Apple’s new AirPort Extreme gets solid score in iFixit teardown

By Russ Boswell June 13, 2013

This story is part of our complete Apple WWDC coverage

iFixit got its hands on Apple’s brand new AirPort Extreme A1521 that was unveiled at WWDC on Monday. In one of its classic “teardown” sessions, iFixit deconstructs the AirPort Extreme, concluding that it’s very easy to take apart and repair.

To start, iFixit disassembled the outer casing. This is a relatively simple affair, but it does require a Torx driver. iFixit also warns that the opening procedure requires a little bit of prying, and you could easily damage the casing itself if you’re not careful.

Once the casing was free, iFixit revealed an empty space within the center of the tower-like structure. The void is about 3.5-inches in size and perfectly accommodates an HDD of that size. Unfortunately, there isn’t any place to connect the HDD itself, and, even after opening the device fully, iFixit didn’t discover any hidden connection ports. iFixit designated three different sides for the device once the shell was off, pointing out the “port side,” the “slot side,” (which is the empty space), and the “fan side.” The fact that you must remove a number of screws just to clean the fan is a potential issue.

iFixitAirportTeardown Many screws later, the group finally discovered the mainboard for the newest AirPort. The board contains a Broadcom BCM4360KLMG, which is the same IC that iFixit discovered when it performed its teardown of the 13-inch 2013 Edition MacBook Air. Located further behind the brushless DC fan is a standard 12 V, 5 A power supply. iFixit cautioned not to touch the little black box here, specifically with wet fingers, due to the potential shocking experience of 400 V jolt.

The final verdict from iFixit was a teardown score of 8 out of 10 (10 being the easiest to get into and repair). The group was pleasantly surprised with how simple it was to get into the device and noted it didn’t have to fool with any proprietary fasteners or parts to almost completely disassemble the tower-like creation. The good news here is that the AirPort appears to be fairly DIY friendly (if you have access to Torx drivers, spudgers, and a 54-bit driver kit).

Photo via iFixit

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Russ Boswell is an aspiring video game and technology journalist from Colorado. He's been an avid gamer since he was old…

Computing

Power up your tech game this summer with Dell’s top deals: Upgrade for a bargain

Dell Techfest and best tech on sale featured.

One of the best times to upgrade your tech stack, be it your desktop, a new laptop, or some high-resolution monitors, is when great deals are to be had. Well, I'm here to share that thanks to Dell's top deals, you can power up your tech game and have most of the summer to make it happen. Maybe you're happy with your current system or setup. That's excellent, but you're likely considering upgrading somewhere, and that's precisely what these deals are all about. Dell has a smorgasbord of deals on laptops, desktops, gaming desktops, monitors, accessories, and so much more. We'll call out a few of our favorite deals below, but for now, know that you should be shopping this sale if you're interested in anything tech-related.

What summer tech should you buy in Dell's top deals?

Computing

I love the MacBook Pro, but this Windows laptop came surprisingly close

Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

There are some great machines in the 15-inch laptop category, which has recently been stretched to include the more common 16-inch laptop. The best among them is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which offers fast performance for tasks like video editing and the longest battery life.

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 is aimed not only at other 16-inch Windows laptops but also at the MacBook Pro 16. It offers many of the same benefits but at a lower price. Can it take a place at the top?
Specs and configurations

Computing

How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams

Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.