• iFixit tears down the DSi XL

    Sunday, March 28th, 2010

    Biggs is the East Cost Editor of TechCrunch. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at... → Learn More

    No Tegra chip for you! iFixit tore down the Nintendo DSi XL and found, not surprisingly, a bigger DSi. It’s running the DSi’s ARM processor and the motherboard is big enough to fit in the case, but that’s about it. Click through for more findings:

    * Nintendo is again using a custom ARM CPU, manufactured in December
    of 2009. This chip is marked identically to the DSi, and definitely
    not the Tegra chip that had been rumored.

    * The logic board grew proportionally to its casing. We’re sure
    Nintendo’s engineers were happy with not having to pack as much
    electronics as possible in a smaller design. In this instance,
    Nintendo’s going against the normal trend in electronics

    * Battery capacity is significantly greater than the DSi. The DSi
    uses an 840 mAh battery compared to the DSi XL’s 1050 mAh battery.
    Given the internal similarity of the XL to the original DSi, we assume
    the extra juice helps power the larger-sized screens.

    * The DSi XL weighs in at 314 grams, about 45% more than its smaller
    DSi cousin (only 217 grams). A significant portion of the heft comes
    from the larger screens, and 4 grams comes from the added battery
    juice. The XL is really on the outer limits of what people consider to
    be portable — especially for a hand-held game console.

    * Nintendo redesigned the battery connector to eliminate a long ribbon
    cable spanning the width of the old DSi.

    * The lower display is held in place solely by the pressure of the
    logic board secured over it — no screws!

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