While gamers from all over lined up Thursday night to get hold of the Xbox One, the guys from online repair community iFixit tore down a unit of Microsoft's newest game console. Coming straight out of the stores in New Zealand where the Xbox One was available first, the team subjected the hardware to the same dismantling it accorded Sony's PlayStation 4 when it was released.
Members of the iFixit staff were among the first in New Zealand to get their hands on the Xbox One and among the first to invalidate their Xbox One's warranty.
"We dismantled Sony's PS4 last week, so we were eager to see how the highly-anticipated Xbox One would stack up to the competition. The Xbox One's design-with a giant, external power brick-is less elegant than the PS4. Still, part of the Xbox's added girth goes towards housing a huge cooling assembly, a welcome addition after the infamous Red Ring of Death fiasco. Perhaps hedging their bets against the unthinkable, Microsoft also made both the fan and the heat sink easy to replace," said Miroslav Djuric, iFixit chief information architect, in an email to Tech Times.
"While the Xbox One doesn't officially feature a replaceable hard drive, we did find a standard 2.5" Samsung 500 GB, 5400 RPM hard drive lurking inside. If you don't mind voiding your warranty, the hard drive is technically user-replaceable-but it remains to be seen whether or not a replacement drive will work with the Xbox," Djuric added.
In the video documenting the Xbox One teardown, iFixit took note of the generous amount of vents in the design of the console. A small plastic opening tool was the only thing needed to pry open the side grille. Only eight torque screws locked the upper metal shield in place before the electronic innards of the Xbox One is exposed.
According to iFixit, what's most noticeable is the huge fan of the system measuring 112 mm compared to the PlayStation 4's 85 mm.
"With high marks for modularity, the Xbox One managed to match the PS4's repairability score, earning itself an 8/10," iFixit stated.
In comparison, PlayStation 4's also received a repairability score of 8/10 from iFixit for its easy disassembly and reassembly and easily replaceable hard drive.
