[telecom69]

I was looking at an ipod today that someone had and I got to wondering how on earth would they repair one of these if it went wrong ?it was about 4 inches by 2 inches and about an eighth of an inch thick,the pcb must have been miniscule,because it had a screen too, how on earth can they repair that if it went wrong ? surely the components on the board could not be replaced because they would have to be so tiny,that removing and replacing would be out of the question,how on earth are they made in the first place ?.....

[Elvandil]

Toss it out.

But, people do work on watches and some jewelers even make watches by machining each, tiny gear. Electronics is so cheap that tossing it out is more cost-effective.

You've probably heard the story about the guy who sent a sample of a tiny filament to a Swiss friend, trying to impress with his ability to make something so small. The friend sent it back--with a hole bored down the center.

[JohnWill]

It depends on the board in question. I've repaired lots of avionics boards with SMT components. With the right tools and skills, it's possible to repair most boards. Obviously, some consumer products that sell for $10-15 aren't worth repairing, since the labor would exceed the cost of a new board.

[cwwozniak]

If you are wondering about insides of an iPod, a company did a teardown of a video iPod a while ago that listed prices of the key components and included pictures of the disassembled unit. The following link discusses the teardown and has a link to a PDF file with the details and photos.

The Video iPod Teardown: A Look Inside The 5G
http://www.ipodhacks.com/article.php?sid=1583

[JohnWill]

I'm going to guess those are retail distributer prices, because the typical markup on products from raw materials to finished product is 4:1, and I doubt they're getting $560 for those units! Apple is getting the parts for a lot less than that. It would be nice to see the actual pricing list and tally up the costs for real.