A peek inside Apple's new nano and classic iPods (photos)

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  • Reply 21 of 30
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,720member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jonnyboy View Post


    not enough detail. i want upgrade guides



    Guides to upgrade what?



    The only things you can upgrade are the HDD and memory. Possibly the DVD, if you can find the same form factor drive from a company that might make one with better specs. Pehaps the cpu can be replaced as well with the same socket model, such as the upcoming Penyrn.



    But to do those things, all you need is a take apart guide. The rest is just screws and clips, with care and some compound for the cpu.
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  • Reply 22 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    You're not supposed to be doing this yourself. There is no reason why a manufacturer should make their product easy for the customer to repair when they say, for liabilities sake: "No customer serviceable parts inside".



    Would it be ok for Apple to make it easier for their own technicians to do battery replacements? What good is it doing to solder the battery to the main board?
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  • Reply 23 of 30
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,720member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stompy View Post


    Would it be ok for Apple to make it easier for their own technicians to do battery replacements? What good is it doing to solder the battery to the main board?



    Reliability.
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  • Reply 24 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Reliability.



    Every full size iPod (Classic) has had a connector for the battery. The hard drive alone makes this unit more failure prone than the nanos, is Apple choosing to make them even more failure prone by not soldering the battery, or is it something else?
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  • Reply 25 of 30
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,720member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stompy View Post


    Every full size iPod (Classic) has had a connector for the battery. The hard drive alone makes this unit more failure prone than the nanos, is Apple choosing to make them even more failure prone by not soldering the battery, or is it something else?



    I have my concepts from my days in design and manufacturing as to why companies do what they do, but I'm not privy to Apple'sdesign center, so I can't amswer for them. I can only give my impressions.



    They may find that the Flash based models are subjected to higher levels of abuse. It's possible that from their experience with returned, damaged models, that they have found the batteries to move around too much, bang against the connectors, and loosen the connections. It's only a guess, but it's something I've found in some portable designs.



    Price could affect this as well. It's cheaper to solder the battery than to add a connector to the mobo. It takes very little time to unsolder the battery and solder a new one in. Not much more time than it would take to remove a clipped one, and re-install a new one.
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  • Reply 26 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    They may find that the Flash based models are subjected to higher levels of abuse. It's possible that from their experience with returned, damaged models, that they have found the batteries to move around too much, bang against the connectors, and loosen the connections. It's only a guess, but it's something I've found in some portable designs.



    Apple has soldered batteries on all of their flash iPods; while this decision might be based on research with some other product (possibly the mini), Apple didn't change course because of prior experience with flash iPods.



    The iPhone and iPod touch also have soldered battery leads, but I'd treat these products more gently than a regular iPod. I don't know if expected abuse is the reason here.



    I agree that Apple shouldn't sacrifice important qualities (reliability, portability) for end user serviceability, my qualm has been that Apple's idea of elegance is a sealed, disposable product. That's not going to prevent most sales--I plan to buy one of these nanos myself. I also intend to use it well past their original battery's lifetime.
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  • Reply 27 of 30
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,720member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stompy View Post


    Apple has soldered batteries on all of their flash iPods; while this decision might be based on research with some other product (possibly the mini), Apple didn't change course because of prior experience with flash iPods.



    There is such a thing called test to destruction. All manufacturers do this with certain products, particularly mobile ones. I'm sure they had plenty of experience doing this during the design process for all of the players, and decided the Flash based models were more likely to get abused that way.



    There were reports of the HDD models getting damaged when worn whilst jugging. Now, people use the Flash models for this, and other exercise routines. People also tend to drop them more because of the small size.



    The iPhone and iPod touch also have soldered battery leads, but I'd treat these products more gently than a regular iPod. I don't know if expected abuse is the reason here.



    I agree that Apple shouldn't sacrifice important qualities (reliability, portability) for end user serviceability, my qualm has been that Apple's idea of elegance is a sealed, disposable product. That's not going to prevent most sales--I plan to buy one of these nanos myself. I also intend to use it well past their original battery's lifetime.[/QUOTE]
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  • Reply 28 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    There is such a thing called test to destruction. All manufacturers do this with certain products, particularly mobile ones. I'm sure they had plenty of experience doing this during the design process for all of the players, and decided the Flash based models were more likely to get abused that way.



    I started to include something about that, but deleted because I thought you were talking about shipping iPods only.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    There were reports of the HDD models getting damaged when worn whilst jugging. Now, people use the Flash models for this, and other exercise routines. People also tend to drop them more because of the small size.



    Do you mean damage attributable to the battery connector, or simply a connector that's worked loose? It seems like I've heard of the second, but not the first.
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  • Reply 29 of 30
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,720member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stompy View Post


    I started to include something about that, but deleted because I thought you were talking about shipping iPods only.







    Do you mean damage attributable to the battery connector, or simply a connector that's worked loose? It seems like I've heard of the second, but not the first.



    Battery connector springs becoming compressed, as well as HDD's becoming damaged.
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  • Reply 30 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Battery connector springs becoming compressed, as well as HDD's becoming damaged.



    Fair enough.
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