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What future teardowns should we do?

I wanted to start this thread and keep it going throughout the ages for future teardowns. It's perfectly fair to assume that we'll take apart the major Apple products -- new MacBooks, iPhones, iPads, etc. -- so don't bother asking for those. The question is more directed toward other upcoming devices.

So the question is, what would you like to see taken apart?

In order to best gauge interest, let's do the following:

  • Post an answer below with your favorite upcoming device, and justify why it's worthy of a teardown.
  • Other users: if you think it's a good idea to take apart a particular device, please upvote the answer and possibly leave a comment.
  • One answer per device please. If someone already suggested it, just upvote the other user's answer and scold yourself for not thinking of it sooner.
  • Devices certainly don't need to be electronic. If you know of an awesome ___________ (hot air balloon? vacuum cleaner? flux capacitor?) that absolutely needs to be peeked inside, add it to the list by all means.
  • Keep posting answers for different devices as you see fit.

Disclaimer: Please understand that I'm asking for suggestions, and that a highly-upvoted answer does not necessarily mean we'll do a teardown for that device. It's nothing personal against you, but something (time, money, or other) did not work out for that device. For example, we were asked to take apart a Chevy Volt awhile back, but we couldn't afford such a nice car and Chevy didn't want to give us one...

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Dyson Airblade

Because I used one in an airport once, then washed my hands twice just so I could use it again.

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5 Comments:

I realize this isn't upcoming or new, but it's basically sent from the future so what the difference?

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Why not --because I don't know what he's talking about. +

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Followed the link--that's a interesting unit.

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+ I love these things, I'd love to see one torn down.

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hmm - i know a few McD restaurants with the Airblade installed - but i guess they wouldn't like it if i tear this thing apart - lol

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I don't know if answering questions on a machine brings in more questions on that machine but the number of questions on a Kenmore HE washing machine seems more than all other washing machines put together. Are these things that doggy? A teardown would be helpful.

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Good call--this would be useful. +

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After answering all the repair questions on this machine, I sure wouldn't buy one.

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Magnets, how do they work?

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More popular phones, since android now has had the majority market share for a while now, there're a ton of users (who are generally less willing to cash out to a repair service than iPhone users) looking for guides and parts etc. for fixing their phones.

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Sorry Rab, "more popular phones" is not that helpful. There's TONS of new Android phones coming out, seemingly all the time. It's hard to keep up with the barrage, so we end up wondering which of them to take apart. We'd like to help as many people as we can with the limited resources we have, so we have to be choosy.

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Anytime there's new technology that's interesting, like 3D, nfc, etc. But like just take the the top selling smartphones. I guarantee you there's major opportunity in repair manuals for those.

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@rab777hp Good point

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Digital cameras: I know there are currently many repair guides on the subject at iFixit but there are thousand cameras out there and not so many good websites that covers the subject. Ifixit could become a leader if this sector was well exploited. After all, everyone has a digital camera and many owners have problems like busted LCD screens or lens errors. The problematic camera will then be thrown away because it's too expensive to send it in for repair. What a waste when you know that a new LCD screen cost about $20 and you can replace it in 10 minutes.

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+ What about parts? If we write the guides and can't tell anyone where to get parts the guides are useless?

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Well I don't know for all the cameras but I found what I needed for a Canon SD780, a Nikon S5100, Nikon S510, Nikon L1, Canon A75 on eBay. New LCD screens are easy to find for almost all models.

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Some models take a bit of looking for... Many lcd's are compatible across a range, as are lens/shutter flex. Finding the parts can be infuriating! It'd be nice to have a page of parts that are compatible with xyz camera...

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Digital camera repair guides are popping up more and more on our site, which is awesome. You guys are of course always welcome to contribute your own content, as well. Keep in mind, though, that we are talking about what teardowns we should do, not repair guides.

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have a cracked lens cover on Nokia N8 and seen your breakdown---bought parts very cheaply and attempted repair----don't try this at home!----replacement lens cover is attached to inner cradle, thus all parts from original have to be removed from original and transferred to new cradle---not possible!!....please make sure this is relayed to your subscribers.....thanks. NB ended up putting original back together.

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Jim, thanks for the heads up. As we say at the beginning of every teardown, those steps are only a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions. You are welcome to create your own repair guides to show the community what can and can't be done with the Nokia N8, though.

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Can I plug for Nexus Prime now?

Leaked specs look incredible.

Can't wait to see what's inside...

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Now that the Galaxy Nexus has been announced, I don't see why you can't plug for it.

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I plug. .

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vacuum cleaners..have repaired 2 recently. Dyson DC07, Bosch bagless. Dyson has some guides out there but no quality to it..needs the ifixit touch. Vacuums are quite a costly household item, fixing ourselves would be fantastic.

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Great idea, you won't believe how much some people pay to get those serviced.

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I know...got quoted £80 for a new clutch..paid £8 on ebay. Bit of brute force needed

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I'm starting to believe anything Dyson is worth doing a teardown of.

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They're one of the Market leaders here in the uk so I think you'd get plenty of interest.

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I love when cell phone companies bring back names of old, "iconic" devices. First it was the Android-powered Sidekick, but now I want a look inside the Droid RAZR.

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ps3 cech-3001a / 3000b

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Tear down and price a Texas Instruments TI-83+. I am curious just how much ridiculous profit they're making off of those things.

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Samsung Series 9

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the mag safe adapter

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I'd love to see a teardown of the new Acer Aspire S5... the 'world's thinnest laptop'. In particular, to compare it to the new Macbook Pro in terms of its ability to be repaired, even when it's so thin and compact.

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Please teardown the new Airport Express? Is this thing hackable!?

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Motoactv, its a cool little compact device.

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The headphone jack on my motoactv died. Fortunately, the bluetooth still works. But that requires me to remember to charge two devices! Oh, the horror!

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It would be nice if you guys could tear down some of the more unique windows 8 devices. Devices like the lenovo ideapac yoga's and the dell xps 12. Devices with a new form factor that may or may not be prone to damage, and ultamatly devices that people will want to repair and may not know how to.

In short:

Teardown requests = dell xps 12, and lenovo ideapad yoga 13

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Is it possible to have one for the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon? I hear it is tricky to get around in order to install an mSATA SSD.

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ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 Ultrabook.

I'd like to see if there is a way to expand the SSD drive and how to replace the internal battery. This would be useful in general for all the Ultrabooks in the Zenbook series.

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Samsung Fasinate on how to clean deep inside the device. Like cleaning clogged speaker holes.

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Keurig drinkworks machine. Unlike the sodastream, this unit still has to be retro fitted for a large CO2 tank. 74g cartridges from Keurig are 7.50 each and make only a handful of drinks. Would love to see a complete teardown with detailed pictures of how the CO2 apparatus is engineered. Nothing to this date exists and a solution needs to be figured out. For anyone that doesn’t know, drinkworks makes alcoholic cocktails just like the coffee versions but for “adult" drinks. Mai Tai, rum punch, mojitos etc. Carbonation capabilities included if the drink requires it. Help up vote this!!!!

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Miroslav Djuric will be eternally grateful.