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      PS5 “Slim” teardowns suggest same chip, not much shrinking, but nifty disc drive

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 7 November - 19:06 · 1 minute

    It's the same chip in the PS5 Slim, but there are some changes in where the heat goes.

    Enlarge / It's the same chip in the PS5 Slim, but there are some changes in where the heat goes. (credit: Dave2D )

    You aren't supposed to be able to buy Sony's redesigned PlayStation 5 yet, but because global commerce is just too complicated, some people have already gotten their hands on them. One of those people is YouTube vlogger Dave2D. He gently took apart the unofficially named "Slim," noted the savings in weight, if not so much size, and detailed some intriguing details about the new heat management and detachable disc drive.

    Sony has made a smaller, usually slimmer version of each of its PlayStation consoles available as its market matures: the PS2 , PS3 , PS4 , even the PS One , kinda-sorta. Usually there is no question that the newer, smaller version is an all-around better pick. But the newest version of the largest home console in decades isn't a straightforward improvement in efficiency, at least as seen by Dave2D and Linus Tech Tips .

    Dave2D's teardown of a PlayStation 5.

    The new console is now divided into four panels, and the finish is different between the top and bottom. That's because, on the newer, slimmer PS5 standard edition, the disc drive is now detachable. There are visible screws on the module, but the drive itself connects through a single socket port.

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      Pixel Fold teardown reveals the guts of Google’s $1,800 phone

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 7 July, 2023 - 18:39 · 1 minute

    The Pixel Fold is one of Google's most complicated pieces of hardware ever, but what does it look like on the inside? The Pixel line doesn't get much teardown love from iFixit anymore (despite an official partnership ), but PBK Reviews is still a reliable source for timely teardowns of Google's latest phones.

    As usual, the Pixel Fold is glued together, so you'll have to heat up the back cover and the front screen, and then pry everything off. The camera side of the device has most of the normal phone components, like the three cameras, the SoC, storage, modem, bottom speaker, and USB-C port, and also squeezes in a 1489 mAh battery. The other side is mostly battery, sporting a big 3332 mAh battery, the outer display camera, haptic feedback vibrator, earpiece, and SIM tray.

    It doesn't look like there's much room for repairability. The USB-C port lives on the motherboard, so it'll be tough to replace. PBK Reviews didn't even attempt to pry off the flexible screen due to "a high chance of damaging or breaking the screen," but presumably, there's just a big slab of metal underneath it. With all the parts removed, you can see how the two sides communicate as a series of ribbon cables snake their way through the hinge.

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      Unlike the first HomePod, the new model is not a nightmare to open up

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 10 February, 2023 - 22:18

    iFixit has published a short video of a teardown of the new, second-generation HomePod that launched on February 3 for $299. There's perhaps not as much to see as there is in an iPhone or Mac teardown, but the important thing is that it's relatively good news for repair shops or users who want to go the DIY repair route.

    When iFixit did its first teardown of the original HomePod, it was an ugly sight—plastic pieces stuck together required prying, and pieces had to be destroyed to get in at all. The original video was a bit comical to watch for how extreme the process was—Apple clearly did not intend anyone but its own technicians to open the device.

    People eventually figured out better ways to do it, but it was never simple or easy. The discontinuation of that first HomePod was surely welcome news for a lot of fixers.

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      Apple Watch Ultra teardown suggests new—but trickier—repair angles

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 27 September, 2022 - 16:33 · 1 minute

    Removing Apple Watch Ultra battery with blue pick

    Enlarge / A new hard-case battery inside the Apple Watch Ultra is easier to remove for DIY fixers. Getting to that battery is still a tricky, tight-space operation, iFixit writes. (credit: iFixit )

    Like the iPhone 14, the Apple Watch Ultra has a quietly revolutionary aspect that went under the radar—at least until the people at iFixit tore down the device . Apple's new category of wearables is "a potentially giant step towards making the Watch more repairable," iFixit writes, and it all starts with the screws.

    Four pentalobe screws on the back of the Watch Ultra, unique among all Apple's Watch models, suggested the same kind of front-and-back access that iFixit's iPhone 14 teardown revealed . But opening from the back will almost certainly damage the Ultra's waterproof gasket. And the experienced teardown team at iFixit also lost one of the band release button's springs during removal. Most disappointingly, there's not much to be replaced from the back other than the back itself and its sensor array.

    As such, replacing the battery on an Apple Watch Ultra will likely take days, not hours, and will be done at a regional service depot, not in-store, iFixit's Sam Goldheart writes. "It's a missed opportunity—if Apple could get the battery under the [system-in-a-package], then these new screws on the bottom could enable a battery swap without going through the extremely well-sealed display."

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      iPhone 14 teardown: One key change makes it much easier to repair

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 19 September, 2022 - 19:39

    As has become an annual custom, iFixit has done a teardown of the iPhone 14, Apple's baseline flagship iPhone for 2022. While the iPhone 14 seems almost identical to its immediate predecessor on the surface, iFixit found one vital difference Apple hasn't announced publicly: it's much easier to repair.

    iFixit calls it "the most significant design change to the iPhone in a long time," for their purposes, at least.

    In the new design, the bulk of the phone is in a midframe, but the frame can be opened on either side—both the front and the back. Other recent models—including the still-sold iPhone 13, iPhone 12, and iPhone SE, as well as the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max—could only be opened from the front.

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      M2 MacBook Air teardown reveals accelerometer, minimal heat management

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 20 July, 2022 - 20:49

    The M2 MacBook Air has been arriving to those who pre-ordered it over the past few days, and repair supplies vendor iFixit is among those who received a unit. If you've been tracking iFixit's work after other Apple launches over the past several years, you know what that means: teardown time .

    Like the 24-inch iMac before it, the MacBook Air is mostly full of... a lot of empty space. The battery dominates the device's interior, but beyond that, we're mostly just looking at mechanisms for the trackpad, keyboard, and a small logic board.

    The teardown revealed thermal paste and graphite tape, but no active cooling and not even a heat spreader. iFixit notes that the machine will likely run hot, which we found in our throttling tests .

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