Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook gets iFixit teardown

It's already made an early debut, just to sell out in a matter a hours, and now Samsung's answer to the Chromebook, the Series 5, is getting some attention of a more destructive sort. The folks over at iFixit have proven once again that ripping apart consumer electronics is not only therapeutic, but also enlightening, this time putting Google's ultraportable under the knife. 

The excellent gadget repair experts at iFixit have torn apart a brand new Samsung Series 5 Chromebook to see what makes it tick, and they have published detailed hardware specifications and photographs of the system's internals.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook is a laptop that's powered by Google's Linux-based Chrome OS—the first Chrome OS product that will be available to regular consumers. It was unveiled last month at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco during a keynote session and is expected to retail for $429.

The folks at iFixit say that the Samsung Chromebook has much in common with Google's Cr-48 prototype, but that the new system is slimmer and better-designed. The hardware includes a 1.66GHz dual-core Atom N570 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 16GB SanDisk SSD. They were able to disassemble the laptop with a spudger, plastic opening tool, and a Philips #1 screwdriver.

After disassembling the laptop, they assigned it a 6 out of 10 "repairability" score. The Chromebook lost points because the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and the battery can't be replaced without opening the case. They also commented that the "mostly-plastic construction" felt "a little cheap." They noted, however, that the screen was easy to remove and most of the components—including the SSD—can be replaced easily.

"Our analysis revealed that the Series 5 is a well-polished version of the rather imperfect Cr-48 prototype Chromebook," iFixit's Kyle Wiens told us in an e-mail. "The Series 5 fixes the major shortfalls of the Cr-48 and adds the polish necessary to strike lust into the heart of a broad consumer base: sleek looks, 8+ hours of battery life, and optimized performance."

On top of the specs we already have, this Chromebook's inner workings reveal 2GB of non-upgradable DDR3 RAM (the CR-48 apparently packed upgradable RAM), Intel NM10 graphics, a Qualcomm Gobi WWAN board, an Atheros AR9382 802.11n WiFi chip, and a 16GB SanDisk SSD.

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