Gizmodo: Teardown

iPhone 3G Takes About $173 To Manufacture Says Estimate

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

iSuppli, an authority on taking electronics apart and figuring how much it costs to build one, has just put preliminary price tag on the iPhone 3G of $173. That's quite a bit higher from the $100 analysts were quoting earlier. Because this is only a virtual teardown based on estimated parts and not a real one based on looking at stuff, the guys at iSuppli could be off by, say, $50. But based on their estimate of $173, the new 8GB iPhone 3G is less than the original 8GB iPhone's cost of $226. [iSuppli]

Repost: The Very Attractive Macbook Air Innards

Brian Lam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:18:32 EST

The Macbook Air is showing up at doorsteps and we've reposted our photos and video of the innards since Apple's loan unit was off limits the first time around. Even on second look, this thing is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. [Gizmodo]

Amazon Kindle Gutted, Splayed, Violated

Jason Chen — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:40:05 EST

Readers who enjoy the Amazon Kindle e-Book reader's concept for letting you consume literature in electronic form—but won't purchase one until they see what's inside—will love this post. RapidRepair's taken apart the Kindle bit by bit, showing you exactly what's inside. Unless you're a hardware engineer, seeing the internals probably don't add much to your enjoyment of anything, but it does saves yourself from having to void the warranty on your own. [RapidRepair via TheRawFeed]

iPod Teardowns Dig Up Metal Screen Backplates

Adrian Covert — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:34:00 EDT

iFixit tore apart the 3G iPod nano and the iPod classic, and in addition to finding the usual array of LCDs and hard drives, they discovered that the screens are now backed by a metal plate. One can only assume this is to make the screens less prone to breaking, and considering how crack-happy earlier iPod models have been at times, this is a welcome addition.

In addition to the metal plate, the deconstruction revealed the nano has approximately the same surface area as the previous nanos, and there is an increased use of adhesive in assembling the iPods. The adhesive is only worth noting because it could make replacing your own battery a more daunting task. See the entire gallery over at iFixit. [iFixit via Apple Insider]

Professor Egghead Tears Down the Wii

Brian Lam — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:10:40 EST

This is them most boring Wii video I have ever seen. But it's worth watching at least 10 seconds of it to hear what must be Professor Egghead and the Scooby kids explain the sourcing on the CPU, graphics, bluetooth and WiFi chips. And they unintentionally deliver the dig at the PS3 and the XBox. "It's much easier to take apart than the Xbox and PS3."

Wow, the Wii is not only easier to play, but hackers of all ages can tear it down, too.–Brian Lam

A look inside the Wii [Digg]