Chromecast dongle torn open, no unicorns or leprechaun dust found inside

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With people everywhere getting their Chromecast units, you knew iFixit would be doing this soon. They've taken their tools and guitar picks and busted the thing open, and found out it's a pretty simple device.

Turns out there isn't much magic or mystery inside the casing, and there are really only two parts -- a motherboard with parts soldered in place, and a big solid aluminum heat sink. On the board itself, the interesting parts are:

  • Azure Wave AW-NH387 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth, FM combo module IC
  • Marvell DE3005-A1 System-on-a-chip, similar to the Marvell DE3005
  • Micron 4GB flash memory 29F16G08MAA
  • Micron D9PXV 4Gb RAM (that's Gigabits, not Gigabytes. In other words, 512MB)

IFixit considers the Chromecast a "luxury device" that you just throw away if it goes bad and replace it with a new unit. At just $35 a pop we have to agree. For tall the gory details, see the source link.

Source: iFixit

Jerry Hildenbrand
Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Threads.