The guys over at iLounge wanted to figure out why Apple had decided to so radically change the design of the iPad dock between the first and second generation of the device, so they decided to tear that sucker open and see what they could find.
Their conclusion? The iPad dock was made bigger and heavier to provide a more stable base, which is obvious enough. But I was more interested by their takeaway:
The biggest takeaway from the experience? Case incompatibilities aside—and they increasingly seem to be by design—Apple builds these docks amazingly well. Given that we’re talking about $29 accessories that look like they’re made entirely from plastic, they were surprisingly challenging to disassemble, resilient to all but surface damage, and unusually substantial for items that could have just as easily been rendered disposable. The industrial engineers only cut obvious corners on the sequel in ways that would never impact an average user, replacing internal screws and glue with more efficient fasteners. They obviously also created a dock that uses substantially more metal than before while maintaining the same $29 price. It’s actually pretty impressive.
Of course, that’s the difference between Apple and other electronics makers in a nutshell: a commitment to quality in even the most superfluous accessory. The iPad Dock could have just been a piece of molded plastic with a USB passthrough cable, but it’s not.
[via 9to5Mac]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
12 responses to “The iPad 2 Dock Teardown Reveals A Surprisingly Well-Made $29 Accessory”
I bought one of these. I thought at first it was a little bit expensive for a piece of plastic. On top of that they were sending it from China! I’m glad to know that it’s not just a piece of plastic.
“The iPad Dock could have just been a piece of molded plastic with a USB passthrough cable, but it’s not.”
Right. Instead it’s got superfluous internals that replicate the functionality already on the device. Nice. $30 for a piece of plastic (which IS molded by the way — what do you think, they sculpted it?) that holds the device upright, in the portrait orientation only. It’s “compatible with other accessories,” but if you can’t charge at the same time, then what’s the point? All that fail, and it doesn’t even come with a cord.
Honestly, the first iPad dock and the new iPad dock are in my opinion both complete crap.
They need to make one that either have a netadapter come with it or let’s you put two of their 30-pin dock connector cables in on the back, I want a dock that can charge AND sync the iPad which these can’t unless I am missing something…
Have seen a few docks that can charge and sync but they’re always extremely overpriced.
All Apple docks are very well made, but I think I’ll be sticking with the SmartCover to double as a ‘dock’ for me.
lern engish
There are now better alternatives in the market. For the price, iPad 2 dock is not a choice of a logical person!