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Palm Touchstone torn asunder, cost to manufacturer estimated at $5 (update)
As much as we love those guys and gals over at Will It Blend?, we couldn't help but cringe each time they "dissected" any given gadget. The cautious cats over at iFixit, however, are more our style. Gentle, loving, appreciative and respectful -- what else could you want in a gizmo surgeon? Per usual, they've done whatever it takes to get ahold of Palm's new Pre and Touchstone, but rather than basking in the glory of ownership, they promptly unrolled their tool belt, fired up the DSLR and proceeded to dissemble both units for your viewing pleasure. We already know that all those little innards add up to right around $170 (for the Pre, anyway), but there's nothing quite like looking at each and every chip and bit yourself. Hit up the read links below if you find your interest piqued, and don't forget to tip your hat as you exit. Update: Through their official Twitter account, the iFixit folks have chimed in to say they'd be "shocked if it cost more than $5 to manufacture." As always, that's not the whole story and there's probably a good number of other variables justifiably contributing to the cost, but knowing $70 is a bit of a turn-off for some customers, we can only hope that price drops sooner rather than later. Read - Palm Pre teardown Read - Palm Touchstone teardown
Palm Pre and Touchstone get torn down gently, beautifully
As much as we love those guys and gals over at Will It Blend?, we couldn't help but cringe each time they "dissected" any given gadget. The cautious cats over at iFixit, however, are more our style. Gentle, loving, appreciative and respectful -- what else could you want in a gizmo surgeon? Per usual, they've done whatever it takes to get ahold of Palm's new Pre and Touchstone, but rather than basking in the glory of ownership, they promptly unrolled their tool belt, fired up the DSLR and proceeded to dissemble both units for your viewing pleasure. We already know that all those little innards add up to right around $170 (for the Pre, anyway), but there's nothing quite like looking at each and every chip and bit yourself. Hit up the read links below if you find your interest piqued, and don't forget to tip your hat as you exit.Read - Palm Pre teardownRead - Palm Touchstone teardown
Cowon S9 gets pulled apart, put back together again
It was bound to happen sooner or later -- this poor Cowon S9 got the vivisection treatment and the startling pics have been posted in the Anything But iPod forums. And guess what? It's choc full of tiny components, a little bit of "wax paper or something," and let's not forget that world renowned AMOLED touch screen. This endeavor hasn't been undertaken in vain, however -- the good doctor has included tons of pics and step-by-step instructions in case you ever have to conduct the operation yourself. You know, in the name of science.
Dell's Mini 10v gets unboxed, cracked wide open, fitted with OS X
Not that Dell's other Mini machines aren't perfect candidates for creating your own hackintosh, but it's stellar to know that the outfit's newest member is as well. After going on sale earlier this month, the Mini 10v has been procured, unboxed and dissected, all in the name of unabashed discovery. Interestingly, it seems as if the RAM slot requires that the keyboard and motherboard be lifted for access, but for even the mildly seasoned computer user, that's absolutely nothing they can't handle. If you're into hardcore, uncensored splayings of newfangled netbooks, the read link is where you need to be, holmes.[Via MyDellMini, thanks Erik]
Eee PC 1008HA gets cracked open, ASUS' obsession with Scotch tape revealed
We won't go so far as to say that the innards of ASUS' sexy Eee PC 1008HA are literally held together with tape, but man, there's an atypically high amount of sticky strips in there. If you're curious to see the ins and outs (but mostly the ins) of the first member of the newly created Seashell family, give that read link a look. Just be fully prepared to have your confidence shaken.
MediaPoint Blockbuster movie set-top-box gets unboxed
The 2Wire-built MediaPoint box has a long ways to go before it's widely viewed as a formidable opponent to the Roku Netflix Player, Xbox 360 or the number of Netflix-enabled Blu-ray players. That said, we're always down for a fun unboxing, and this one's coming to us courtesy of Mr. Dave Zatz. Upon firing it up, he didn't have the greatest experience with Ethernet, but things seemed to get going with WiFi. Granted, he has yet to actually enjoy any material on this here movie STB, but that's likely because he was busy hosting up a litany of photographs for your enjoyment. Speaking of, the whole gallery awaits you in the read link.
HP's TouchSmart IQ506 gets reviewed, dissected
Who woulda thunk it? All-in-ones are officially back in. Yeah, some would argue that they never really left, but with Sony's latest family of monitor-bound PCs and HP's freshened TouchSmart line upping the ante, we'd say the war is back on. The high(er)-end TouchSmart IQ506 was recently taken for a ride over at DesktopReview, and it didn't take long for them to realize that HP was aiming for something very different with this machine. Rather than catering to the gaming or barebones crowd, this one emphasizes interaction and entertainment, and apparently, it did so in fantastic fashion. Additionally, those folks couldn't resist cracking the casing open and giving us a look inside, so if you've got a thing for untouched PCB and silicon, you know where to look.[Thanks, Janet]
Lenovo's IdeaPad S10 shows its inner beauty
Lenovo's S10 has already been unboxed and reviewed, but if you've been waiting to see what this thing is really made of, your wait is finally over. The netbook has been cautiously disassembled over at Liliputing, so if you're interested in seeing what makes this thing so warm under pressure, tap the read link and enjoy.
Dell's Studio Hybrid torn down for kicks and giggles
We've only one thing to say here: it's about time! Dell's Studio Hybrid has been shuffling around for well over a month, and we're just now seeing someone with the nerve to take a putty knife to this cute 'lil desktop and photograph its innards for all to see. As expected, there ain't much breathing room in the 7.7- x 2.8- x 8.3-inch box, but there's a smattering of pictures and a full disassembly video waiting in the read link below. Go on and look, sicko.
ASUS R50A UMPC lands in FCC, is promptly torn apart
ASUS' R50A has been hanging around in "almost here" land for, like, ever. Over six months after we laid hands on it at CES, it seems the release is all but imminent as evidenced by its recent showing in the sprawling FCC database. Per usual, the agency did its best with that 1.3-megapixel point-and-shoot that it just can't secure funds to replace, and while we've certainly seen more invigorating dissections, this one isn't half bad considering the dearth of enthusiasm expressed by those doing the splaying. Wander on down to the read link for more dark, dingy shots of the internals.[Via jkkmobile]
ASUS Eee PC 1000H torn down in exquisite detail
Shortly after the ASUS Eee PC 1000H was unboxed by the lucky folks at Tweaktown, these same cats have given the world at large a look within. A startlingly good look, at that. Unlike most dissections that come our way, this one includes a half dozen pages of tear down pictures and commentary to go with it, giving you more detail about this wee laptop than you could ever want to know. Just kidding about that last part, we know you want to know.
VIA's OpenBook gets fittingly ripped open
It only makes sense that VIA's contribution to the quickly growing netbook world -- the OpenBook -- get ripped wide open, wouldn't you agree? Better still, this isn't your typical dissection, as the invasive Tim Brown tears apart his own product on video. Three minutes of teardown is just one click away.
ASUS EBOX cracked open for world to see, previewed
Okay, so this isn't the finalized SKU or anything (it's an "early sample," if you must know), but it's close enough to the real deal to warrant a dissection. The model shown here came sporting a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB Seagate hard drive and built-in gigabit Ethernet / WiFi / Bluetooth. Best of all, you'll see more than flashes of EBOX PCB when you step into the read link below -- you'll get a lengthy list of initial impressions too (hint: it's rather impressive). Go on, get![Thanks, Charlie]
Toshiba's Portege R500 gets cautiously torn apart
Sure, you've seen a plethora of R500 shots already, but this ultrathin Portégé has somehow managed to keep its clothes on -- until now. One curious owner just couldn't resist the urge to operate, and after careful dissection, we're left with a handful of snaps showing off the unit's internals. Don't be shy, check out the whole lot in the gallery below.[Thanks, Jai] %Gallery-23645%
OLPC XO gets fully dissected -- cover your eyes, kids!
The OLPC XO may be a kid's machine at heart, but it's been caught doing some mighty grown-up deeds over at NotebookReview. Sure, we caught a teaser of this thing's innards way back when, but there's nothing that satisfies like a full frontal tear down. Click on for lots, lots more -- we promise it's all PG.
Pleo goes under the knife in astonishingly long video
Yeah, we gave you a plethora of hatching photos to ooh and ahh over when we received our first Pleo, but considering our inexplicable fear of needles and prehistoric blood, we never considered taking things any further. Apparently, the folks over at Pleo Dreams completely disregarded our recommendation to not de-skin the dinosaur, and proceeded to remove every square centimeter of Pleo's covering on video. Believe it or not, things get pretty interesting once the garb comes off, but you'll have to endure a near-24 minute clip in order to say you saw the entire procedure from start to finish. You ready? It's waiting after the break.
Sony's PSP slim cracked open: there's more NAND in there?
It didn't take long after the release of Sony's slim PSP in Europe for some over-anxious individual to get inside of his new handheld, and while dissection pictures are always a treat in and of themselves, this splaying led to an unexpected discovery. After inspecting the motherboard and comparing it to boards from prior (read: not slim) PSPs, it was reported that the newest iteration features "66MB of NAND memory including spare data," which certainly trumps the amount found in its predecessor; additionally, Mathieulh mentioned that the "idstorage area is now fully encrypted." Check out a few more pics for yourself after the jump.[Via MaxConsole]
SanDisk Sansa Connect gets dissected
While most of the Sansa Connect coverage has treated the little fellow fairly well up until this point, we knew it was only a matter of time before someone got their hands dirty and cracked it open. Sure enough, the unashamed folks at AnythingButiPod had no qualms peeling back the plastic and taking a look inside, as SanDisk's portable WiFi audio player was carefully returned to a state it once found itself in on the manufacturing line. So for those of you whose eyes light up at the mere sight of PCB, click on through for a few more snaps, and then hit the read link when you're ready for more.
Europe's PlayStation 3 motherboard on display
Typically, we don't single out just one aspect of an entire console or gizmo, as it's always a beautiful sight to see a perfectly assembled console do its thang in reverse, but Sony's European PlayStation 3 is a different animal. If you'll recall, the American PS3 features a neatly attached PS2 chipset to make sure that backwards compatibility was all but a minor issue, but even after countless delays and a staggeringly high price point, Europe's unit was hamstringed still. While we'd heard that the late-coming PS3 would sport limited abilities in the PS2 department, it still made us cringe when those whispers were proved true, and now its time to witness just how bare this motherboard looks as it uses emulation to crank up a few (literally) PS2 titles. Grab your tissues, and click on through for a few more shots.[Via PS3Scene]
Nintendo's Wii: opened up the easy way, and the hard way
While a few zany folks preferred to mindlessly operate on a PlayStation 3 without any tact whatsoever, the steady-handed folks over at Popular Science went by the books when they gingerly took apart Nintendo's latest. But alas, not everyone is so gentle (or considerate) when it comes to enjoying new toys, and the folks over at SmashMyWii shaved a few minutes off their uncasing time by going at it with a large foreign object instead of a minuscule screwdriver. We're reserving comment on which method we prefer most, but we do applaud both the tender care and rage expressed in each unique scenario. Nevertheless, snagging a Wii should've been slightly (and slightly we stress) easier than dodging bullets or quitting your job in order to (hopefully) get a PS3, but we're sure there's still quite a few of us sitting home empty handed -- so if you're craving an inside look at the Wii which you don't yet have (or don't want to dissect yourself), be sure to hit the read link for some well-captured Wii pr0n, and peek after the break for the painfully humorous slaughtering.Read - Popular Science performs a cautious WiisectomyRead - SmashMyWii obliterates Nintendo's Wii
