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 What the heck is inside the Zune? Well the guys over at TechRepublic have asked the same question and set out to find that out. More after the jump.
[Images from CNET Networks/Mark Kaelin]
[Click on images to expand them. Caption text by TechRepublic's Mark Kaelin.] I approached the cracking open like I approached it for the various
iPods. I assumed the Zune case was merely clipped together. But alas, I
was wrong. There were some tri-wing security screws lurking under a
clip-on shiny plate.
Of course, there were still plenty of clips to pry apart.
After removing the lightweight, sturdy back plate, one of the first
things you'll notice about the inside of the Zune is that there are
three more tri-wing security screws holding the housing in place.
The battery is similar to almost all of the small devices we have
cracked open. If they are all made by the same manufacturer, that
company must be really busy.
The manufacturer of ribbon cables must be busy too. Like the iPods, the Zune uses them for internal connections. Boy, I hate these things--ribbon cables are often connected with these
gates. They're difficult to get separated and darn near impossible to
get back together. This is where we lost the iPod Nano when we cracked
it open. We wanted a closer look at the chips, which means the whole housing had
to come out. Two clips needed to be separated and the rest followed
suit; the clips were the key. We are not looking at the LCD side of the
Zune insides.
Here we have a Hynix chip (right). I think we can assume that
another Hynix chip is the 4GB of storage. This one is most likely the
operating RAM.
The big chip from China looks to be the CPU.
The rest of the Zune's chips. I'm guessing the chip with wavy lines is
for sound reproduction. The chips located under the silver cover marked
7921 handle the wireless remote interaction with some Zune accessories.
A closer look at the underside of the circular controller. On the inside, the Zune is remarkably similar to the iPod Nano. Many
of the parts are exactly the same. The difference is that the interface
chips and software in an iPod are made by Apple.
I know some die-hard fans will protest, but the insides don't lie. The Microsoft Zune is a few Apple chips from being an iPod. Credit: CNET Networks/Mark Kaelin
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