Devices Taken Apart

Like a lot of other tech people, I still get a kick out of taking apart devices. I’m sure this goes back to when we got a screwdriver for the first time when we were 5 years old.

Recently there were some interesting disassemblies, so here are some links:

Apple iPod Shuffle

Apple Mini Mac

None of the above really label the parts or gain any insights into the design of the deive and an electronic level. This is a shame. Even the later Byte magazines used to show all the different parts of a system when a new computer came out. They would show the pc board (printed circuit board or motherboard) as well as all the wiring and various chips or components of the board. They would then draw boxes on top of all the different sections and label them: CPU, video memory, ROM, dynamic ram, video controller, sound chip, etc. It was cool.

These days, the closest you can get to this is the ‘Under the Hood’ column in EE Times. The columns are mostly teasers for the author’s business, but they do the old Byte style pictures with labels. It would be nice if they had an RSS feed.

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