Apple iPod

Beneath the Surface

There is quite a bit more to the iPod than just its fancy facade and intuitive interface. There is more than a share of interesting hardware behind the iPod; hardware that makes possible the unit's small size and large storage capacity. Dismantling the iPod is a tricky task so we got in touch with the kind folks at iPoding and they were nice enough to send us pictures of the iPod's guts. Let's take a look at what lies below the surface.

The first item that jumps into view upon dissecting the iPod is the battery. Made by Sony-Fukushima, the battery is a rechargeable lithium polymer one that is rated at 1200 mAh and puts out 4.15 volts. The battery is 3mm thick and typically lasts 10 hours during playback.

Click here to enlarge. Image courtesy iPoding

Removing the battery reveals the unit's hard drive. The hard drive is incredibly small, fitting a 5mm specification, which corresponds to the 1.8-inch drive profile. In comparison, typical laptop hard drives are made to the 9.5mm specification, which corresponds to the 2.5-inch drive profile. The drive is made by Toshiba and bears the model number HDD1242. This appears to be the same hard drive utilized in Toshiba's PCMCIA card hard drive solutions. The drive weighs a meager 55 grams, has a 15ms average seek time, and supports the ATA66 specification. Power consumption varies from 1.3 watts during read/write to 0.23 watts while in standby to 0.05 watts in sleep mode. The drive is a 5.0 GB model and could be upgraded by the end user if a larger capacity 5mm drive were released. The drive is clearly a step in the right direction for non solid-state media and is sure to find applications in other electronic areas. For more information on the drive, take a look at Toshiba's site.

Click here to enlarge. Image courtesy iPoding