a thumbs-up from the teardown merchants. There’s more on the Nexus 7 in our full review.

First, the vanilla MacBook Pro uses regular screws compared to the proprietary screws on the Retina MacBook Pro, allowing users to get access to the internals with relative ease. The battery is the same rating and thickness as previous models, 77.5 Wh and 13.8mm respectively, while the SATA hard drive used in the regular MacBook Pro is almost three times as thick as the SSD used in the Retina model.

The regular MacBook Pro’s screen is deemed the most expensive part to repair even if it can’t match up to the quality of the Retina panel, although it should be an easy swap unlike the next-generation Pro. iFixit note that including a removable LCD in the Retina MacBook Pro would add less than a millimeter of thickness.

Finally, iFixit details how the removal of the optical drive from the Retina MacBook Pro unsurprisingly led to large weight savings. The company goes on to say that while most won’t miss the optical drive on the Retina model, once removed it can be used for an additional hard drive in the regular MacBook Pro giving customers added flexibility.

[via 9to5Mac]

The answer shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: Apple again sacrificed accessibility for aesthetics. Even the skilled hands of the teardown merchants couldn’t dismantle the Pro’s screen without cracking it, though they soon discovered why: in a triumph of space-saving, Apple has managed to make the entire lid the LCD screen.

“Apple did not design and build a 1.5 mm thin LCD panel. They did, however, do something exceptional with the design of this display: rather than sandwich an LCD panel between a back case and a front glass, they used the aluminum case itself as the frame for the LCD panel and used the LCD as the front glass” iFixit

There are some other design compromises, such as routing cables through the hinge and potentially making even just replacing the FaceTime HD webcam an arduous challenge. The feeling is that, should Apple ever have to repair a new MacBook Pro, it’ll simply be swapping out the whole screen assembly rather than trying to coax a new panel into place.

If you’re more interested in how the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display performs when it’s in one piece, check out the full SlashGear review.

Apple said it had learned from the MacBook Air in putting together the Retina-toting Pro, and that includes soldered RAM to the logic board meaning users won’t be able to upgrade from the standard 8GB (Apple offers 16GB maximum at present). The SSD is also proprietary and differs slightly from that in the Air, and is another component that – for the moment at least – there exists no third-party alternative for.

Then you get to the battery, the individual packs of which take up a sizable portion of the new MacBook Pro’s casing, and which are glued in place. It also partially covers the trackpad cable. Finally, the display assembly “is completely fused” – Apple said that was to help slim the lid down – which means it will likely have to be replaced in its entirety should anything go wrong.

From iFixit’s perspective, it’s a worrying shift toward a design that reduces almost entirely the potential for users to repair or upgrade their notebooks. For users, though – many of whom never even think about opening up their PC or Mac during its lifespan – Apple’s chassis decisions may well be an acceptable compromise given the new MacBook Pro’s attributes.

More on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display in our full review

Inside they discovered model numbers that leads the teardown team “to believe this is a Samsung LCD.” The Korean company has been tipped to be one of potentially just one or two suppliers currently delivering Retina Display panels to Apple’s production lines, with Sharp said to have encountered significant difficulties in meeting quality standards that has delayed the first shipment of its panels until later this month at the earliest..

The teardown is still ongoing at time of writing, but we’ll update should anything particularly interesting be turned up inside its aluminum shell.

Of course, if you’re more interested in how the new iPad performs when it’s all in one piece, there’s the full SlashGear review to help. Check out all the details and don’t forget to vote in the poll below; are you planning to pick up an iPad?

Still, iFixit trained its microscope on the panel again, finding a far denser collection of pixels that seemingly re-confirms original suggestions of Retina Display style doubled resolution. The layout seems to match with what’s used in the iPhone 4S’ Retina Display.

Unfortunately, the cable change proved too challenging to get the panel working: even with partial connections it failed to light up. The image below shows the two connectors – iPad 2 on the left, rumored iPad 3 on the right – with suggestions that it could have different power requirements among other things.

That implies a straight swap with the current iPad 2 is out of the question. We’ll know more when Apple takes the wraps off of the iPad 3 officially, something which is currently expected to take place on March 7.

For a change, iFixit has also offered geek recipe: Baked PS Vita. It’s not for eating, mind, but to separate the front plastic – and the LCD it’s fused to – from the frame. 200 degrees F for 10 minutes is apparently all it needs to coax the Vita into being more pliable.

You’ll need a screwdriver to get to the battery, but again it’s a standard one rather than some tricky to find tool. In fact the only thing that earns major criticism is the display sandwich construction, which requires the recipe above.

First, the display is fused to the glass, this meaning that if you’ve got to repair one, you’ve got to repair the other – and that means replacement, and high cost. Better you don’t toss your Galaxy Nexus down any stairwells is the lesson to be had here. You can get most the the device apart with some fine screwdrivers and guitar picks, but the process is not easy, so basically don’t try it unless you’ve got to. Other than the volume switch and the vibrator motor, the majority of the device (the parts you’d want to replace, anyway) are no soldered, so that’s good news.

Inside you’ll find a Melfas 8PK173 1126 touch screen controller, NXP 65N00 Smart Card IC, and the RFMD RF6260 Quad-band Multimode Power Amplifier Module. The Multichip Memory Package, the DDR2 SDRAM, and the dual band Wlan are all made by Samsung, and the both the power management and the audio codec are made by Texas Instruments. And of course the battery is removable as well, it sitting pretty at 1750 mAh so you can roll all day long, and it’s got NFC in it as well, acting as the antenna you need for your future with Google Wallet, amongst other neat touch-to-work things in the NFC world. Now we’ve only to wait for the real Verizon thing here in the USA to see if the whole package really is going to live up to the hype.

Check out our review of both the Galaxy Nexus and the operating system it employs, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and pray for a USA unveil soon!

[via iFixit]

Inside the device there are two liquid damage indicators – these in place incase you’ve got to bring the device in for repair and they want to know if you’ve been dunking the device in root beer. That said, the RAZR is said to have a “splash guard” so you’ll still be ok if you accidentally drop it outside in the rain (and immediately pick it back up and put it back in your pocket, of course.) Next note the battery, one that we’ve, again, been assured is not removable by you the user: iFixit is able to get it out, but note that this battery is held in by several pieces of electrical tape as well as contact points held down by a red piece of plastic.

UPDATE: there’s also been a video release by Motorola showing “how we did it” as far as how thin the device is, this showing off most of the bits inside as well, complete with fancy visuals galore – have a peek here:

As for the rest of the iFixit teardown, they discover that the full metal construction we heard so much about in the release notes for the RAZR are certainly true: what they call an “Amazon Basin’s worth of EMI shields (seen in the gallery below) stopper up their progress towards the final ultra-teardown. They also note that certainly there is an aluminum chassis that does legitimately appear to have been diamond cut for precision – tight! Inside you’ll also find a Atmel ATMXT224E-MAH maXTouch touchscreen controller, the rear facing camera marked with V927ABB, and Toshiba THGBM4G7D2GBAIE 16GB EMMC Flash Memory. The RAM comes from Samsung, the Bluetooth Wi-fi and GPS coming from Texas Instruments, and Dual-Mode Baseband/RF Transceiver coming from Qualcomm. See, everyone can work together, fun!

Note that we’ve also got a full review of this device up here on SlashGear, have a peek at it now, and oh yes, today being 11.11.11, you can go out and buy the device for yourself from your local Verizon store right this second! Launch paradise!

[via iFixit]

Well, we say larger: this isn’t some masterpiece of TARDIS-style magical battery accommodation, with the iPhone 4S bigger on the inside. Actually you get a whole extra 0.05 WHrs over the iPhone 4 battery – and no backward compatibility – so there’s obviously some impressive power management going on for the 4S to meet its improved runtime estimates.

Unfortunately, Apple has also used its frustrating pentalobe screws, minimizing the likelihood of you having a screwdriver that will actually fit the iPhone 4S casing. Most people won’t be interested in opening their handset up, but we’d at least like the option. Of course, if you’d rather see how the iPhone 4S shapes up in fully assembled form, make sure to check out the full SlashGear review.

Meanwhile, there’s also a new processor to be found, though Apple isn’t talking specifications. Instead, it’s more keen to discuss the streamlined UI, which now uses a full icon view rather than a more fiddly grid layout, and the integrated support for Nike+.

The component supplier switch is likely a cost chasing measure, given Apple has cut pricing for the iPod nano in the seventh generation. The 8GB model is now $129 and the 16GB is now $149, and if you consider there’s now no need to buy separate Nike+ receiver hardware it’s even more of a good deal.

Surrounded by an attending cluster of resistors are twelve chips of varying function, with the key components being supplied by Gennum. The company is a “signal integrity solutions” specialist, and a pair of its GN2033 transceivers are squeezed into each Thunderbolt plug. According to the product page, the GN2033 improves data reliability over copper cables; future iterations of Thunderbolt will use fiber optics, but for the moment it uses copper instead.

So, plenty of complexity inside, but it’s still an expensive proposition. Currently only Promise is shipping a Thunderbolt-based peripheral, in the shape of the Pegasus RAID, and that starts from $999 for a 4-bay model and climbs to $1,999 for a 6-bay model. Further competition will arrive later this year, when LaCie releases the Little Big Disks we benchmarked last week.

The Samsung Chromebook was announced back in May. It has a 12.1-inch screen and run a dual-core Atom processor. It uses the Google Chrome OS and has WiFi with the 3G modem inside the rig in the teardown being an option. The machine sells for $499 for the 3G packing version. The teardown highlights give the machine a six out of ten repairability score and the machine needs only three tools for the disassembly process. The tools needed are a spudger, plastic opening tool, and a Phillips #1 screwdriver.

The machine has the Atom N570 processor inside, an 8.1 Amp-hour 7.4V battery, and the NM10 graphics chip. The capacitive touchscreen controller used in the rig is a Synaptics T1320A. Storage is a 16GB SanDisk SDSA4DH-016G SSD and the audio hardware is the Realtek ALC272 4-channel HD Audio codec. The motherboard inside the machine is tiny compared to what I am used to seeing in desktops.

[via iFixit]

The Nexus One uses dual mics to cancel noise and we also know that the iPhone 4 does too. Inside that Nexus One smartphone, the audience A1026 voice processor that handles those noise cancellation duties was clearly labeled. When iFixit tore the Verizon iPhone 4 apart, they noted the dual mics but there was one chip on the board of the iPhone that they were unable to identify presumed to be the noise cancellation chip. That chip has now been named thanks to it being uncapped.

The people at Chipworks took that unidentified processor and pulled the cap off and then found underneath that the chip is in fact an audience voice processor, not some Apple designed part that was suspected at one point. The Audience chip was sans labels on the outside to make it harder to identify. The die marking shown in the gallery clearly labels the chip.

[via ifixit]

If you have been following the new iMac machine, you already know what the things are about. The new specs include Thunderbolt ports and refreshed Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors. The new hardware was crammed inside that screen we are already familiar with. It’s worth noting that the big 27-inch model even gets a pair of Thunderbolt ports. It’s cool to see how placed in the innards of the machine are in the main photo here. You can see the CPU, optical drive, and several of the cooling fans.

The LCD screen in the unit that iFixit tore up is made by LG and is the same one that was used in previous generations of the machine. The teardown has revealed that the machine has PCIe and the DisplayPort each get their own 10 Gbps data channel so they won’t compete for bandwidth. The teardown pulls out the oddly shaped mainboard and other gear until nothing is left inside the shell of the iMac. Check it out for yourself for all the iMac porn you can stomach.

iFixit is mostly know for tearing up gadgets that we would all like to own just to see what’s inside. The latest teardown came just this morning when they ripped the Nikon D5100 DSLR apart. The company has in the past ripped apart every iPhone model that has been made too. That means that if you want to pick up this cool clear back panel for the iPhone 4 that iFixit offers you can get the instructions for installing it from the site as well.

The clear back case for the iPhone 4 is cheap at $29.95. It fits the GSM AT&T version of the iPhone only and is product code IF182-021-1. I wonder if they will have one for the Verizon iPhone 4 in the future. I would like to have an iPhone 4 that is clear all around, not just on the back panel. You can order one of these covers right now if you are comfortable with voiding warranties.

[via iFixit]