TearDown Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iFixit tears down Apple's Thunderbolt display

by Mike Schramm (Sep 28th, 2011)

iFixit has gone all destructo on Apple's new Thunderbolt display, and the gory details are now available over on their site. They ripped the beautiful monitor apart so you didn't have to, and inside they found the same display seen in the iMac Intel 27" from a couple of years ago, as well as a ...

2011 Mac mini gets the iFixit teardown treatment

by Steven Sande (Jul 22nd, 2011)

I love the iFixit site. They jump in where wimps like myself fear to tread, and give us the courage (and instructions) to pop open our Macs and see what's inside the Apple-logoed aluminum box. Yesterday we gave you the iFixit details of the new MacBook Air models, and now the site has lovingly ...

New MacBook Air SSDs are replaceable

by Steven Sande (Jul 21st, 2011)

No sooner had the new MacBook Air models shown up in Apple Stores than the iFixit team grabbed one for dissection. The site always does a teardown of the latest in Apple technology for the benefit of repair technicians and for hobbyists who love to see what's inside their Macs. The 2011 13" ...

Teardown reveals why Thunderbolt cable costs $50

by Chris Rawson (Jun 30th, 2011)

When Apple debuted its Thunderbolt cable, I imagine a lot of people said the same thing I did: "Fifty bucks? For a cable?!" However, iFixit did a teardown on Apple's Thunderbolt cable and found that it's not just a length of copper wire with connectors at either end. It turns out the ...

The iPad dock disassembled by iLounge

by Mike Schramm (Apr 13th, 2011)

Wondering what the guts of the new iPad 2 dock look like? iLounge dove into the nitty gritty, and it turns out that there were a few surprises, actually. While the docks may look like pieces of plastic (and indeed, at just around $30, they could be about that), iLounge figures that Apple puts ...

iPad 2 teardown: GSM and CDMA differences

by Chris Ward (Mar 30th, 2011)

The screwdriver- and heat gun-happy bunch over at iFixit have been disassembling iPad 2s again, all in the interest of keeping radio (and other) nerds "droolingly-happy," as Engadget puts it. Their original teardown was of a humble (relative to other iPad 2s only) 16 GB Wi-Fi only model. Now ...

Chipworks tears down Apple's A5 chip

by Chris Ward (Mar 15th, 2011)

Your inner (and outer) geek will thank you for checking out Chipworks' teardown of the A5 processor inside the iPad 2. Chipworks confirms that it is, in fact, made by Samsung and not by TSMC despite Apple's new deal with the latter. This may change in the future, however, especially if the A5 ...

iFixit tears down the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, 2011 model

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 25th, 2011)

iFixit got its hands on a brand new 15-inch MacBook and tore the machine down to its Tri-wing screws and heat sinks. The latest generation machine shares a lot of similarities with its aluminum unibody predecessors including the same case design and a similar layout of internal components. Most ...

iFixit tears down the 11-inch MacBook Air

by Chris Rawson (Oct 21st, 2010)

Less than a day after the new 11-inch MacBook Air hit shelves, iFixit's already dissected it. The repair site gave the new MacBook Air a repairability rating of 4/10, with 10 being easiest to repair. Two major obstacles face any user trying to do their own repairs on the MacBook Air. First, the ...

Tearing apart an old Apple TV just for the heck of it

by Steven Sande (Sep 9th, 2010)

My "love" for the original Apple TV is well-documented. I purchased a 40 GB model not long after the device hit the market, and found it not to my liking. I hated how I had to slowly sync everything to the device, it had little space to begin with (yeah, I know I should have just swapped out the HD ...

iFixit tears down a new iPod shuffle

by Dave Caolo (Sep 8th, 2010)

Whenever Apple releases new hardware, I start to anticipate iFixit's inevitable teardown. This time they've gotten into the iPod shuffle to show us the very small number of tiny parts that keep users rocking. Much like the Magic Trackpad, there isn't much to see inside the new shuffle. The guys ...

A look inside the Magic Trackpad

by Dave Caolo (Jul 29th, 2010)

It's so thin and barely there. What could be inside Apple's Magic Trackpad? The folks at iFixit took theirs apart, photographing and describing each component in great detail. Here's what they found. Inside there is, well, not a whole heck of a lot. A large spacer prevents the user from pressing ...

iFixit opens up the iPhone 4

by Dave Caolo (Jun 23rd, 2010)

As expected, the tool-minded folks at iFixit have torn down an iPhone 4 and posted its inner workings for all to see. There are plenty of juicy high-res photos and details here. The story of how they got their phone is even more interesting than what they found inside. Kyle was all set to hop a ...

iFixit tears down the updated Macbook

by Dave Caolo (May 20th, 2010)

As usual, the folks at iFixit.com have taken apart a piece of Apple hardware. This time, it's the recently refreshed Macbook. This update wasn't significant, so most of the machine's innards are the same, with a few exceptions. First is a larger battery. Apple proudly notes that the MacBook will ...

TechRestore's stop-motion iPad tear-down video

by David Winograd (Apr 16th, 2010)

Right on launch day, iFixit totally disassembled an iPad, offering eager eyes a wealth of information on what's under the hood. Now TechRestore has created a stop-motion video of the entire tear-down and reassembly process in just over three minutes by stitching together 1675 frames. It's ...