Asus Chromebook C202 Teardown

Written By: Sam Goldheart
Published: 24/03/16
  • Comments: 14

Asus Chromebook C202 Teardown

Published: 24/03/16

Teardown

Introduction

Earlier this month, we tore down a pair of completely glued-together smartphones. This week, we're ready for something designed to be repaired, not just replaced.

Early this year, Asus announced the Chromebook C202—an education-focused Chromebook designed to be inexpensive, rugged, and highly serviceable. That last bit caught our eye, and when Asus offered up a test unit for our examination, we gladly accepted, eager to investigate the claim.

This device is far from the bleeding edge, so we're not expecting advancements in pixel density, computing power, or chassis weight. Instead, we're hoping to find innovations in repairability. Let's crack this open and harvest the fruits of design-for-repairability labor.

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    • Class, please welcome our newest student! Chromebook C202 comes from Asus, and will be joining us for today's lesson.

    • Dual-core, 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron N3060 processor with burst speeds up to 2.48 GHz and integrated Intel HD Graphics 400

    • 2 GB and 4 GB RAM configurations

    • 16 GB on-board storage

    • HDMI, SD card, and USB 3.0 connectivity

    • Chrome OS

    • 10-hour battery life

    • Hard candy shell ruggedized wraparound rubber bumper

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    • The folks at Asus clearly have confidence in their new Chromebook. They sent us this sample unit for standardized testing, knowing we would immediately tear it apart.

    • For once, a warning label that doesn't threaten to void your warranty the moment you open something.

    • And there was much rejoicing.

    • We grab our tools and get to work. We have to remove a rubber cover or two, but otherwise it's just standard Phillips screws securing the chassis.

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    • With screws dispatched, we move on to the tool of choice. The Plastic Opening Tool.

    • Plastic clips around the edge of the spill-proof upper case secure it into the bathtub of a lower case—and after a bit of prying, we free them all. Let's open things up to see what's in store.

    • Keyboard and trackpad ribbon cables connect the upper case to the motherboard, with plenty of slack to flip the upper case over and safely disconnect the ZIF connectors from the motherboard.

    • The trackpad, a common failure point in laptops, practically flies out, ready for transfer to another class.

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    • Having popped the top off, we get a look at the entire interior. Look at all this modular hardware!

    • The large interconnect cable even has friendly labeled ends: the side labeled IO connects to the Input/Output board, while the side labeled MB connects to Manitoba, Canada. Or maybe the motherboard...

    • The I/O board also hosts the power jack, a common point of failure. It looks like fixing a broken power jack will be as easy as replacing this little board. A+

    • Upon removing a hefty bracket, we're a bit surprised to find it's actually a heat sink. Shunting heat straight into the battery seems an odd design choice; batteries don't like too much heat.

    • That said, it's the same passive cooling strategy employed by the massively popular Surface Pro 4.

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    • Minor inconveniences suffered, we're able to remove the battery. Still nothing but Phillips #1 screws to slow us down. Nothing proprietary, and no adhesives.

    • This is a 38 Wh lithium ion battery, on-par with the 11" MacBook Air's 38.75 Wh battery.

    • Advertised battery life is also on-par, at 10 hours. We can't help but expect the C202 to do a little better, with its significantly less power-hungry components.

    • Either way, aspiring blasters of math and Oregon pioneers should have plenty of time to hone their craft.

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    • While the C202 is very modular, its disassembly is also quite linear. We had to remove the I/O board cable, heat sink, and battery, in that order, to get to the motherboard.

    • Not that we're complaining too much, as the lack of adhesive makes removing and replacing these prerequisite parts a cinch.

    • A last sweep before we leave the lower case reveals the speakers—a connected pair, free once the motherboard is removed.

    what is the little piece in your hand in the first image of "step 6"? is it a m.2 disk? Have Asus Chromebook C202SA motherboard a m.2 slot? which size? thanks!!!

    Virilo Tejedor Aguilera -

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    • Don't tell the other kids, but Asus brought chips. Silicon chips, that is:

    • Intel Celeron N3060 14 nm Braswell processor, with Intel HD Graphics 400

    • Samsung SEC 546 K4E8E324EB-EGCF—likely LP-DDR3 (four 1-Gb chips for a total of 4 GB RAM)

    • Winbond W25Q64FWSIG and W25X40CLNIG serial flash memory

    • SMSC/Microchip MEC1322-LZY ARM Cortex M4-based keyboard and embedded controller

    • Realtek ALC5650 Audio Codec (likely)

    • Richtek RT5067A Intel CPU Power Management and RT8249AGQW Dual DC-DC Step-Down Converter

    • And on the reverse side: SanDisk SDIN9DW4-16G 16 GB eMMC NAND flash, and Infineon SLB9655TT1.2 Trusted Platform Module

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    • IC Identification, pt. 2:

    • Texas Instruments BQ24770 Battery Charge Controller

    • Texas Instruments TPS2546 USB Charging Port Controller

    • Dialog Semiconductor (formerly Silego) SLG7NT4350V LED Driver (likely)

    • Texas Instruments TSU5611 Micro-USB SP3T Analog Switch

    • Texas Instruments SN74LVC1G175 D-Type Flip-Flop

    • Texas Instruments SN74LVC2G02 Dual NOR Gate and Nexperia (formerly Nexperia) 74LVC1G08 and Toshiba TC7SZ08F Single AND Gate

    • ON Semiconductor NC7SZ14M5X Inverter w/ Schmitt Trigger Input; Nexperia (formerly NXP Semiconductor) 74LVC1G04 and Texas Instruments SN74LVC1G04 Single Inverter

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    • IC Identifications, pt. 3 (sensors):

    • Texas Instruments TMP432 Temperature Sensor

    • Melexis MLX90248 Hall Sensor (likely)

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    • Last stop on the hit parade—the display. Don't lose your head, C202, or we'll have to send you to the principal's office.

    • Here we encounter some more of that linear construction—we had to remove the motherboard and I/O board to get the display out.

    • Opening up the display itself is a trivial matter. A couple more Phillips #1 screws behind stuck-on covers and a quick pry reveals the LCD, camera, microphone, antennas and hinges, ready to be plucked out and replaced.

    • MEMS Microphone

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    • Pencils down, please pass your exams forward. Asus Chromebook C202 Repairability Score: 9 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).

    • Intuitive, uncomplicated design makes disassembly straightforward and reversible.

    • Modular components means many repairs can be carried out by quickly swapping a failed part.

    • Only Phillips #1 and #00 screws are used.

    • No adhesives are used, and all plastic clips are durable enough to easily survive reassembly.

    • Linear disassembly means you might have to remove several components to get to what needs replacing. That said, failure prone parts (battery and ports) are prioritized.

    • RAM and flash storage are soldered to the motherboard and cannot be replaced or upgraded. However, this may not be much of an issue for the C202's target market.

    • Even easy repairs can be difficult without instructions—but thankfully, Asus has published its official disassembly guide on iFixit.

Author

Sam Goldheart

Member since: 19/10/12

465332 Reputation

13 comments

And... all laptops should be this serviceable.

Serviceability is one reason I've stuck with Dell Precision Mobile Workstations and recommend them to friends and clients... but it's good to see that there are entry level notebooks that are just as serviceable now. I cannot be the only one tired of seeing self-proclaimed "green" companies like Apple contributing to ewaste by making notebooks/laptops and other gear as unserviceable as possible. I'd rather deal with a little more bulk and heavier bags on flights with a repairable laptop than keep contributing to ewaste.

kimvette -

I changed Step 8: Typo: principle to principal. Sorry!

Edward C -

Thanks Edward C, I 've been looking forward to this tear down. It might be worth mentioning that you can get to the LCD panel straight away, this is an often replaced part in the education market.

Justin Marshall -

"Samsung SEC 546 K4E8E32—likely LP-DDR3 (four 8-Gb chips for a total of 4 GB RAM)"

Wait, so how much ram does it have? 32GB? That seems like a bit much for a chromebook, but I suppose it is chrome, and with enough tabs...

crystalclaw -

Each of the four chips is 8 Gigabits. A Gigabit (Gb) is 1/8th of a Gigabyte (GB), so that's 1 Gigabyte per chip, for 4 GB total.

Andrew Optimus Goldheart -

"(four 8-Gb chips for a total of 4 GB RAM)"

"Wait, so how much ram does it have? 32GB?"

I can't even ... what? You literally just quoted them saying a total of 4 GB. I don't get it. Are you having a seizure? Should I call an ambulance? Not to be rude but ... really man. Get some help.

Fennec Besixdouze -

I think this is unnecessarily harsh as the article could have just stated 4 x 1GB chips when 8Gb = 1GB (notice the lower case b for bit and upper case for byte). Is it not better to educate people than to insult them? What can you expert from a physics nerd though? ;-)

Mike Smith -

mine has 528mb of ram

Wesley Elder -

Asus make this with a better LCD and an msata or m2 SSD and I would buy one. I suppose I could live with the screen or replace it with something better myself. One RAM slot (+ 4GB soldered RAM) would be nice and let me choose the OS I run and don’t limit me to ChromeOS. I think this is how laptops should be, all rubbery! I sound a real perv with that last comment sorry! ;-)

Mike Smith -

Sorry if this has been answered- but how can I remove the keyboard FROM the palm rest assembly? I damaged my keyboard and was able to order a new one- it works perfectly when I connect its ribbon to my laptop but I need to insert it into the palmrest frame. This looks to be pretty easily achievable if I just dismouth the black plastic sleeve and slip out the old keyboard, and just slip the new keyboard in. But my problem is- how do I remove these little mounting bolts?! They don’t seem to be shaped for any kind of screwdriver - they actually look like they have tiny screw holes in their tops. I have been searching the whole internet and no one has a palm rest assembly tear down and every “keyboard repair/replacement” video is ACTUALLY just a PALMREST ASSEMBLY repair/replacement video. Can someone help? :)

Amy Mosteller -

How to unlock a blocked chrome

Peter -

heyyyy do u know why in the !&&* my keyboard won't type because this is only a few weeks old and i don't want to replace it

JapanGachaYT -

The Asus Chromebook C202 is a device that suits all age groups. It has been carefully curated to do so. With the MediaTek chip integrated at its core, it ensures peak performance at all times with great ease and efficiency. For this price range, the features of the Chromebook are amazing and impressive.

lucas579brown -